This bartender doesn’t like me. I used to enjoy reading great literature and could recite poetry…“what happens to a dream deferred?” – might still help me make enough of an impression that someone sitting at the bar won’t mind making up the coins I lack to pay for my beer.
sweet brown lacquered tones
shoulders elbows, eavesdroppers
ring marks – hops on grains
hops on trains, buses, and brains
fingerprints, the smell of coins.
This structure’s eye accepts light but not wind. Within the rectangle I cannot see my breath’s product. The floor resembles cork; our senses fill gaps in perception. Does one read emptiness with disdain or horror? The sun recedes. I fear ice in the trees, weight on my chest.
thoughts evaporate…
heaven’s clowns release their tears
sink! or swim time’s tide
silver trails depreciate,
mollusca’s retreat for one
Tanka inspired by Robert Okaji’s prose. Robert is a poet extraordinaire who blogs at O at the Edges. He is a beer connoisseur, foodie, sharp knife aficionado, and doesn’t take himself too seriously. Thanks so much for collaborating Bob! It was through reading this post on Bob’s blog a while back that I came across the haibun, beginning my love affair with the form.
Half a Haibun is an ongoing (and occasional) feature here at 10000hoursleft. A collaborative project with bloggers I admire- they write the prose that I then use as inspiration for a tanka or haiku. The intention being that together, we’ll create a whole; 2 halves converging to add a richness and complexity to one another, in the form of a haibun. Others in the series:
Memories unravel from the hem of his old woollen jumper.
Burnt orange trail, a trip hazard for thoughts that fall in waking hours.
An intrusive yarn, texture reminiscent of an embrace that’s scratchy yet too warm to refuse in recurring dreams of a lifetime of winter.
Inspired by Sonya’s Three Line Tales Week Thirty-Three.
bubbling pots transpire
rumbling storm of hunger strikes
raindrops through faucets
fluro’s lightening flicker
microwave beeps- dinner’s thawed!
Prompt words from Ronovan Writes’ Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge: lightening, rain. Seeing as I’d written about rain before, my well felt dry for this week’s prompt until I thought of rain water through my kitchen tap, breaking the creative drought.
sparks fly! conception!
a stellar invitation
save the date! it said
forty weeks of gestation
enter dragon, leo-fire
That’s me, leo AND dragon. A fierce combination, right? Although I don’t live my life guided by astrology, I do identify with a lot of the traits assigned to my signs. On the topic of life path’s and traits being foretold, check out Dan Millman’s Life Purpose Calculator if that kind of thing interests you. The link gives a bit of info, but if you want to read more, plug the number and ‘life purpose’ into your search engine- be prepared to go ‘wow!’ I have the book and I was blown away by the eerily spot on descriptions of not only myself, but countless friends and family members.
The opening line of the tanka was inspired by the most amazing thing I’ve learnt in recent days: at the moment of human conception, following the fireworks of the horizontal dance (one of a number of ways to conceive), the event is marked by tiny sparks flying in celebration of the successful creation of a zygote (years before ‘it’ becomes a tantrum throwing 23 month old). The light emitted is caused by the surge of calcium when sperm enters egg, triggering the release of some of the egg’s reserve of zinc. The released zinc then binds to small *molecules and together, they emit a fluorescence which was detected by Scientists at Chicago’s Northwestern University in the past week, using fluorescence microscopy. The phenomena had previously been observed in mice. The light of life! It has huge implications for IVF and leaves open (in my mind) endless questions about creation, life and the connectedness and meaning of it all.
*My reading has not yet shed light on what those small molecules are, so any readers who may enlighten us, please do so in the comments.
Prompt words for the tanka (dragon, invite) from 8 year old poet, Miss E– guest prompt-maker for Ronovan Writes’ Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge #95.
crafted in the womb
of earth’s mantle, mollusc’s shell
iridescent gem
brilliantly refracting stone
nature labours, profit born
Inspiration for this tanka from RononvanWrites’ Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge #94 ‘diamonds’ and ‘pearls’. The memento mori is Damian Hirst’s sculpture ‘For the Love of God’, produced in 2007, photograph courtesy of Aaron Weber. The skull was cast in platinum from an 18th century skull, encrusted in non-conflict diamonds and set off with real pearly whites, to the tune of £14M. Hirst alleges that he sold it for £50M to an anonymous consortium. So many points to discuss, but I would say vulgarity and greed are the first things that come to mind. At least they were non-conflict.
full moon’s tidal dance
breaking waves of purple light
reign of crying doves
scent of violets in bloom
solar orbit, fleeting life
Inspired by the artist we knew as Prince. His music lives in the souls he moved. Prompt words sun (interpreted as ‘solar’) and moon from RonovanWrites’ Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge.
Postscript: It was after posting this that out of curiosity, I read about the scent of violets (it is late here, so I couldn’t go seeking violets to have a whiff). I learnt that after stimulating your olfactory receptors, the aromatic compound that gives violets their scent (ionone) temporarily shuts off the receptors, taking away your ability to smell the flower. How fitting and serendipitous that violets are known for their ephemeral scent! There is nothing more I’d like to do right now than smell a violet for a little while.
You cruise on design modelled after my flight
Aerodynamic, beats walking through traffic
My wing spans effortlessly
I look down at arterials carved through my forest(ry)
Arteries, feathers, blood, beak, and bone
A sacrificial offering
For your carbon fuelled emitting
Omitting thought
For me and my kind
Forcing me to concede
My home
No longer
Mine
Mined
Mind if we stand still?
For some
Time
Space shared
There’s a sign
Ominously announcing
No park(ing)
Concrete ideas in place of green trees
Before risking the wrath of the no park(ing) inspector
You ignite
My heart and your pistons
Pounding
Reciprocating engines
A primal reaction
We take flight
Oh,
What a feeling!
Poem inspired by the image posted by my friend and fellow blogger K E Garland. Kathy regularly posts inspiring quotes (kwotes), images, ideas and thought-provoking, consciousness-raising articles. Thanks for the inspiration Kathy, particularly when I was so close to posting two back to back posts from my travel through the tumbleweed series, if I didn’t get new inspiration! Kathy and I have previously collaborated on a post with tips on maintaining goals and new year resolutions.
Week 2 of the 10 week series. Click on the image above to begin your travels. This week’s edition is a poem titled ‘moonrise’, inspired by a George Inness painting of the same name. What do you see in the painting? What story comes to mind for you? Share your impressions in the comments…
If you’d like to continue your travels through the tumbleweed, check out the menu item of the same name for others in the series.
we’ve reached a deadlock
playground rules for dousing flames
sticks and stones break bones
take care in choosing
rock paper scissors fire
go- throw! wrap! cut! burn!
game of two players
you choose rock, I go with fire
decision pending
sway of the flame’s light
bent by the gem’s sharp edges
unlikely union
Two word prompt (gem, flame) courtesy of RonovanWrites’ Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge. Thanks Ronovan!
Interesting fact: did you know that a decision to settle a matter in a US court (albeit a minor one) was made using a round of rock paper scissors? Check out “American Case” in the Wikipedia entry for Rock Paper Scissors. What did we do pre-Wikipedia? I guess that is the kind of thinking Jimmy Wales hopes will inspire donating to the cause (I did once, as I get reminded everytime there is a fundraising drive).
Work in Progress 