Tag: Tanka Tuesday

poetry

Ash

Sally20 Comments
Quercus2018, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Yes, I am rooted, but a tree?
Hmm… let me see
I am
Ash

A baseball bat
That can
Smash

New ideas
In a
Flash

Remember the days of Buzzfeed quizzes?

Maybe they still exist, but I’m off Facebook and make only sporadic appearances on other social media. I no longer daily try to find out what Disney princess I am, or type of pizza, or variety of apple.

I think I’ve become more interested in real-life-me than Buzzfeed-me.

So when the Tanka Tuesday prompt was my spirit animal (see: Turtle), I almost didn’t do it. I’m glad I did. I learned that I am, in fact, very turtle-y.

This week, they asked what tree I am.

For what it’s worth, I am an Ash Tree. The stuff of baseball bats, hockey sticks, doors, floors, and stair treads.

Tough, yet flexible — maybe.

Enchanting? Hahahaha – no.

But there are few things I love more than smashing a new idea into a home run.

Poem type: Zeno — Syllable count: 8-4-2-1-4-2-1-4-2-1. Rhyme scheme: a-b-c-d-e-f-d-g-h-d

poetry

Unicorn

Sally12 Comments

Underneath the sparkles and glitter —
No — lose that shiny excess litter —
I see strength — such strength that must be chained
Chained, crown around its neck, constrained,
Or is it? No, no — not a quitter–
Rugged, royal, powerful, proud,
Not subdued. No knee is bowed.

Unicorn was one of the prompt words for Tanka Tuesday. The challenge was to write an acrostic poem.

Honestly, I looked at the list of words and none of them struck me. I’m not a sparkly, glittery sort of person — especially in this chapter of my life. But, man oh man oh man, do I love that Scotland has the unicorn as its national animal. Fiercely independent and untamable, he is the heart of Scotland.

23 words · poetry

Lady Agnew of Lochnaw

Sally4 Comments

She cinched it too tight –
I can hardly breathe, and yet
Composed, I pose here,
While imagining little
Ways to punish that servant

I’m going beyond the 23 words of my Ekphrastic Tanka (5-7-5-7-7) — To be honest, I’m not really sure I did the Tanka right because I know good poetry is more that counting syllables.

Lady Agnew of Lochnaw (by John Singer Sargent) looks annoyed, doesn’t she? That’s all I see when I look at the painting.

And yet that seems so unfair to Lady Agnew. What if I’m just projecting my own annoyances onto her.

How about this tanka, instead.

I’m going to sneeze
I mean it — I can feel it
Rising, rising up –
So that my eyes smart [breathe in,
Relax, slowly breathe] — ACHOO

Really, it’s a lovely painting. I’m not trying to make fun of Lady Agnew. I want to know what she’s thinking. Is it deeper thoughts than the little annoyances she may be experiencing?