How far
is far enough
before what once seemed wide
no longer takes us very deep
and what
once seemed so deep
folds in upon itself?
Is it sufficient just to go?
Who knows?
JDG
Beauty On The Fly
Small, flying creatures,
not to be outdone by more
rooted loveliness, dine from
golden saucers, then,
sun shimmering on slant wings,
move on – beauty on the fly.
JDG
Sedoka Version
small flying creatures
dine from golden saucers, then
move on in shimmering sun
~
beauty on the fly
gives more rooted loveliness
pause, before it hurries on
JDG
The sedoka (an ancient Japanese poetic form) is an unrhymed, six line poem whose structure is made up of two Katauta ( 5-7-7 syllables in each Katauta ). The first shows a scene and the second shows the same scene but from a different angle. The second may also show a reaction to the first scene.
Sunday Crows
‘Twas Sunday morning and those crows
weren’t singing soft,
uplifting hymns
or offering words
of comfort to soothe our weary
souls. They must have
learned their discourse
from talk radio
where there’s no balm in Gilead,
no melody
or, even worse,
no sound of verse.
JDG
Tankas At The Close of Day
As the sun slowly
settles in the west and night
draws nigh, kids and dogs
are gathered in and stories
from the day are snared and swapped.
~~
No one knew beyond
those trees a magic kingdom
lay where good triumphed
over bad and fair damsels
saved the day as young knights slept.
JDG
Tankas For The Transitory
The house stands empty,
fallen into disrepair.
The scent of roses,
planted by an unknown hand,
lingers in late summer’s air.
~~
~~
Wrapped in clouds, the moon,
cradled in oak’s outstretched arms,
rests. Then, rallied by
crickets’ chatter, it slowly
rises up and moves beyond.
JDG
Granddaughter’s Lament
Frogs
do not
always turn
into princes
when kissed, a hard truth each of us must learn.
Worse still is to kiss some princes and watch
them later turn
quite quickly
into
frogs.
JDG
Natural Order
Those
wild
weeds insist
on poking their
unruly heads through every tidy path.
How can we keep order when nature won’t
cooperate?
Letting go
might be
best.
JDG
Resting Assured
The Great Defender
of hearth and home is on watch
tonight. Who knows what
would have befallen us if
that lone cat had gone unbarked?
~~
Meanwhile the Great
Defender’s canine pal lies
dreaming by the hearth,
his head full of remembered
belly pats and meaty bones.
JDG
High and Low
High on the horizon, pink clouds
lie swirled across
a field of blue,
but lower down,
close to the ground, dark clouds cluster.
While I want
to trust the high
horizon, I
know I can’t ignore what’s lower
down. Tomorrow
we’ll know which, for
a time, prevails.
JDG
Tanka’s Gray Questions and A Senryu Answer
Why is today gray
when there are other colors
to choose from? Maybe
gray was picked to match a mood.
I hope things clear tomorrow.
~~
How long do you think
things will continue like this?
I’ve tried to embrace
what is, but something inside
insists they could be better.
~~
there’s an opening
through which understanding walks –
please don’t block the way
JDG
