spun from the loom
of a windmill
a day so blue
a high-energy drink
would only ruin it

"I still say a church steeple with a lightning rod on top shows a lack of confidence."

~Doug MacLeod

"The world has achieved brilliance without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants."

~ Omar Bradley

not bothered at all
by the latest scandal
the crows
conduct their own search
of the church parking lot

like old friends
I sit among
the bald cypress
on a welcome mat
of fallen needles

celebrating our 28th
wedding anniversary
our server informs us
that this is the year
of the tiger

whoever once lived here
has since moved away
in the absence of trees
the glade makes do
with poverty grass

with gun sights placed
over congressional districts
maybe it's not a good idea
to let children attend
palin's tea parties

who needs
doppler radar
a sinus headache
tells me there's more
rain on the way

walking around
the hoodoos
I refuse to challenge
the agility
of lichens

as though
they were talking
too loud in church
a sudden cold snap
quiets the spring peepers

opening up
the wrong door
at the lemp mansion
I find out where the ghosts
keep their cleaning supplies

blissfully unaware
of this place's history
daffodils
reclaiming the lots
of times beach*

*The area is now known as Route 66 State Park

aunt helen not remembering
how it happened
too many unfamiliar steps
and a distance misjudged
before the fall

"ni una màs"

a girlhood moment

lost in ciudad juàrez

long before the city

 was known for its

 murdered women

 and pink crosses

Additional links:

Esther Chàvez Cano

Women on the Border

For Lucia Pamela:

up an ozark 
mountain staircase
if it weren't for the pine trees
these rock strewn jumbles
could be moonscape

"As long as you are lucky, you will have many friends; if cloudy times appear, you will be alone."

" —Donec eris felix, multos numerabis amicos; tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eris"

Ovid, Metamorphoses

missed exit

on a cloverleaf

interchange

I go around

one more time

for good luck

piano keys
made of sandstone
not one sour note
from the pickle springs
waterfall

in a small
patch of sunlight
everything we have to say
fits between
sips of tea

even though she knows
they won't last
the graffiti artist*
flowers her world
with bubbles


*Grant's Trail

in a closed section
of the black madonna shrine
I meet an armadillo
on a pilgrimage
to find some food

it could be from anywhere
this speckled fragment
of berlin wall
that somehow reminds me
of gaza

http://www.freegaza.org/

what began
as a warm day
for the president's arrival
ends with
a tornado watch

no one taking
the canton ferry
because of the ice
one eagle waits
for the other's return

A brief history:

http://www.greatriverroad.com/secondarypages/ferries.htm

(Canton Ferry is the last one listed on the page.)

a "just engaged" sign
on the ford mustang
that passes me on a curve
without warning
or brake lights

while potato soup
thickens . . .
the story of a chilly,
march afternoon
forgotten

on a road that follows
the mississippi
a billboard
with mark twain's silhouette
selling life insurance

For Mary:

surviving

another winter

a steady light

shining through

the lampshades of snowdrops

an iron nail
forged into
a wedding ring*
there's not much room
for a change of heart

*Such rings were also known as prairie diamonds.

as though the cattail
held a microphone
the trill
of a red-winged blackbird
crossing the pond

no longer part
of the bank's erosion
the roots
of a sycamore
grasping the twilight

ironing my way through
another gray morning
in each burst of steam
the powdery scent
of clean fabric

retiring after

years of hard work   
the corn planter
never complains
about the weeds

I've reached the one-month milestone.  11 more months to go.  At the year's end, I will post a page of the tanka I rejected from the 365 tanka experiment. 


In addition, any tanka that I've revised from my original post will be noted in the labels section with either "revision" or "revised tanka."  The revised tanka will stay true to the original post in theme. 


Most tanka will contain five lines.  There will be a few exceptions to this "rule" if I feel the breaks aren't working the way I would like them to.


The above photo is the corn planter that sits in our front yard.  The photo needs a lot of work but right now my primary focus is on writing at least one tanka a day.