tanka | a poem in my pocket

cluttered operations

19 Oct 2018 5 Comments

by lynn__ in senryu, tanka Tags: cobwebs, dusty, gears, machinery, mind

sometimes my mind’s stuck–

dusty old machinery

squeaks thru cobwebbed paths

thankful, though gears of mind are

well-used, still serviceable

photo by lynn

least resistance

14 Oct 2018 2 Comments

by lynn__ in question poem, tanka Tags: creek, floodwaters, rains, snow melt, toads, water

Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.

-Lao Tzu

creek overflows banks

floodwaters rise with fall rains

toads tired of swimming

what is softer than snow melt?

what is stronger than water?

Quote and inspiration from Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.

autumn bounty

26 Sep 2018 6 Comments

by lynn__ in tanka Tags: autumn, cornfield, deer, harvest, orange, pheasant, seasons

harvest harmonized

pheasant struts from ripe cornfield

deer leaps pumpkin patch

culmination of seasons

color life deep rich orange

photo by lynn

My tanka response to Ramblings of a Writer’s prompt: seasons, harmonized.

time winds down

23 Sep 2018 2 Comments

by lynn__ in distillation, tanka Tags: eternal, hours, LORD, minutes, time

Challenge at CDHK to “distill” the following poem by Tagore:

Time is endless in thy hands, my lord [LORD].
There is none to count thy minutes.

Days and nights pass and ages bloom and fade like flowers.
Thou knowest how to wait.

Thy centuries follow each other perfecting a small wild flower.

We have no time to lose,
and having no time we must scramble for a chance.
We are too poor to be late.

And thus it is that time goes by
while I give it to every querulous man who claims it,
and thine altar is empty of all offerings to the last.

At the end of the day I hasten in fear lest thy gate be shut;
but I find that yet there is time.

(see my “distillation” below in tanka form)

“Endless Time”

trace curved flow of hours

marked by celestial bodies

— our minutes’ limits —

seek face of eternal LORD

above / beyond track of time

because i am

04 Sep 2018 4 Comments

by lynn__ in distillation, haiku, tanka Tags: journey, soul, tears, universe

Gitanjali, Song Offerings sounds amazing but can you bring it back to its essential meaning and create a haiku with it? That’s the goal for Carpe Diem’s weekend distillation…

The time that my journey takes is long and the way of it long.
I came out on the chariot of the first gleam of light,
and pursued my voyage through the wildernesses of worlds
leaving my track on many a star and planet.
It is the most distant course that comes nearest to thyself,
and that training is the most intricate which leads to the utter simplicity of a tune.
The traveller has to knock at every alien door to come to his own,
and one has to wander through all the outer worlds to reach
the innermost shrine at the end.
My eyes strayed far and wide before
I shut them and said `Here art thou!’
The question and the cry `Oh, where?’ melt into tears of a thousand streams
and deluge the world with the flood of the assurance `I am!’

my distillation haiku:

inner universe
who comprehends one’s own soul?
recognition’s tears

and i add 2 lines for tanka:

find identity in God
Creator, greater “I AM”