The Tanka Challenge Project
Another moon sets
On a good conversation
And many shared cups.
Would we sit up so late if
We could do so more often?
04/01/2012
For a few brief hours
We warred and feasted beneath
Bright painted banners.
No longer a lady, I
Sit and fold my own laundry.
04/02/2012
The temple bells toll:
A spring night's dreaming mirrors
Life's impermanence.
In the dark I lie, counting
Beloved faces like coins.
04/03/2012
At this time of night
One can hear each creaking beam
As the house settles.
Outside the window, boughs sigh
As I sip my tea and think.
04/04/2012
Tugging at my hair,
Winter protests spring's coming
With chill, vengeful gusts.
The tap of my footsteps is
Accompanied by bird song.
04/05/2012
What must they have thought
Of those strange eyed men with their
Black ship and dying god?
I ponder missions and guns
As I slice namban sweet bread.
04/06/2012
The sky blazes blue
While all around the list field
Banners wave gaily.
I sigh at their fluttering,
Wishing I had brought a kite.
04/07/2012
A golden moon crests
The hilltop as we crowd in
Close to the night's fire.
Leaning back, we point and wave
At Orion and the Bear.
04/08/2012
The flowering trees
Vie to catch the eye with their
Gay show of colors.
Beside them, the maple seems
Barely dressed in greenish buds.
04/09/2012
Was I that timid
When I faced the o-daiko
At the beginning?
Sticks in hand, I stared into
That blank eye and found myself.
04/10/2012
Slowly I climb stairs
At the end of a long day
And prepare to sleep.
Perhaps I will dream of things
From a Mars that never was.
04/11/2012
A flash overhead
Precedes blaring thunderclaps
Making us all jump.
Beneath the BART tracks, fighters
Drill to the wet hiss of rain.
04/12/2012
After days of storms
Patches of blue peep shyly
Out from walls of cloud.
I wish I could dance the sun
From her cave like Uzume.
04/13/2012
I crest the hill to
The sinuous notes of strings
Delicately bowed.
Across the road our eyes meet
I drop a note in his case.
04/14/2012
I will not succumb,
Indeed, I shall resist each
Depressing sentence.
It is your choice to wallow
In grief, mine to try to rise.
04/15/2012
As I turn for home
I see it, sneaking up on
Mount Tam and the bay.
The distant hills seem as a
Tsunami of curling fog.
04/16/2012
I still talk to him,
Telling him about my day
Or things he's missing.
Though he will never answer
It feels quite comfortable.
04/17/2012
While I sat reading,
Birdsong ceased and the skylight
Went dark above me.
High time to leave the world
Inside that book for this one.
04/18/2012
Whispered friendly words
Drift like mist through a forest,
Causing one to smile.
As one journeys from the cave,
To rejoice in bright kindness...
- Date Saburou Yukiie*
After long silence,
A long hoped for message comes,
Brightening the day.
The mountain passes open:
It is truly spring at last.
04/18/12
I had forgotten
That long ago afternoon
Then I heard those notes.
How is it that a song can
Make time travel possible?
04/19/2012
Throw wide the windows
To drink in every stray breeze
As the sun descends.
Here at the top of the house
It feels a lot like summer.
04/20/2012
Dust off the cobwebs,
Wobble down the driveway
Then pedal away.
I had not realized how
Many months I'd been off my bike.
04/21/2012
Hey, Charlie One-Note!
Do you really need to greet
The world before dawn?
I might not mind as much if
You were more melodious.
04/22/2012
Restive as a horse
My kite pulls against my hands
Into the bright sky.
I lean backward, squinting, and
Ride the impossible breeze.
04/22/2012
Inevitably
Fog drops onto the island
Like a heavy quilt.
It will not be long before
Oakland also disappears.
04/23/2012
The sunset peeps through
Chinks in a towering wall
Of glowering clouds.
It doesn't take a seer
To predict a coming storm.
04/24/2012
It's quiet enough
To hear the random patter
Of rain on shingle.
A purplish slice of dusk shows
Through the skylight overhead.
04/25/2012
Fickle winds buffet
The branches by my window
Menacing the house.
Will they die after sunset
Or will they rattle all night?
04/26/2012
Another Friday
Waiting for the clock's release
Into the weekend.
What emergency will rise
To bite me at the last minute?
04/27/2012
My journey takes me
Eastward through hills blushing green
From late spring rainfall.
Poppies burst like a shower
Of welding sparks on the wind.
04/28/2012
A blurry sun coasts
Through a pearlescent sky as
Fog floods through the straits.
The mountains are soft edged and
Merge like watery brush strokes.
04/29/2012
Tomorrow, they say,
Will be yet more protests to
Usher in summer.
I tear a calendar page
And plan an alternate route.
04/30/2012
The sky shakes out sleeves
In varied layers of grey
Against greyer hills.
The trees wait like sentries in
Their black liveried rows.
11/01/2012
As I catalogue
The current bruise collection
I have learned a truth:
No one has ever called this
The Way of the Borrowed Sword.
11/02/2012
A low hanging moon
Supervises as I wend
My way slowly home.
It was a good evening,
Already I miss my friends.
11/03/2012
Somehow, "good night" turned
Into a conversation
We needed to have.
At last, though, we parted with
Smiles and friendly embraces.
11/04/2012
The street is quiet.
A dog barks somewhere outside
But for a moment.
I shut a window against
Silence, both inside and out.
11/05/2012
Unseasonable
Are these warm afternoons and
Cloudless azure skies.
The truth is revealed in the
Slanting light of afternoon.
11/06/2012
The island seems to
Burrow beneath a heavy
Quilt of silent fog.
I reach for the tea kettle:
At last it seems like autumn.
11/07/2012
The scent of rain strikes
An instant before the wind
Lobs its wet barrage.
Blinded, I know better than
To try to run through puddles.
11/08/2012
The house is chilly
After a long day at work
And a simple meal.
Let us now mark the blessing
Of a steaming cup of tea.
11/09/2012
Eight hours surrounded
By esoteric knowledge
and learned scholars:
I'll lament my ignorance
Once I've digested it all.
11/10/2012
Didn't the Master
say: one prepares the tea and
then one drinks the tea?
Would he be pleased or bemused
By such a pedantic fuss?
11/10/2012
As I walk downhill
I glimpse a huntress goddess
Between the old trees.
Reaching for a stone arrow
To aim at the sea below.
11/11/2012
It's one of those nights,
I sit, hoping for an idea
Or a good image.
Inspiration does not strike,
Only the living room clock.
11/12/2012
Wood blocks keep tempo,
Shime-daiko lend accents
To growing thunder.
Tonight we made the walls quake
With the roar of our drumming.
11/13/2012
If only I could
Wish myself from here to there
As in the old tales.
Instead it's all connections,
Crying children and elbows.
11/14/2012
As my tea steeps, I
Let my sister's dog outside
To do what he does.
Cardinals explode from the
Feeder in a crimson burst.
11/15/2012
His attack is fierce,
A flurry of slashing blows
And hard to evade thrusts.
Nothing is so serious
As mock sword fights with my nephew.
11/16/2012
Musicians play while
Guests chat, sip festive wines and
Sing "Happy Birthday."
Mother's Eightieth was an
Auspicious celebration.
11/17/2012
It's the waiting in
Places I'd never visit
When I could be home.
Here I sit in another
Anonymous way station.
11/18/2012
A bold stroke of cloud
Slashes across a sky of
Watered purple silk.
Pausing to watch a sunset
Is never a waste of time.
11/19/2012
I open the door
Onto a rustling darkness
And a rush of wind.
Trees bend and twist as I walk,
Hoping the rain will hold off.
11/20/2012
The stash of quarters
Dwindles inevitably
With each trip downstairs.
One thing is unchangeable:
There is always more laundry.
11/21/2012
Our harvest feasting
Overlooks the sparkling bay
Before the sun sets.
Smiles make the best seasoning
At a table among friends.
11/22/2012
It is dark beneath
These ancient mountain trees and
The air is fragrant.
A pilgrimage to the woods
Invigorates the spirit.
11/23/2012
Another still night,
The neighborhood seems empty
And the streets are dark.
High time to douse the lanterns,
Bank the fire and say goodnight.
11/24/2012
A nearly full moon
Watches my journey homeward
From his lofty seat.
Though his face always changes
I welcome the company.
11/25/2012
So small yet fearless,
He cocks his head to watch me
With tiny bead eyes.
I try not to startle him
As I drop crumbs on the bench.
11/26/2012
Racing clouds jostle
But cannot dim the full moon
Even as they fly.
Such doings can only mean
Storms blowing in off the sea.
11/27/2012
A break in the clouds
Piled high like rumpled bedclothes
Reveals a pale sun.
The wind rattles the branches
Of a defiant maple.
11/28/2012
A gentle patter
Quickly turns into a roar
Against the shingles.
I shake out another quilt
And settle in for the night.
11/29/2012
Another month ends
In a rush of raindrops and
Cold winds off the sea.
I reach for brush and paper,
Thinking of friends far away.
11/30/2012
Copyright 2012, 2019 Lisa A. Joseph, except *Copyright 2012 Christopher Wright.