so I tried out a few artsy filters.
we
gather
as a group,
our family.
we are eleven.
though we are missing a few,
we celebrate as we do,
with food, love and fun.
table is full
to the brim,
homemade
love,
filling
our tummies,
filling our hearts.
eleven members
of our now extended clan,
with two dogs joining the span,
adding to the love.
we talk and play,
as one team,
puzzling
and
planning,
uniting
all our talents.
our cup runs over,
and, likewise, our dinner plate
shares with the cup, the same fate,
from work of different hands.
our love and faith
together
will bind
us.
© Susan Joy Clark 2021
This was written for Colleen M. Chesebro’s Tanka Tuesday challenge. This week it’s poet’s choice, but Colleen pointed out a list of syllabic poetry forms at Poets’ Collective.
I went to the link at Poets’ Collective and tried an arkquain swirl, a different syllabic poetry form than I have tried before. An arkquain swirl has this syllable count pattern — 1234~5775~4321234~5775~4321234~5775~4321. It also has end rhymes on the seven syllable lines.
I was inspired by my recent July 4th celebration with family, which included a few family members I haven’t seen in quite a while. Our celebration was characterized by lots and lots of food, and playing a game which, just as the poem suggests, had us helping one another rather than opposing one another.