voting day
as if I could
right any wrongs
armed with a ballot
and felt-tip pen

The tribute to Marjorie Content has been updated with three new tanka inspired by a Canyon de Chelly photograph.

Marjorie Content

ensconced on
the fireplace mantel
a flowered vase
I love how it reflects light
without knowing its age

hoping to eradicate
any signs of neglect
I brush my teeth
with renewed vigor
before going to the dentist

undoing an entire game
of solitaire
with control z
I wish it were as ez
to take back careless words

"If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they will kill you."

~Oscar Wilde

Irish dramatist, novelist, and poet (1854 - 1900)


There's another variation of this quote attributed to Billy Wilder.

as though
they were expecting
an honored guest
the leaves of hydrangea
rising up to greet the rain

after running up
two flights of stairs
to answer the phone
a salesman tells me I've been
pre-approved for life insurance

a mouse hiding
behind the laundry basket
as though it were a child
that had broken something
I've yet to find

reminding me
of a chalk outline
where a crime
has been committed
the dark edge of water
that has flooded the basement