Category Archives: Poem

Poems

Dreamscape #tanka

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Super quick sketch…

Places in the fog
Once familiar yet different
Past and future twirl
A crack in the Universe
Is it in my mind or real?

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This was written for Colleen’s weekly Poetry Challenge. This week we were to work with the concept of “Dreams“. I chose to write a tanka.

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What does the image at the top have to do with the subject of the poem? A few months back I had a really strange dream. While trying to describe it to Sue Vincent, I decided to draw a quick picture. I later added it to the post (which you can see if you go to the post).

Deluge #Tanka #Ekphrastic

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Image by Michael Bußmann from Pixabay

Thunder in my ear
Torrent pulls all into void
But then there is you
Storm’s raging maelstrom paints grey
Your bright rainbow shields me

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This was written for Colleen’s weekly Poetry Challenge. This week she provided the wonderful photo at the top. What we wrote was up to us, though she suggested doing an Ekphrastic and to talk about the psychology of color. I chose to write a tanka.

Still and Moving Life #tanka

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Precise lines define
A casual arrangement
All relaxed yet snug
Between exact and sloppy
Sketch my day in shades of life

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This was written for Colleen’s weekly poetry challenge. This week she gave us two words, Loose and Tight, and asked us to include synonyms of those words. I chose to write a tanka today.

A little over a week ago I went through some sketch pads and found a few old drawings. If you remember, I used a pastel of Notre Dame for my poem last week. This drawing is from a class I took many years ago. I’ve been trying to find an excuse to use it, and now I have one :)

Chalk Dust #haibun #senryu

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It is so solid, strong, that I feel it must last forever.  Until disaster proves that nothing is forever.  I feel so solid, strong, I feel I can last forever.  Until…

Chalk dust
Pastel sky
Fragile

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This was written for Collen’s weekly poetry challenge. This is the first Tuesday of the month, so it is poet’s choice. I chose a haibun with a senryu (or maybe a haiku) that I did in a 2-3-2 form.

I was digging through some old drawings and found this from May of 2001 – 20 years ago! I had just returned from Paris and used a photo I had taken of Notre Dame for this pastel drawing. The cherry trees were in bloom while we were there…

In Between #badgerhexastitch

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Look back
Where I have gone
History in footfalls
My feet now in the sand
Yearn to write more
Future

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This was written for Colleen’s weekly poetry challenge. This week we are to use synonyms for the words Past and Present. Colleen also encouraged us to try using the form “Badger Hexastitch”, which is a six-line unrhymed poem with the syllabic form of 2-4-6-6-4-2.

Holiday Traditions #tanka #haibun #cinquain

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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

Continue reading →

Living Landscape #tanka

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Image by Barbara A Lane from Pixabay

The hills reflect you
The wind is filled with your scent
The birds call your name
You may not be by my side
But in nature, I find you

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This was written for Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Challenge. This week’s challenge was to write an ekphrastic poem based on the watercolor that Colleen provided (top of page – Image by Barbara A Lane from Pixabay). I wrote a tanka for the challenge.

(Ekphrastic poetry explores art. It is poetry that gives the poet’s impression of a work of art. It can describe it, but it can also tell a story about the work or give the poet’s impression on seeing the visual artwork.)

Snowfall #haiku

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A whirling white mix
Crystalline forms pirouette
Grand dance of winter

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Written for Colleen’s weekly poetry challenge. This week we were given two words but could only use synonyms. The words were mingle and drift. I wrote a haiku.

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There is a piece of music by Claude Debussy, “Snow is Dancing” or, another translation, “Snowflakes are Dancing”. I was thinking of that. I love the electronic version by synth genius, Isao Tomita:

(Click here if you don’t see video below)

Perspective #tanka

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A light in the void
That dot is another world
Complete on its own
Infinite patterns of space
Does it make me small or big?

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This was written for Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Challenge. This week was poet’s choice. I decided to write tanka and use a photo I recently took of Jupiter and the four Galilean moons. The discovery of the moons, distant worlds all of their own having nothing to do with Earth, caused a panic in the minds of a world that thought humans were the reason for the Universe to exist.