Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Inkling Press - More Grows in a Crooked Row: Tanka Conversations of Angela Leuck, 2016

More Grows in a Crooked Row is comprised of responsive tanka conversations between Angela Leuck and 15 Canadian poets.


My contribution to a tanka conversation with Angela Leuck follows:


Broken Resolutions


New Year's morn
the air hangs heavy
with ice fog
and the acrid smoke
of broken resolutions

on groundhog day
we speak of shadows
etched on snow
forgetting how we lengthen
into filaments of light

while a snow lion
roars outside our door
you tame me
with the fire in your hands
until I tremble like a lamb

a robin's trill
fades into evening
how green
the scent of longing
after the first rain

I still wear
her frayed sweater
on Mother's Day—
are we ever resigned
to being orphaned?

a perigee moon
the polished stone
at my breast
waxing and waning
with every breath

our paddles
stirring twilight
into the lake
after all these years
the stars in our eyes

four sisters
shared a bedroom
on the farm
now we harvest memories
from summer fallow fields

at the hospice
another little bird
hits the window
we'll always wonder
what father tried to say

maple leaves
and geese take flight
I, too, am restless
as autumn writes
the poetry of storms

poppies
on street corners
the wounds
we carry in our hearts
bleed into winter skies

solstice
the northern lights
shape-shift
over frozen prairie
I curl my hand into yours


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