Folk music from Anatolia, Turkey, featured on Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.
masculine eagles
follow baglama, drum, reed,
— dissonant music —
colorful, tassled dancers
proudly prance tradition’s steps
zeybek dance
05 Aug 2018 Leave a comment
in music poem, tanka Tags: dancers, drum, eagles, music, tassled
tarantella
04 Aug 2018 2 Comments
in tanka Tags: bite, dance, piano, spider, tarantella
Folk music from southern Italy featured on Carpe Diem Haiku Kai .
feel venomous bite
pain and fevered frenzy rise
dance of wolf spider
son plays piano music
fingers bounce faster–faster!
still life
25 Jul 2018 1 Comment
in tanka Tags: attic, bouquet, dresser, grandma, lily of valley, vase
exploring attic
reclaim grandma’s old dresser
drawers of mementos
from her youthful adventures
lily of valley bouquet
still together
22 Jul 2018 12 Comments
in tanka Tags: boat, lake, squall, witnesses
lake now mirror calm
abandoned boat rests shallow
ghost tree witnesses
she stood up in sudden squall
he could not swim…sky howls
In memory of victims of recent duck boat accident on Table Rock Lake, Branson MO. (Image from Carpe Diem Haiku Kai)
chinese empress
03 Jul 2018 5 Comments
in haiku, tanka Tags: angel, blossom, empress, mountain, paulownia, sunlight
This tanka began as a “fusion” haiku inspired by Carpe Diem Haiku Kai…
in mountain meadow
source: leafsnap.com
one paulownia blossom
flutters through sunlight
like an angel, brings message
of creator’s intentions
Note: The paulownia tree, native to China, is also called “empress tree”.
_____________
Combination of these two haiku:
a distant mountain
seen in the sunlight:
a desolate field
a leaf of a paulownia tree
has fallen
in the sunlight
© Takahama Kyoshi (Tr. Katsuya Hiromoto)
for us and our posterity…
30 Jun 2018 9 Comments
in tanka Tags: constitution, freedom, govern, independence, law
liberty in law
men died for independence
let’s govern ourselves
constitutional freedoms
preserved in the bill of rights
LET
FREEDOM
RING !
Linking to Frank J. Tassone’s Haiku Challenge…
shincha flavors life
07 Jun 2018 2 Comments
in tanka Tags: chai, cup, gratitude, leaves, workers
Carpe Diem Haiku Kai‘s early summer kigo word is shincha, meaning new tea.
black? chai? or rooibos?
search for favorite cup as
workers pick tea leaves
remember hours of labor
gratitude steeping new brew
shy century
05 Jun 2018 5 Comments
in senryu, tanka Tags: birthday, cake, century, grandma, heaven, party
hoped to celebrate
grandma’s one hundredth birthday
but she passed away…
left us behind with no cake
she’s partying in heaven!
Elsie’s 100th tanka challenge at Ramblings of a Writer. My dear Grandma Gertie nearly reached 100 years…can you imagine living for a century?
altiplano camelid
01 Jun 2018 Leave a comment
in tanka Tags: alpaca, camelid, fleece, foreigners, pasture
Alpacas are fascinating! Read more about them here: island alpaca site
drive by pasture…look!
alpacas in iowa?
friendly hums and pronks
warm-eyed foreigners adapt
produce luxurious fleece
steer back to midnight
24 May 2018 Leave a comment
in tanka Tags: farmer, finances, lovers, moonlight, steers, wife
farmer at salebarn
hoping steers go for good price
wife at home pays bills
has daily-ness forgotten
the nights as moonlight lovers?
Tanka for MLMM & Chevrefeuille’s “heeding haiku” prompt: moonlight lovers
hesitant spring
22 May 2018 Leave a comment
in tanka Tags: games, plum, prince, snow, spring
Wood block print from MET Japanese collection…
rough and tumble games
prince haru with palace view
does not join his peers
will he be next emperor?
late snow covers plum blossoms
tarashikomi style
14 May 2018 Leave a comment
in tanka Tags: art, ink, Japanese, monk, painting, persimmon, screen
Tweetspeak poets at the MET Japanese art exhibit…
gold fold-screen panel
graceful brushstrokes of mottled ink
lone tree jags bare sky
artful monk desires fuyu—
persimmon, red-orange ripe
*note: persimmon’s Latin name means “food of the gods”
by Sakai Hoitsu, 1816
