life and its many choices
each misstep a new lesson
no map to show the way
no one direction
yet hopefully forward
This gogyohka is my response to
Colleen’s 2020 Weekly #Tanka Tuesday
#Poetry Challenge No. 192 #ThemePrompt,
where the theme is maps.
Image source: freepik.com
hidden, but not
sturgeon in a broad expanse
merely elusive
knowing where to look
the moon always rises
This gogyohka is in response to Frank Tassone’s #Haikai Challenge #150: Sturgeon Moon.
The first full moon of August is called the Sturgeon Moon, Grain Moon, Barley Moon or Red Moon.
My attempts to photograph the full moon on Monday evening (11 hours past full moon)
were stymied by clouds. The moon was as elusive as a sturgeon.
Also shared with Just Sayin’, the Open Link Night prompt from Lillian at dVerse ~ Poets Pub.
Camera Shy
kayak approaches
heron on river’s edge
almost in camera range
giant wings beat
gone downriver
kayak rounds the bend
heron on fallen tree
away and gone
missed opportunities
crows laugh, again and again
I have seen a horizon
distant, still
but growing ever closer
no hurry to meet it
as it patiently waits
This gogyohka is inspired by Just Glad by Paul Cannon.
Image: Lake Ontario, 30 July 2011
wandering spirits
held in thought
never captured
call to me
always out of reach
This gogyohka, inspired by water music by Kerfe Roig, is my response to
Colleen’s 2020 Weekly #Tanka Tuesday
#Poetry Challenge No. 187 #PhotoPrompt,
with the photo provided by Sally Cronin.
a glass raised
in the name of justice
broken by injustice
raised again and again
until justice is served
This gogyohka is my response to
RonovanWrites Weekly Haiku Challenge #309,
with the prompt words break and glass.
Image source: flickr.com – Dave Nitsche
The prompt for MTB: 5-Line Japanese Poetic Forms from Frank at dVerse Poets Pub is to write a tanka, kyoka, or gogyohka. Frank discusses each of the forms. I’ve tried to cover all three, in order. This series was a hard one to write.
bird with broken wing
beneath broken cedar branch
saved by helping hands
must be returned to the wild
before wild nature returns
broken clouds
in coming storm
offer hope
only an illusion
everything is gray
a soul is troubled
looking for escape
safe haven offered
troubles multiply
everyone suffers
Image source: Wikimedia Commons (edited here)
obscure
our differences
equalized
common threat reminds us
what is true always was
~ Day 25 ~
Image source: Wikimedia Commons
(from U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention)
~ Special thanks to Kerfe Roig for the inspiration ~
the permanence of henna
the direction
of our inclinations
holds no pattern
carefree, the actions we take
the permanence of henna
While outside the required forms for Colleen’s Weekly #Tanka Tuesday #Poetry
Challenge No. 161 #PhotoPrompt, this gogyohka is my response,
with the provided photo (© Willow Willers).
in the darkness