Tanka
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Sequence
M. Kei, US, US
Remembering the
Alamo
“You may go to
hell,
and I will go to Texas.”
—Davy
Crockett
thirty-five years
since the dust of Texas
stained my boots,
I wonder if I can
find the family graves*
what lesson
was I supposed to learn?
staring at white heroes
surrounded by the walls
of the Alamo**
This is the room
where Davy Crockett died.
later,
my mother
eating jalapeños
feeling hungover
after only one drink,
the bitter taste
of a party where***
I am a stranger
saltwater
drying on my back,
sun slipping
into the shadowed place
you will not follow
*Previously published in
Ash Moon: Tanka on Aging. Baltimore, MD: Modern
English Tanka Press, 2008.
**Previously
published in
Simply Haiku: A Quarterly Journal of Japanese Short Form
Poetry, 5:3. Autumn, 2007.
***Previously
published in
Simply Haiku: A Quarterly Journal of Japanese Short Form
Poetry, 5:3. Autumn, 2007.
Tanka
John Daleiden,
US
a new voice
singing in our garden—
Spring has arrived:
new seeds sown in fertile soil
create exotic blooms!—
Tanka
Elizabeth
Howard, US
where slivers of
ice
floated last week
this warm sunny day
tiny fish dash about
like quicksilver
spring rain
a kestrel flying
water everywhere
no palm branch
no rainbow
Tanka
Magdalena Dale,
RO
Unutterable
yearning
in pursuit of happiness
always on the way…
a wave which come back
dashing against the rock.
Day after day
a yearning in my soul
a calling…
this lime in blossom
only in my day dream
deep in my
heart
my dreams are more acute
a remembrance?
I still feel the thrill
of the gentle touch
Birds of
passage
stopped from their flying…
pure thoughts
in the fragrant chalice
of our hearts
Still of the
night
between crickets and stars
this yearning…
always looking for love
but nevermore with you
Tanka
Andreas Gripp
Our daughter
races,
attempting to catch the birds.
If she had the wings
of a pigeon, she'd leave us,
dropping occasional notes.
Fire is our
future,
we learned in astrophysics.
Dharma says detach:
the sun to swell and swallow,
with even the ashes gone.
*from
Beads on Blossoms. Andreas Gripp. Canada: Harmonia
Press. March 2008.
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