refugees make kites
from plastic bags
bagpipes skirl
across the prairie
Dad goes home
midnight sun
will you miss me
when I'm gone
in the hills
cattle lowing between
silences
aftermath
a skunk forages
in fireweed
the dry ache
of a long goodbye
how do we
reach the other side
with the bridge washed out
Tanka Editor's Choice:
This Editor's Choice is by Debbie Strange from Canada, and it demonstrates a songlike rhythm which is pleasing to the ear and desirable in the tanka form. However I chose it not only for the melody but for its contents and its juxtaposition as well. Representative of an aching heart after a long goodbye, we are left to wonder how to reach the other side with the bridge washed out. Metaphoric in its content, leaves a reader to believe in that old saying that "love always finds a way".
—UHTS cattails tanka editor an'ya, USA
Note: This issue also contains a lovely review of Warp and Weft, Tanka Threads by an'ya which may be accessed via the book's title page of this blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment