Do you ever get so caught up in the moment(s) that you forget how to listen? How to see? A couple days off have been good for my soul. The way out of myself has often been through praise, through giving thanks, so this is an appropriate time to stick my head out of my clam shell and look around.
Here are a couple kinda-sorta tanka written in the spirit of thanksgiving for having been there to notice. You might call them danke tanka, if you were a little bit corny. 🙂
Photo Credit: Evan Leeson via Compfight
near the river’s bend
bare willows kneel, supple
under the azure sky —
a poem squeaks quietly
on rusty hinges.
cold gray morning fog —
through the frosted branches
a crow chortles
exhorting his sagging heart
to sing along.
Ha! Danke Tanka! I guess I’m corny because I like it!!
Oh, that squeaky poem!
Oh, that sagging heart!
These are quite lovely. And the photo is a perfect complement.
Thank you for reading these, Mary Lee. I love it that you have this corny streak, too! 🙂
I’ve been overwhelmed by the teaching life lately, enough so that poems have arrived in smaller flocks than I’d like. It was great to be able to live in the moment a bit more last week; a well-lived moment is usually the source of any poems I am able to write.