Tri-tanka XIV – tanka

Concluding Tri-tanka week (7 of 7)

Tanka week is done
well…when you’ve read this it is
Seven days of verse
each with syllabic sequence
replicated thrice each day

Five and seven and
five and seven and seven
Five lines, thirty-one
syllables to frame each verse
Heralding poetic voice

Tanka week is done
By and by there will be more
This is cathartic
so to it I will return
as it is a favourite

©Jemverse

Picture – ‘Hayase’ by Yoshida Hiroshi (1933)

Tri-tanka XIII – Saturday

6 of 7 for Tri-tanka week

Following coffee
my Saturday slow starting
pauses yet again
Cathartic indecision
rules and I’m happy with that

For this is my rest
Snoozing may well play a part
staring into space
and doing little except
drinking coffee and resting

Music plays a part
as will reading and a game
or another snooze
For this is my Saturday
mine to do with as I choose

©Jemverse

Picture – ‘Hayase’ by Yoshida Hiroshi (1933)

Tri-tanka XII – morning

5 of 7 for Tri-tanka week

It is quiet now
and dark and silent and still
Night-time clings on here
determined not to let go
Failing as the morning comes

Light slowly merges
The darkness slip-slides away
as a new day dawns
Witness to awakening
this is privilege indeed

And here to welcome
without fail the dawn chorus
Lifting voice I sing
and join this happy refrain
for morning has come again

©Jemverse

Picture – ‘Hayase’ by Yoshida Hiroshi (1933)

Tri-tanka XI – Shining

4 of 7 for Tri-Tanka week

Throughout and shining
lighting night into morning
driven by the sun
solar for the twinkling time
little lights to guide the way

Iridescent here
friend to nightlife passing by
foxes and the like
clamour to the twinkling time
here for them and here for me

Luminescence
guaranteed here night by night
diamond-like it
glows here for the twinkling time
echoing the stars above

©Jemverse

Picture – ‘Hayase’ by Yoshida Hiroshi (1933)

Tri-tanka X – tall

3 of 7 for Tri-Tanka week

Majestic it stands
steadfast through the many years
Stoic and resigned
yet with aire of regal poise
absent of all arrogance

Resolute through change
Bereft of foliage it stands
through the winter months
sometimes bound to howling gale
or to frigid iron ice

Commanding an awe
insignificant I stand
and look up and up
to the majestic tall one
ever here and ever near

©Jemverse

Picture – ‘Hayase’ by Yoshida Hiroshi (1933)

Tri-tanka IX – Joy

2 of 7 for Tri-tanka week

It was full of sun
so I ran and I ran
and bounded about
for this is my expression
of joy in its purest form

It was full of sun
so we watched him run and run
and happily bound
This too is our expression
of joy in its purest form

It was full of sun
so we soaked up the Springtime
us three in our field
For this is our expression
of joy in its purest form

©Jemverse

Picture – ‘Hayase’ by Yoshida Hiroshi (1933)

Beginning VII (aka Tri-tanka VIII-beginning)

7 of 12 in the Jemverse ’12 months IV’ series
(& 1 of 7 in Tri-tanka week)

And so March begins
The promises multiply
from nature and man
for spring time and other things
providing wisdom remains

And so March is here
with sunshine already strong
its lack-lustre passed
as it pushes to summer
encouraging new growth

And so March begins
May we please use it wisely
and bring fruition
for it has been a long year
and we are so very close

©Jemverse

Picture – ‘Hayase’ by Yoshida Hiroshi (1933)

Tri-tanka VII (Music)

Music it is said
is today the food of life
Soul food for the mind
Often hungry, it satisfies
Momentarily it fills

Many flavours here
to sample, taste and enjoy
for my sustenance
So yes, I will fill my boots
a bon vivant for music

Never filled I crave
more of this bountiful spread
Always listening
my table is never bare
for a wealth beyond measure

©Jemverse

Photo – Jempics

Tri-tanka VI (Autumn)

Heralding a new series
next week to grace these pages
a little taster
Something of the joy to come
to picture Autumn’s treasure

Fifteen lines of prose
crafted in three tankas here
combined together
allowing me the freedom
from a metrical structure

to paint a picture
filled with yellows, reds and gold
cornucopia
for an Autumn treasure trove
captured in the poet’s voice

©Jemverse

Photo – Jempics

[The Jemverse ‘Autumn’ series starts here on 22 October]

Six poetics #2 (Tanka)

2 in a series of 6

A ‘tanka’ today
as to the beach I return
for September sun
Basking in its warmth and light
for one more day of summer

©Jemverse

Tanka – Japanese expressive poetry comprising 31 syllables over 5 lines in a sequence of 5, 7, 5, 7, 7

Photo – ‘Half Moon Bridge’ (1940) by Yoshida Toshi (1911-1995