Tanka Sequence

ARRIVAL

gray dawn

the gray smell of coal smoke

against gray buildings;

a stranger in a foreign city

will it ever be home?

exploring the streets

the rapid speech of locals

carried in the wind

tentatively I ask

for directions 

cold wind down my neck

my string bag bulges

with groceries

at the end of the first day

a lighter step to my walk

Modern English Tanka 2007

Haibun

SOLITUDE 

An afternoon alone.  Children at school, husband at work.  The early spring sunshine lights up the woods across from our apartment.  From the fourth floor, looking down and across, the trees appear to be dusted with a pale green fuzz. I don boots and jacket and follow the call to get closer. 

I walk along a stream, the ground squishy with decomposed leaves. Wild primroses yellow, white, pink–small and delicate, barely noticeable in the leaf debris.  Zig-zagging my steps, the squelching mud splashes inside my boots.  The stream, clear and cold, ticks along, changing its voice as it meets rocks and fallen branches. No sounds except the stream, the snap of twigs, the cheep, cheep of an unseen bird.

  

woodland ramble

neither meditating

nor day dreaming;

just an empty vessel

ready to fill

LYNX winter 2014  

Haiga: Symphony in Yellow

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