TANKA TIME

devising a place
to work . . . on the front porch
of the Writer's Room

where I can see and hear

birds, squirrels and walkers

[Writer's Colony at Dairy Hollow,
Eureka Springs AR, 2009]
~~~
addressing
three birthday cards
all three names contain
the middle initial
        J

[Fran, Billy & Barb, 2015]
~~~
outside
of the cup
hotter
than the coffee
inside

[Dot's pink "Friends" mug, 2015]
~~~~
lone blackbird drinking
looks around as if to say
"Where are the others?"
now, a bluejay squawks and drinks
but still, no doves or thrashers

[2016, Couchwood]
~~~

doesn't the wind know
it's against the law to blow
leaves into the street?
Aha! Nature trumps
mere local, human law

[2016, Couchwood]
~~~

near the bird feeder
a crow in the redbud
calling . . . calling
still agitated
it flies to the maple

[2016, Couchwood]
~~~

yellow and black

butterfly

stops by

a purple iris

around the oak stump

[2016, Couchwood]

~~~
~~~

TANKA poems written in past Decembers

1998
recycling
week-old newspapers
I haven't read
hoping what I don't know
won't hurt me
~ ~ ~ ~

1999

no gift for me
under my tree
a reminder
that my beloveds are gone
never to return
[from M Oakley, AD-G]
~ ~ ~ ~

2005
do I
or do I not
invite him
to a New Year's Eve party?
I'm afraid of the "message."
~ ~ ~ ~

2006
first night in many
that our beloved longhair
won't jump into my bed.
his teenaged master finds
him lifeless in the road
~ ~ ~ ~

2008
after two nights
and a day, wind chimes
suddenly quiet
cold front & thunderstorm
finally passed through
~ ~ ~ ~

2011

an unwelcome gift
from California to Maine:
black widow spiders
in a shipment of parts
to a shipbuilding outfit
~ ~ ~ ~

2014
resting
atop
a hay bale
the black cat
watches
[photo, R.McFarland, AD-G]
~ ~ ~ ~

2015
dropped foliage
revealing a nest
in the dogwood
on closer look
a branch of oak leaves
~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~
c 2016 PL

It's hot, but not too hot for short poems

Pool party, July 4, 2015

 

The quintain on 'stars' that garnered an HM in the June PRA monthly:

 

TANKA

star-speckled evening

his tears fall as he buries

his pet kitten, Cal,
hit and killed crossing the road
while we were at campmeeting
~~

The following was published in the Fall 2016 issue of Lucidity Poetry Journal~Online:

UNDER THE OAKS
a Dorsimbra

I've had no luck at growing Shasta whites
despite my dedicated TLC.
Though my friend Jenny's reach to soaring heights,
what Jenny's have that mine don't, I can't see.

             Come on, now, I say
             You were Grandma's favorite.
             Why won't you bloom
             for me?

I visit Jenny, notice daisies' home.
The blooms face east with nothing in their way.
Aha! Mine lack the sun! No wonder that
I've had no luck at growing Shasta whites.
~~

photo by C. Hoggard



May poems: tanka

is the loss
of two old oaks
the reason
the irises
bloomed so well?
~~

sparrow
wading in
then jumping ot
of the birdbath--
a windy May Day
~~

country air
rife
with aroma
of privet
and honeysuckle
~~

on the bike path
BLIND CURVE--
KEEP RIGHT
but the deer
can't read

[devised from photo by S. Breidenthal, AD-
G, May,'15]
~~

honeysuckle patch
hiding a bank robber
and his accomplice

[OTHER DAYS- AD-G, (Joe Broadway, Bauxite), 1965]
reprinted 5. 18. '15]
~~

saw it
before I heard it--
in the time it took
to write this
the rain had stopped

End-of-Year poems

UMCOR: My favorite mission site, Baldwin Louisiana

Shirts displayed at UMW's fall tea, SUMC

 

imagine getting

a call from the Space Station!

"Sorry, wrong number!"

[from the news]

~~

 

Where's my

REJOICE coffee

mug? I choose a Christmas-

tree one, fill it with yesterday's

coffee,

 open

the microwave

to heat it--there's the mug!

I got distracted when Eric's

arrived.

~~

 

warm winter solstice--

birds busy bathing

in the clean water:

robins, sparrow, cardinal

mockingbird and a bluebird!

~~

 

Three days

before Christmas,

I drink from a snowman

mug on this 70-degree

evening.

~~

 

lemonade stand

on Christmas Eve day

seventy degrees

[news]

~~


 

 

 

 

 



 

 



Dithering during December: poems

ON EATING THE LAST OF AN OUTDATED BAG OF LETTUCE
I pick
through the pieces
like a robin in leaves,
eating the green bites, ignoring
the rest.
[2013]

Straight'ning
a four-inch pile
of tossed-aside papers,
I find a flash drive & a love
letter.
[2013]



FACEBOOK:
People you may know:
Pope Francis
[2015]

motorcyclist
his jowls whipping backwards
in the wind
[2015]

finding
a ring
I
didn't know
was missing
[2015]

pawning
car titles
to pay monthly bills
[2015, AD-G]

Cinquains and Tanka for early November

BEWARE
First day
of deer season . . .
not a good day to drive
the narrow, wooded mountainous

highway.
~~~

WHAT NOW? OR WHO?
Again,
an ambulance
screams by, lights flashing. In
this rural milieu, where does it
end up?
~~~


TIME CHANGE
The sixth
of November--
warm enough to sit out,
but too dark (Central Standard Time)
to see.
~~~

IN TWO-THOUSAND-TWELVE
Absent
for 10 days; when
I return from the trip,
the Encore azaleas are still
in bloom,

the mums
still radiant,
but the moss rose? Leggy.
The feral cats I left unfed?
Still here.
~~~

TANKA
leaf-vacuum truck
whooshes up the fallen leaves
from this mountain street
but by this afternoon
twice as many will be down
~~~

SHADOWY
Cat walks
across a strip
of sunshine on the floor--
shadow he makes as large as a
tiger.
~~~

Blogging about some scenes and such - poems

Pears are ripening - PL

 

TANKA

 

recorded giggles

from the nearby carnival

echo braggart's joke--

   "I'll eat more crawfish than you--

   take that trophy to Texas."

[news photo, 6.16.'97]

 

~~

 

CINQUAIN

"Typhoon Season"

 

Who owns

Scarborough Shoals

in the south China sea--

China? the Philippines? Both pull

their ships.

[J. Perlez, NYT, 6.19.'12]

~~

 

TANKA

 

wheelbarrow

going places without

leaving home

   it also fits the contours

   of my tired body

[Hal Borland, Sundial of the Seasons, 6.17. '07]

~~

 

CINQUAIN

"Jennings Osbourne"

 

He looked

at everything

the same, whether it cost

twenty-thousand dollars or just

two bucks.

[David Koon, AR Times, 6.16.'12]

~~

 

TANKA

 

looking up

from my reading, I see

the red mandevilla

highlighted by morning's sun

and swaying in a slight breeze

[actual, 5. 16. '12]

~~

 

CINQUAIN

 

Beside

I-95,

a man holds a woman

tenderly next to their auto

nearby.

[actual, South Carolina, 6. 27. '10]

What's gotten into the crows? Why are they so noisy?

505 Spring St., Eureka Springs in October - PL

 

fishing off the dock

taking time

to clear her mind

 

[picture: M.S. Gerrits, AD-G]

~~

 

she buys

a high-waisted panty shaper

and a candy bar

~~

baby bumblebee

visits

dianthus

and wandering jew

blossoms

~~

on the porch

waiting

for the promised rain

~~

crows

behind me

speaking

in long

sentences

~~

robins

involved

in something

upsetting or exciting

making plans

to migrate?

or protesting

the obnoxious

crows?

~~



c 2014, Pat Laster dba lovepat press 



A few tanka poems

out of the classroom
and into the barn
for a whiff
of the manure-scented life
ahead of them
--published in red lights, June '06

a decade later
regluing their 50th
anniversary album
a bug skitters
from her dried corsage
~~

a group home
of disabled adults
an 18-inch beehive
hangs from a tree
in their yard
[from S. Delaney's pic on FB]
~~

geese
gabbling
louder
than a hen party
in progress
~~

two
long-ago
lovers
now
in nursing homes
~~

above the hum
of the AC fan
squawks
of a jay
and a crow
~~

a quiet morning
reading the obituaries
oddly transported
to each funeral
in each different town
~~

c 2014 Pat Laster dba lovepat press

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

Winter weary, so on the first warm day of March.............

[Couchwood, southwest flower bed detail, PL]

 

3/10/14

 

first warm March day

into daylight savings time

taking the plants outside

~~

 

Only

minutes after

I take the plants outside,

a breeze drifts in, as if to say

Too soon!

~~

 

first warm March day

after the brutal winter

I rake leaves, pull vines

  (vinca and ivy) twisting

   twining among spring bulbs

~~

 

warm March afternoon

pruning gardenias,

lorapetalum

   leaves that sustained winter burn

   oak leaves served as mulch

~~

 

3/12/14

 

Mother

Nature, you rule!

My mother, you were right!

Don't put the house plants out until

April!

~~

 

 PL, c 2014, lovepat press

 

 

 

 



Shadows - Four poems

red lanterns

stringing shadows

in the spook house

~~~~

end of the trail—

tupelos in shallows

wildflowers in shadows

~~~~

the receding wave

seagulls waiting

in their own shadows

~~~~

waiting

I walk in ankle-deep leaves

and overturn stumps

   puffy clouds shadow the sun

   and the buzzard rises

~~~~

PL---from 28 poems submitted to M. Suddiqui for consideration in his 2013 issue of SEASON'S GREETING LETTERS.

Once more, tanka

The following tanka of mine were published in red lights, a semi-annual tanka journal that began publication in January 2005. Titled after Shakko, the 1913 seminal work of tanka sequences by M. Saito, red lights publishes English-language tanka, tan-renga, and tanka sequences. Originally edited by Pamela Miller Ness, NY, under whose auspices my works were published (and paid for), the present editor is Marilyn Hazelton. If interested, red lights has a Facebook page.

January 2006:

single
for eighteen years--
yet for the past two nights
I've dreamed about
each husband
~~~~

June 2006

deathly hot
in the rooms where you spend
your last summer
...you withhold permission
   to turn on the ACs
~~~~
out of the classroom
and into the barn
for a whiff
of the manure-scented life
ahead of them
~~~~

January 2007

between
the field
and the roadway
a tiny pond
with no purpose
~~~~

June 2007

redbud
and pear blossoms
all of a sudden
   and just as quickly
   our love has lost its bloom
~~~~

January 2008

seeing you again
at the conference~
after a hug
my name tag
on your shirt
~~~~

June 2008

snagged on the bare branch
a red-tipped
under-feather
of a house finch
   its lightness
~~~~
####

by Pat Laster

handsome widower
exults in turning 80
if I ask him out
will he take it the wrong way
I weigh the pros and cons
~~~~

1:30 a.m.
son comes to my room, asks
"Where's the poster board?"
    teens must think moms
   are magic--or mind readers
~~~~

nowhere to go
deer in the town surrounded
by water
   what to do? an urban hunt
   with bow & arrow? O, Lord
~~~~

washing up
after the autumn planting
inchworm on my neck
   those were azaleas, inchworm,
   not marigolds!
~~~~

waning gibbous moon
after the ice and snow melts
a power outage
   as I transcribe this poem
   the light returns
~~~~

in my dream
he removes two birds
from my brow
   we face-nuzzle
   no words needed
~~~~

c 2012 by Pat Laster dba lovepat press

Groundhog Day 2012

If the little rodent had peeked out at Couchwood/Benton/Arkansas/USA, it would definitely have seen its shadow. Some of the things I saw or read are included in today's post.

TANKA
from the lowest branch
a squirrel watches the cat
on top of my car
at least, it's not
the other way around
~~~

CINQUAIN SEQUENCE
"Listen Up!"
Fellows,
be careful that
you give that ditzy wife
of yours the exact birthday gift
she wants.

"Boots!" she
said. "Not a book!"
She threw the birthday cake
and book at him, then choked the poor
devil.
(from "In the news," Arkansas Democrat Gazette)
~~~

TWO HAIKU
spring cleaning
on the warm winter day
early daffodils
~~~

six weeks
into winter, yet
the yellowbell blooms
~~~

TANKA
first scene this morning:
three fat-chested robins
rimming the birdbath
full of fresh rainwater
drinking ... drinking ... aah ... aah
~~~

SENRYU
"my cholesterol
is not where the doctor wants ..."
she eats an omelet
~~~

c 2012 by Pat Laster dba lovepat press

Nearly Thanksgiving

POEMS FOR THE SEASON

'depleted foliage
from a waning autumn'
he fishes for bass
[from a picture by William Moore,and part of the caption, ADG. This is called a 'found' poem.]
~~~

on my day off
I sit on the porch
revel in the rain
~~~

every leaf gone
from the once-brilliant
sassafras
~~~

speckled maple leaf
blows over my shoulder
onto my journal
'write about me' it beckons
'so my life will mean something'
~~~

all paws in the dish
gleaning for leftover bits
the lone kitten
~~~

bumble bee
disappears
into the bucket of pears
~~~

a foggy morning
the sun sending starburst rays
through the tops of pines
[ADG picture, B. Krain]
~~~

northwestern cloud bank
layers of pinks and blues
of the lightest hues
~~~

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL
c 2011 by Pat Laster dba lovepat press

Computer woes worsen before getting better

After the third trip to two computer "fix-it" places, I called Microsoft/contact us. The first girl was helpful and talked to me from Panama City, Panama. The second--she forwarded me--was a man "30-minutes-from-Buffalo" who gave me the number of the place that would absolutely solve any problem I had. BUT, he lied. First, I had to pass the robot answering machine, and when I couldn't say that I was both on my computer (I was) and had the activation wizard in front of me (I didn't),he said he couldn't help and hung up on ME! I called again and kept punching the "0" until I got a real person, but I couldn't understand anything she said except "Maam" which sounded like "Mahm." I finally had to hang up--about at the end of my rope (pun intended).
I ordered an Outlook Office 2010!!! It's installed, tho I had to uninstall my Office 07 and two other related programs, BECAUSE I ordered 64-bit and those had 32.
I haven't yet checked to see if I can work on my files. If I can't, I'll probably do something really drastic!!!!!!!
Meanwhile,some poems.

THREE CINQUAINS

The grave-
yard's being split
between Senate districts.
Living leaders fuss, but the dead
don't care.
~~~~

Yellow
taxis, four-lanes
deep as far as the eye
can see, block streets in Greece--drivers
on strike.
~~~~

The wind
blows fierce, hies all
my rugs away--those old
ones cov'ring inch-wide gaps in porch
concrete.
~~~~
TANKA

dead-animal smell
shriveled earthworm on the walk
and yellowed hosta
this 3-digit weather
requires watering--or death
~~~~

c July 2011 by lovepat press

Look for A Journey of Choice (by Pat Laster)
at Amazon or Barnes & Noble

MORE POEMS FOR WINTER -- JANUARY 2010

Tanka
a light snow
doesn't deter the bluebirds
from berry breakfast
nor the kittens
from their play
~~
Haiku
blue glass dolphins
uncharacteristically
active ... the north wind
~~
Found Senryu
from house to truck
air so cold your eyes water
and it hurts to breathe

(from J.Tetrault, northwest ND
where the wind chill = minus
52 degrees --AP)
~~
Haiku
winter morning sky
the ever-changing pattern
of starlings a-wing
~~
Tanka
between showers
the robins drink from puddles
one finds the birdbath
not deterred by thunder
or the ensuing rain
~~
Haik-Sen
thunder
glass in the old windows
vibrating
~~
Haiku
mid-winter
after the thunderstorm
all the doors open
~~
c lovepat press 2010