My Favorite Tanka from GUSTS #13,  spring/summer 2011

selected by Kirsty Karkow

~~~~~~~~~~~

our only child
grown up and far
from home--
I give her tire swing
a gentle push
 
                                 John Quinnett

 

as if arising
from long-buried sorrow
the white willow
behind my house
overspreads the earth
 
                                       Jeanne Emrich
 

healing
old wounds
your gift
of braided bread
hard crust, soft center
 
                                         Margarita Engle
 

climbing
some of the worst terrain...
can I reach
the crest of sadness
and not lose my footing?
 
                                     Kathy Kituai






My Favorite Tanka from GUSTS #12,  fall/winter 2010

selected by Paul Smith

~~~~~~~~~~~

adult daughters
gather dandelions
to place
among the flowers
on her casket

                             Brian Zimmer


winter night
what else can I do but embrace
the darkness
in which nothing and
all things are possible

                                         Cathy Drinkwater Better


signs of an absent child
in the shade
a pile of pine cones
stacked neatly
on the concrete wall

                                    Carmella Braniger





My Favorite Tanka from GUSTS #11,  spring/summer 2010

selected by David Terelinck

~~~~~~~~~~~


just a gentle breeze
over the deep blue ocean
on the day you died
trees should have been uprooted
hurled into a blackened sky
                                               
                                             Susan Constable
 


every spring
we thin our possessions
for charity –
the travel alarm clock
we never take anywhere

                                            Bob Lucky
 
 

no moon tonight
and the sea breeze has stilled –
will new gusts
come from north or south
from your corner or mine?

                                              Julie Thorrndyke


 



My Favorite Tanka from GUSTS #10,  fall/winter 2009

selected by Claudia Coutu Radmore

~~~~~~~~~~~


hammering
into shape, pounding it out
on the domed anvil;
there is a point when it all
becomes more about the music

                                                   Denis M. Garrison


to measure
the space between our hearts
take a crystal
a rain drop or maybe
half a butterfly wing

                                          Jenny Barnard


let's study
the first chapter only. . .
a hippopotamus
is sleeping
under the summer moon

                                              Makoto Nakanishi





My Favorite Tanka from GUSTS #9,  spring/summer 2009

selected by Janick Belleau

~~~~~~~~~~~


buried earth
a silver carpet –
maples and I
gaze at the barrenness
we see in each other
 
                                          Chen-ou Liu
 
 
spring wind
unfolds my memories’ book…
between leaves
a dry lime leaf
and my lost youth
 
                                          Magdalena Dale
 
 
the moon
so far to the north
and this chill…
could we both be lost
in a landscape gone awry?
 
                                         Kirsty Karkow

 
 



My Favorite Tanka from GUSTS #8, fall/winter 2008

selected by Natalia L. Rudychev

~~~~~~~~~~~


I still remember
the way he called
my name
but don't remember now
the way he betrayed me

                           Kozue Uzawa



our paths crossed
again today
soundlessly
things of the past
frozen in time

                   Art Stein



a message from
the soul...
but before I can
write it down,
the words evaporate

                      Alexis Rotella





My Favorite Tanka from
GUSTS #7, Spring/Summer 2008

selected by Amelia Fielden

~~~~~~~


I am a speck
on this rock in this ocean
lost in endless space
but for this puppy I hold
I am a warm, breathing world

                                           Denis M. Garrison



 
what shall we grow
this Year of the Rat?
I want to seed
the entire valley
in meadowlarks

                                           Michael McClintock



at break of day
who leads, who follows--
an old man,
unsteady hand outstretched,
an old dog, worried, careful

                                     Sonja Arntzen






My Favorite Tanka from
GUSTS #6, Fall/Winter 2007

selected by Melissa Dixon

~~~~~~


going without sound
the deer into the darkness
of dawn--
so gently you took your leave
never once looking back

                               Marjorie Buettner


in a withered
field, this child,
without mother
drinking dreams from
a bowl of stars

                               robert d. wilson


cat sprawled
on the windowsill
his tail alive
with all that is April
and airborne

                             Barry George






My Favorite Tanka from
GUSTS #5, Spring/Summer 2007

selected by Art Stein

~~~~~~


alzeheimer's ward--
I bring
my grandmother
a bouquet
of forget-me-nots

                                  Stanford M Forrester


women's retreat
deep down in the woods
arriving at our site
we take off
our watches

                               Monika Thoma-Petit


I can see
in the bathroom mirror
someone who
looks like I might
when I am old, someday

                           Amelia Fielden






My Favorite Tanka from
GUSTS #4, Fall/Winter 2006

selected by Joanne Morcom

~~~~~~~~


    

a bat or night bird
flies across my field of vision
a dark slash
between this moment
and this moment

                                                 Claudia Coutu Radmore



A homeless woman
with my face
may live
in this town -
my other side

                                        Naoko Kishigami Selland



November gusts
last leaves flutter to the ground -
in quiet moments
there is no escaping it
this feeling of things ending

                                     Thelma Mariano






My Favorite Tanka from GUSTS #3, Spring/Summer 2006

selected by Giselle Maya

~~~~~~


gusts --
once again
the birch tree
with a deep
bow

                            ---Robert Kusch

 

salt on my tongue
pulled into his body's curve
I dream of conches
that curl inside my palm
and whisper of the sea

                             ---Beverley George

 

my favorite things
best enjoyed in small measure
like this stillness
before the morning rush
as I sit with my tea

                               ---Thelma Mariano
 


My Favorite Tanka from GUSTS #2, Fall/Winter 2005

selected by Guy Simser

~~~~~~~


chilly night...
I huddle by the fire
drinking Sangria
and refuse to wonder
where the hell you are

                                         ---Joanne Morcom
 

In forward flight
between its wingspan, an owl's
heart-shaped face...
small things that go unnoticed
until they come stgraight at you.

                                                     ---an'ya

Wed
thirty years...
buds
of the rhododendron
deep red at the core.

                                               ---Pamela Miller Ness
 


My Favorite Tanka from GUSTS #1, Spring/Summer 2005

selected by Kozue Uzawa

~~~~~~

May air is softer
no more soot and snow
loneliness
a dark root
I tug at, and tug at

                                       ---Anne Cimon

 

maybe I'll just hang low
like a few wistful clouds
and think
of the many ways
to write a poem

                                      ---June Moreau

 

On the north-facing ground
that never sees the sun
still clumps of snow and ice---
things unresolved in me
make their presence known

                                     ---George Swede