Rudolph refuses
leading the sleigh on Yule Eve
good luck in that fog
he says to other reindeer
you just like my nose, not me
Category: Tanka
1196
dolls nestle
within dolls
within dolls
within dolls
within spies
883
to make a death rattle
clear your throat politely
letting the angel
handling reservations
know you’re next
875
running, yelling
who’ll be police
who’ll be gangstas
who’ll chalk the bodies
little boys at play
781
living in a house
of nine small rooms
then stepping outside
into bright sunshine–
our buddha nature
(Paraphrase of Daisaku Ikeda,
The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra, vol. 4)
777
where are the boys
up before sunrise
to hurl ink smeared
newspapers into hedges
and milk bottles
741
splashing in rainbows
shards of strobe lightning
southern comforted soul
grates pieces of her heart
into the microphones
(for Janis, of course)
669
hitch-hiking along
the Oregon coast
ten thousand candles
blaze just for me
and ships at sea
592
you’ve gone where
fully packed stadiums
wait, chant, and clap
for you to read your verse
and speak their hearts
537/tanka
struts and shocks are shot
on our old sturdy Camry
wife wants a new car
with no dashboard cassette deck
for my Eagles collection
六十六 (Rewrite)
534/tanka
drop by drop by drop
that bamboo pail grows fuller
bangs on a boulder
a gunshot scaring away
deer feasting in the garden
六十六
Dark Matter tanka
Creation’s a tree
of ornaments, lights, tinsel
so bedazzling
its dark branches go unseen
cradling the galaxies.
414/ tanka
maybe after all
there’s God, Angels, gold slippers
my church goer friends
catcalling downwards to me
see, told you so, told you so
405 / tanka
for jacking prices
on drugs five thousand percent
I will seek you out
to bargain with in Hades
a small drop of ice water
377/ tanka
everyday my aunt
in her old ramshackle house
shifts hiding places
for her cash and jewelry
stumbles on hidden treasures
329/ tanka
in Hiroshima
on a tram at ground zero
overhead wires
short out– a ferocity
of light floods the crowded car
328/ tanka
where are paperboys
marauders on bicycles
flycasting ink-smeared
Chronicles into hedges
and bowling down milk bottles?
303/ tanka
She speaks of her days
As courtesan long ago
To the royal court
Her famed eyelashes spiders
Behind her fluttering fan
269 tanka
when caught in headlights
they whip out top hats and canes
make a chorus line
that’s how shy our blacktail deer
in my town are becoming
Tanka 5/14/15
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