Here is Diana Wallace Peach’s Writing Challenge—The TBR Pile. It can be a story or poem. I decided to go with a haibun format. That is the combination of prose paragraph ending with a haiku, or in this case a senyru.
MAGIC PAGES
The magical gift sits next to my bed. Dressed in black leather, it holds the ideas of generations. I gently open the promise of endless entertainment in the two hundred and thirty pages. I can barely contain my joy with so many words that offer knowledge, insight, thrills, adventure, heartbreak, or laughter. It may take more than one lifetime to explore. Yet, it’s never full and always welcomes new editions onto its electronic shelves—even the bad ones. It is my paradise.
I went with a poem I wrote during our six-day power and phone outage. I was surrounded by four feet of snow, so white is the color of my poem, even though I don’t directly mention the color. Tanka 5/7/5/7/7 is the format.
NOTE: We are lucky to have gotten our phones, internet, and power back so quickly. There are still many who are heading into day nine without— and some without access to heat. There was a lot of damage below us and we are praying things get back to normal soon for them. Like our firefighters, those who go out in these icy conditions to restore our power and communications are our heroes too!
These are the moments when the magical goodness in humanity steps up to help fellow neighbors.
Here is this Colleen Chesebro’s Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge #251. This week we were given the option to do a synonyms only poem or taste the rainbow. I went with the latter which is a butterfly cinquain (2/4/6/8/2/8/6/4/2) that brings colors into it.
Taking our dog out for her morning nature visit, I saw the sky reflected on my car’s back window. I immediately thought of the Allegory of the Cave and how we only see shadows, not life’s beauty, until we step outside our limited experience—or the cave. With those thoughts in mind, I came up with this.
I spent some time a few days ago putting pictures and haikus together for my yearly calendar. So, I was still in the mode of this combination or a haiga poem and went with it.
I went with a picture I took while waiting to pick up my husband after a surgical procedure. I couldn’t be inside with him due to COVID, so part of the time I sat in the hospital parking complex. Here’s where I saw a dolphin-shaped cloud. I immediately knew that meant he’d be okay, and he was. I wrote some poetry that day too and added one to the picture which makes this a Haiga Poem.
Word Weaving is a yearly poetry journal, and for our first issue, we bring you poetry crafted from a broad mix of new and established voices across the spectrum of Japanese and American syllabic poetry forms. Enjoy this collection of poems that celebrate the Moons of Autumn.
Contributing Poets:
Annette Rochelle Aben, Mona Bedi, Nancy Brady, Colleen M. Chesebro, Goutam Dutta, Bill Engleson, Elizabeth F., Andreea Finichiu, D.L. Finn, Jeff Flesch, Ken Gierke, Franci Hoffman, Thom Kerr, Sujata Khanna, Ruth Klein, Jules Paige, D. Wallace Peach, Gwen M. Plano, M. J. Mallon, R.V. Mitchell, Elaine Patricia Morris, Lisa Smith Nelson, Pat Raffington, Susmita Ramani, Kerfe Roig, Aishwarya Saby, Akhila Siva, Merril D. Smith, Willow Willers, and Cheryl Wood.
I’m honored to be included in this amazing book! Colleen encouraged the poets to share their poems that were in this beautifulWord Weaving collection. So here they are mine, and my hope is they inspire you to not only write some poetry but pick up a copy of the book and enjoy some phenomenal syllabic poetry! Thanks, Colleen and Jules 🙂
A lone black cat sits on the edge of our world, under the harvest moon. Her green eyes reflect the celestial beams, and her fur absorbs the stars. She rubs against the night’s promise, and its magic fills her soul.
