This is for Tanka Tuesday hosted by Colleen M. Chesebro. This week, it’s Poet’s Choice, but Colleen suggested we try magnetic poetry, so I put this poem together on a site called magneticpoetry.com and used the Nature Poetry kit, then took a screen shot of my finished poem. It was interesting working with preselected random words.
Curious questions plague my mind,
just when I’m ready to unwind,
These thoughts refuse to let me be,
E’en when the clock says it is three,
Compelling me right out of bed,
To straight to the computer head.
So works curiosity,
Mother of creativity.
© Susan Joy Clark 2021
This was written for dVerse’s Monday quadrille challenge, using just 44 words, and including some form of the word “curious.”
White clover, dandelion, buttercup and wild violets line the pathway that I walk. Just between the path’s edge and the grass, golden, stringy pollen catkins, which have fallen from the oaks, collect themselves. A miniscule, yellow-tan butterfly alights on a branch of Cherokee rose, and a beetle crosses my path. As I climb the hill, the trees overshadow me, and I am grateful for their shielding from the hot sun. A chipmunk clambers over a log, and a robin, perched in a tree, flits away as I approach.
in the shadow of
the trees, a doe hides herself
from human presence
© Susan Joy Clark 2021
This is an autobiographical account. My phone was out of battery power or I would have taken my own woodsy photo. The theme this week for Tanka Tuesday, hosted by Colleen Chesebro of Word Craft Prose & Poetry, is “travel/journeys,” so I thought it worked perfectly with a haibun and another walk in the woods.
It
is calm
and peaceful,
safe and serene,
where there is no fear of flood or high tide.
As David said, “beside the still waters,”
I know my God,
lovingly,
will guide
me.
© 2021 Susan Joy Clark
This was written in a double tetractys format for Lucky Dip — Saturday Mix. According to their page, here is an explanation of the tetractys form.
“Tetractys, a poetic form invented by Ray Stebbing, consists of at least 5 lines of 1, 2, 3, 4, 10syllables (total of 20). Tetractys can be written with more than one verse, but must follow suit with an inverted syllable count. Tetractys can also be reversed and written 10, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Double Tetractys: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 10, 4, 3, 2, 1
Triple Tetractys: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 10, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 10
and so on.
‘Euclid, the mathematician of classical times, considered the number series 1, 2, 3, 4 to have mystical significance because its sum is 10, so he dignified it with a name of its own – Tetractys. The tetractys could be Britain’s answer to the haiku. Its challenge is to express a complete thought, profound or comic, witty or wise, within the narrow compass of twenty syllables.’ – Ray Stebbing”
Floor-sweeping gowns
Gracefully turn.
The orchestra plays
In a romantic way.
A corner of skirt
Held in the hand
Beautifully draping
In splendid display.
The couples twirl
across the floor,
Gliding with elegance
In their limbs.
The music floats
Light as a cloud
As feet tilt and turn
And the dance floor skim.
© Susan Joy Clark 2021
This is in response to dVerse’s poetry prompt, Meet the bar waltzing. Bjorn, this was an interesting prompt indeed.
Some of you may know that I am a fan of Gershwin, so I thought of this scene from An American in Paris, Gershwin’s tribute to Strauss. The original lyrics (not included in the movie) include a little joke on himself,
“Away with the music of Broadway!
Be off with your Irving Berlin
Oh, I’d give no quarter
To Kern or Cole Porter
And Gershwin keeps pounding on tin.”
And for some actual Strauss and beautiful waltzing …