A few TANKA poems

child bows to Master
"O Great One, which is more--
trees or people?"
   out here are trees, no people
   in town are people, no trees
-- from a question Billy asked me when he was a child
~~

robin resting
with only its tail
in the water
   a wasp flies too close
   and the bird flies
~~

finally
the butterfly bush blooms
in the wheelbarrow
   no wonder! I didn't prune
   it back--and it's in the shade
~~

in the shadows
a grasshopper chirps
   I throw my peach stone
   toward the cheerful
   yet mournful sound
--from The Broken Halo, p.144
~~

on his hind legs
cat pushes the empty swing
from behind
   I think he was surprised
   when he was merely stretching
~~

the gentle rain
spatters on the bush's leaves
depressing them
   like keys on old typewriters
   only silently
~~
~~
PL, written at different times between 2006 - 2013