just by chance
the trail of a falling star
all my life
this unpredictability
of grace
Michele
L. Harvey (USA)
from GUSTS 13, 2011
trying
to tightly wrap
my anxiety
this furoshiki should do
with its flying cranes
Sanford
Goldstein (Japan) from GUSTS 13, 2011
like so much
of my life
this morning's snow
now spattered
with mud
Paul
Smith (England)
passion play . . .
I can't help but notice
the actor
portraying Jesus
is gorgeous
Joanne
Morcom
(Canada)
long gone
all the certainties
of youth
before me in the lake
something dark, turning
Paul Smith (England)
washing
over me today
the immense
dark silence
of sea
Paul Smith
(England)
bringing a pot of coffee
& cigarettes
to my mother's grave\
we have never spoken
so honestly
Pamela
A. Babusci (USA)
friends think
you are cheating...
come in from
moonviewing
& kiss me
Pamela
A. Babusci (USA)
she plays
the harp like
a river of passion...
at night, it's coffee
& solitaire
Pamela
A. Babusci (USA)
on the lake
blue heron
meets its shadow
no words can explain
your touch
Natalia
L. Rudychev (USA)
<April 1,
2007>
Some
long tanka in this page were removed because they didn't sound
like tanka (short poem). Before
submitting, please check the length of your tanka. Keep about 20
English syllables (about 10 to 15 words, or up to 20 words at max.)
I look at the blue sea
the blue sky
in wonder
gently they turn
into night
kala
ramesh (India)
barefoot
on warm sand
my toes
inches from the whole
Atlantic Ocean
Art
Stein (USA)
every night
autumn comes
when the clock shows 9:30
with the sound of
your leaving steps
Sara
Nasiri (Iran)
quiet
apartment. . .
in Dad's sweater drawer
a new gray cardigan
neatly folded
buttonholes unstretched
Peggy
Heinrich
(USA)
tidying
up ---
on a yellowed
piece of paper
a love poem
you never showed me
Grant D.
Savage (Canada)
only
once
my heart whispered
this is love...
the astonishing
simplicity
in just being together
Melissa
Dixon (Canada)
sifting
your ashes
through my fingers
one grain at a time
like a rosary in a temple
made of cards
robert d. wilson
(USA)
I
look up from her letter,
my worst fear realized,
just in time to see
a goldfinch leave
the thistle's purple bloom
Larry Kimmel
(USA)
postcard
from a
lost love
written
in red
found
in his mailbox
one day
after the
funeral
Darrell
Lindsey (USA)
encounterd
in the autumn of life,
though hopeless,
our love
was redolent
Aya Yuhki
(Japan)
my
uncle
they took him away
behind big iron gates
down a road lined by poplars
losing their leaves
Jenny Barnard
(Australia)
strange how jokers
can understand each other
in a simple toast
garden party with cider
and swinging gipsy music
Geert Verbeke (Belgium)
& then
that tiny dappled
thing
just turned
& swam off
through the trees
and clouds
Marianne
Bluger (Canada)
pale pink
trembling
on a twig tip
the first magnolia
cups the light of dawn
Marianne
Bluger (Canada)
walking
home
in
November mist
the
weight
in
my hand
of
one red rose
Angela
Leuck (Canada)
the green bowl
filled with them
beside my bed
the apple-fragrance
of my sleep
June
Moreau (USA)
how can I tell
you about them,
in the light of day,
the fruit I gathered
from the orchard of sleep
June
Moreau (USA)
come
with me
in
cherry blossom time,
then
surely
you
will start to share
my
passion for Japan
Amelia
Fielden (Australia)
the last train
in a dream
i get on it
with
the embalmer
ai
li (England)
on that night train
to nowhere
the leaves
at
my feet
ai
li (England)
<Feb 17,
2004>
Two musicians from the City of Birmingham
Symphony
Orchestra (UK) used four tanka poems in this page for their music
project
for children.
The four tanka poems are Margaret Chula's "winter
solstice" and " a butterfly", Aya Yuhki's "blowing up", and Marianne
Bluger's
"real". The children composed music using those poems under the
instruction
of Ulf
Aberg and Jackie Tyler and performed in their school. It is very
heart-warming
to know that English tanka poems are used in this way.
winter solstice
this bitter night
I sit alone
and listen to the clock
ticking toward light
(selected for a
music
project by BSO) Margaret Chula (USA)
biting
into
the peach
it
seemed
it
did
kiss
me
Michael
McClintock (USA)
awakened
in the middle of the night
by the wind
or is it instead
the sting of regret?
Angela
Leuck (Canada)
yellow moon
and a sapphire wind
that sparkles with stars ---
did you ever see
such a night
June
Moreau (USA)
a butterfly perches
on the bamboo chair
breathing in the rain
if I were alone
I would dance
(selected for a
music
project by BSO) Margaret
Chula (USA)
riding the wind
the essential sound of
shakuhachi
soars across the world
into the galaxy
Taro
Miura (Japan)
blowing
up
myriad
petals
of
cherry blossoms
the
wind seems tipsy
morning
and night
(selected
for a music
project by BSO)Aya Yuhki (Japan)
a
day last year
my
husband still alive
doing
this and that;
ah,
silver needle
pricking
me
Aya
Yuhki (Japan)
a
shooting star
vanishes
swiftly
like
a memory
which
I cannot
recall
Kozue
Uzawa (Canada)
with
a scent
evoking
a certain
sense
of loss,
lavender
in flower
around
my old home
Anna
Holley (USA)
I
hold your face
in
my hands -
a
white peony
opens
slowly
to
the morning
Jeanne
Emrich (USA)
today
my heart
is
a white magnolia
in
early spring
I
do not hesitate
to
risk everything
Jeanne
Emrich (USA)
my
racial identity?
a
paper crane
hangs
by
a
thin thread
from
the ceiling
Kenneth
Tanemura (USA)
remembered
so
clearly
a
decade later
the
taste of
an
unexpected kiss
John
Sheirer (USA)
inside
myself
a
river of darkness
flows
unseen,
the
color of tears
shed
alone at night
Anna
Holley (USA)
3:26
a.m.
when
you died
I
watched snowflakes drift
across
a white birch
Paul
Benza (Canada)
real
as
a dream
the
little beetle
shimmers
- green
on
my upturned palm
(selected for a
music
project by BSO)Marianne Bluger (Canada)
Index Page//My English Tanka//About
Kozue Uzawa//Kozue's
Tanka//Tanka
Nakama
robert d. wilson
(Philippines) 
Pamela
Cooper (Canada)