Tag: #CosPhoChal

The Look of Love

Winter locks the door on Spring
Frigid in the sack.
There’s snow and trees without their leaves.
Clean white suggests a lack
Unless it’s looking back.

Text: I am trying a variation of Japanese tanka that William N. Porter used to translate the The Hyakunin-isshu in 1909.  He used five iambic lines of 8-6-8-6-6 syllables with an end-rhyme on the shorter lines.  There should be a pivot of the meaning at the third line separating and then reconnecting the top and bottom two lines.

Photos: “Snow Capped”, above, “Love of Winter”, below, linked to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge with the theme “the look of love”.

Love of Winter

Reasons To Be Cheerful

Every step mistaken,
Every dream delay
Open arms, forgiven–
Morning shines today.

Text: Linked to Debbie Roth’s Forgiving Fridays.

Photos: “Every Step”, above, and “Morning Light”, below, linked to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge with the theme “Reasons to be Cheerful”.

Morning Light

 

Mythological Jellyfish

Five hundred million years ago
The jellyfish poem began.
It is sung in the sea. It’s sung on the land.
To sing it again is the plan.

The winds blow the waves.
The waves move along.
The myth is resung
Like an wonderful song.

Text: Linked to dVerse Quadrille Monday where Victoria C. Slotto is hosting with the word “poem”.

Photos: “Windblown Jellyfish”, above, and “Found on the Beach”, below, linked to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge with the theme “Mythological”.

Found on the Beach
Found on the Beach

Earth, Fire, Air, Water

Waves today calmly bounce
Then crawl toward waiting shore.
The air is warm enough for me.
That’s what the sun is for.
Reality is ever near.
It’s patient, does not hide.
I take it all for granted, true,
Still it waits by my side.

Text: Linked to dVerse Quadrille hosted by De Jackson (aka WhimsyGizmo) with theme word “bounce”.

Photo: “Morning Sun”, above, “Earth, Fire, Air, Water”, below, linked to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge with theme “earth, fire, air and water”.

Earth, Fire, Air, Water

Winter Moon

The Moon lets me stare at it unlike the Sun.  I need a cooler face that doesn’t burn my eyes. I know little about the Moon, but that doesn’t matter.  

I pass two cats along the boardwalk.  They don’t mind me looking at them either and I know as little about them as I do about the Moon.

STRAY CATS ON THE PATH
WINTER–DOES IT BOTHER THEM
STORMS ARE COMING IN

Text: Linked to dVerse Haibun Monday hosted by Victoria C. Slotto with the theme “winter moon”.

Photos: “Winter Storm”, the panoramic view above, and  below, “A Different View of Winter” by the author and linked to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge with the theme Winter.

A Different View of Winter

 

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Winter wears a gloomy sky.
Yesterday came snow.
Today as well we’ll get some, too.
Tomorrow? I don’t know,
But if it dumps a load on us
I will wonder when
We’ll get to feel warm spring love leap
That brings back joy again.

Text: Linked to dVerse Quadrille where Grace is hosting using “leap” as the prompt word.

Photos: “Sun Through Overcast Sky”, above, and “Lake Michigan and Overcast Sky”, below, by the author and linked to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge with theme “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”.

Lake Michigan and Overcast Winter Sky

Advent Darkness

This darkness isn’t such that I
Can brighten it by light I bring.
No laws of nature taint the sky.
No bonds bind it so it can’t sing.

The power failed, but should we wait
For what might not come speedily?
Some of us would hesitate,
But darkness helps our hearts to see.

We’re thankful for the light that’s near.
Praise sound, but not with our ears solely.
Our voices stir the darkness here
Repeating, “Holy, Holy, Holy.”

Text: This was originally published in Ancient Paths Literary Magazine.

Photo: “Decorations” by the author and linked to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge.

Blue Sky

Bare trees rising high.
Where did all those white clouds go?
Deep blue fills the sky.
Red lips, how their smiles flow.
Blue eyes sparkling, brighten so.

Text:  I’m using a modified form that William N. Porter used in his translation of Japanese tanka into English, “A Hundred Verses from Old Japan“.  This is part of my study of the Manyoshu, finding English forms similar to the tanka.

Photo: “Sun, Tree and Blue Sky”, above, and “Trees and Blue Sky”, below, by the author and linked to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge and Trablogger’s Mundane Monday.

News: The National Federation of State Poetry Societies in the United States (of which I’m a member through the Illinois State Poetry Society) announced its 2018 contests. There are fifty contests in all. Entries must be postmarked between January 1, 2018, and March 15, 2018. Some of the winners may be published in an anthology later in 2018. Check the details if you are interested in participating.

Also, yesterday Ancient Paths Literary Magazine published my poem “Advent Darkness“.

Trees and Blue Sky