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.
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.
The moon shines full through a purple-gray veil of cloud. She peers through, partially hiding her face, but the cloud can not completely conceal her glow and beauty. The wind stirs the garden under the moonlight, rustling the trees and shrubs and carrying the scent of May flowers. Branches of the weeping cherry tree sway, dancing with the rhythm of the wind. The peonies’ heavy blossoms, bursting with frills like dancers’ tutus, join in the wind dance. Birds twitter their lullabies and evening songs.
And in the distance,
Dogs join the bird song with howls.
Howling at the moon?
© Susan Joy Clark 2021
This haibun and haiku was written for dVerse’s “Flower Moon” haibun challenge. It is a mostly true account, a kind of composite of experiences. I did walk outside in the garden for inspiration. It seemed like a very poetic thing to do to go outside and stare at the moon.
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”
