#tankaTuesday

resounding

bells
answer
each other
ringing over
and over as they
tangle with the wind, spin
sailing into echoed waves–
voices patterning the air with
streaming currents, orbed layers of song

A reverse nonet for Colleen’s #TankaTuesday words, mingle and drift.

I had an idea for the art and I did a few different versions with ink and watercolor on rice paper. Although none are exactly what I had in mind, they all have aspects I like.

Also linking to dVerse OLN.

and as a bonus two very different versions of The Carol of the Bells

Tossed Between What Is Not

I open my eyes to
solitary mornings–
no clear signs or warnings
of what comes next.

I can’t travel through time
when days seem to be
horizonless—empty,
lost in details.

What is important can
never be known until
it is gone—and we fill
the unseen with

repetition as we
continue—hoping then
hiding—wondering when
we will move on.

I formulate questions
that have no proper place–
the answers hesitate–
waiting. Waiting.

For Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday, poet’s choice. I decided to try a new form from The Poet’s Collective index of Syllabic Poetry Forms. This one is call abhanga, an Indian poetic form that has a 6/6/6/4 syllable count with a rhyme on the middle two lines.

It seems easy, but it was not, at least for me. I also wasn’t sure what I was writing about, but in the end, it seems to summarize 2020 for me. The art was an exercise I saw to do a shadow doll. That also seems appropriate for this strange year.

beyond dawn

I was thinking about the painting I did yesterday when I consulted the Oracle this morning. A shadorma for Colleen’s #tankatuesday. Sue Vincent provided the inspiration with her haiku, below.

clouds cover the moon,
beyond dawn’s pale horizon
sun rises unseen

sky of still
water—open me
to borning,
this healing
breath that listens to stars be
tween morning and night

transfiguration

she spins
a new cocoon…
wings folded, form fading,
reflecting back as ghost shadows
–enter–
the dark circle of the forest
moves ever closer as
time compresses
–itself–
quiescent…what
is done is done…what will
emerge as the continuum
–expands–
unbounded, uncharted, starborne
she waits…her elements
recombined as
essence

I used the (repeated) butterfly cinquain form because Diana Peach’s #photoprompt illustration, above, for Colleen’s #TankaTuesday, made me think immediately of a butterfly/cocoon.

For the artwork I did a painting inspired by the illustration and then fooled around with it in Photoshop to try to convey a feeling of metamorphosis.

Veterans Day NYC 2020

salutes spaced
between vehicles–
ghostboots march
silently
in formation—echos caught
in mind’s eye–the tears

As with seemingly every celebration in 2020, the Veteran’s Day parade today here in NYC was largely symbolic–“a caravan of 100 vehicles with no spectators”–a shadow of the usual ceremony of 20-30,000 participants.

For Colleen’s #Tanka Tuesday where the words are imagine and gratitude, and Peter Frankis’ prompt at dVerse, where the task is to write about something from the local news (https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/new-york/articles/2020-11-11/car-caravan-replaces-parade-at-nyc-veterans-day-observance)

parabola

all
most dreamed
synthesized
otherworldly this
hour this hidden light
found by shifting seasons
like a song already known
a secret spellbound heartsown with
haunted melodies resonating
as echoes returned from a lost refrain

For Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday where the prompts this week were a photo provided by Trent McDonald (above) and/or synonyms for the words “MOVE & MAKE” provided by David Ellis.

navigations

superimposed lines–
pick them up, examine
the landscapes beneath,

follow the intersections–
the map of bodyworn years

I chose the theme for Colleen’s #Tanka Tuesday prompt #192, Maps, but did not get a chance to post my response. When I pulled it out to look at it this morning it took awhile to remember my creative process.

I wanted to use a map of NYC and a self-portrait and layer them somehow. I had seen a layered piece of art that used holes cut in the top layer which I liked. The challenge was to make the holes work with the portrait underneath.

As usual, I managed to take off a few years from my face in my drawing, but otherwise I think it’s a pretty good likeness. Our faces contain many maps, but sometimes you have to look closely to see them.

the beach at night

eclipsed mandala s

can moonlight tumble?
reflections transformed by waves–
diamonds in the foam

moonlight tumbles–
reflections transformed–
diamond foam

moon
light
foam

For Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday where the theme, chosen by Franci Hoffman, is the night sky. I did not get to the beach this year, but I’m remembering the magic of past summer nights by the ocean.

And once again using art from the archives.