Holiday Traditions #tanka #haibun #cinquain

13 Replies

Music
Handmade glass bulbs
Ancient songs about birth
Cheap ornaments bought in childhood
Gingerbread

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The sadly-sweet strains of Vince Guaraldi’s piano fill the air with the melancholy of Charlie Brown, and with nostalgia. I open the package and carefully unwrap the treasures within.  I smile at the first priceless item, a box with cheap bulbs from the 1930s bought at an antique store for only a dollar. That was from my first Christmas alone.  Next there is a bulb wrapped in tissue from several years later.  It was bought at an art gallery for more than the price of 20 boxes of Wal Mart ornaments. But then there are those Wal Mart specials, all gold and red.  As I go through the decorations one-by-one and slowly fill the tree, the music changes to the late medieval music of Praetorius.  Why did Christmas demand to have a soundtrack that included so much from the medieval and Renaissance? The last bulb up, I stand back as the Roche’s version of Sleigh Ride adds a joyful note to the air.

Bing crones White Christmas
Ancient boxes hold treasure
Gingerbread spices
Sounds heard but once every year
Add sparkle to old glass bulbs

***

These two poems were written for Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Challenge. This week the theme was Holiday Traditions, so I used it as a title as well. We were each to add a cinquin to Coleen’s start, but I had accidentally already written a haibun with a tanka, so am adding both. I hope you enjoy!

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Oh, BTW, the bulb in the photo above is one of the ones from that package that cost a dollar back when I was in my early 20s.

13 thoughts on “Holiday Traditions #tanka #haibun #cinquain”

    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Something about those old bulbs, perhaps that we only see them once a year, and time of year filled with memories at that, make them more valuable than other keepsakes from childhood.

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  2. Pingback: TANKA TUESDAY POETRY CHALLENGE STARS | Theme Challenge: Holiday Traditions ~ Cinquain | Word Craft ~ Prose & Poetry

  3. memadtwo

    Ornaments hold so many images, and you’ve captured that well. My daughters each got to pick out a new ornament for the tree every Christmas when they were growing up, and we smile at the memories on the tree every year. And then there are all the ones they made at school…(K)

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