Short Form – Tanka

The prompt from the Poetic Asides blog by Robert Brewer for the Countdown to PAD Challenge today is a “Short Form Poem.” Playing my game, though he did not mention tanka in his list, I chose it. Tanka are counted syllable poems of 5-7-5-7-7, and I love them.

Priorities

Now this weight gain seems
Definitely less awful,
Like the defiant
Mind, body, invoked wisdom
Choosing protection as goal.

Mirth

Laughter sneaks into
The space between silences,
Frothing out over
The loving cup which splashes
Pleasantries freely abroad.

Okay, so we know I could do these all day long. No one needs me to test my limits.

If you are a poet, writer, or really any kind of creator, I recommend you go to Poetic Asides and jump in with your own brand of creativity.

Almost True

I will not say
How
But these restless hours know
I am saturated
In a willful wild
Wantingness
That remains always unmet.
Sometimes in the twilit
Moments between awakened
And that fond
Escalation
Into dreaming,
I know some success
Which lingers only
A whisper delayed
Like
The stilling of the caressing
Hands on the face
Of a cuckoo clock,
Let to fall silent by an
Accident
Of neglect no one
Managed to prevent.
Time is transparent
But the break
Sinks hope beneath margins
And the glimpse of dazzling
Other
Has no fuel to write it,
No tool to catch it
Bind such dreams to present
Presence
Being reality might accept
Such opportunities developed
Possibilities, but the lines
Diverge
Like traffic headed for those
Destinations
East, North, South, West,
Deepening the dream
Almost caught, realized,
But need calls for rising,
Amnesia ensues.

The prompt for Prompted Positive Poetry was Dreams.

The dogs and I got out here today so I am including us.

I hope all are well and not overmuch inconvenienced by events. You are in my thoughts. I wrote five poems today should you care to read them all. May we all return to our standard lives as soon as safety allows.

Overwhelm

We are not
What is seen in looking,
We are
Tsunamis
Breaking upon shores
Of non-attendance,
Overflowing with
Abundances of LOVE,
Overcoming hesitance
That stifles generosity,
Conquering those tendencies
To cloister ourselves
Looking away,
Welcoming only companions;
Nevermore!
Our storm-wake recognizes
The outright necessity
Of every life,
Honored, treasured, valued
As even we, ourselves.
The world is not
A vague projected concept –
It is us,
Every person counted,
Matter and meaning,
Not something which
Must be sought and earned
With transitory achievement
But a given right of survival.

Ascent

Have we
In this maddening confusion
Somehow
Found the thing
We always wanted?
Is acceptance finally
Come
Available as a torch through
These shadows we
Believed
Impenetrable
Pushed aside by the leveling
Become
Extraordinary necessity for
All of us.
Can the lesser important
Reach
The rare air of those greater
Who
Little knew how dark was
Living in their shadows,
Fighting the chill
When forced
Into places of inactivity?
Now eyes
Widened open
Appreciate what passed
Unseen below the surface
Of the glacier.
Enlightened thoughts become
The flames upon
The pyre of past rejection
Burning
Wild and catching breath
Enough to spread prayers,
Devotions, incantations
To hearts of melting love.

Persona

A pebble covered
In the dead gray ashes left
Behind in the wake
Of a spectacular blaze
Only found with difficulty.
Yes, the description
Fits the personality,
But also the crimson
Bloom coming into focus
As the morning fogs disperse.
The wind challenging
The sea to charge on faster
Beating back boulders
Who were placed at such mercy
Before Earth gained memory.
The knowledge captured
In the words become magic
Given life, light, love
A testimony traveled
From an ever questing heart.
Guessing character?
One so well a familiar
A simple delight,
Given heart, soul, grown bolder
Recognized, now, poetry.

This is in answer to the prompt at Poetic Asides today.