Autumn tanka challenge

[Saionji Shonagon]

11/14/12

If only I could
Wish myself from here to there
As in the old tales.
Instead it's all connections,
Crying children and elbows.

[Please Delete]

11/14/12

The wind twisted pine
Will soon play the willing host
To tortoise and crane;
How fortunate when two ducks
Find themselves among the reeds.

(Less than a week until my sister's wedding...)

[Nagamochi]

11/15/12

I really can't stay
but Baby it's cold outside
I've got to go 'way
but Baby you'll freeze out there
How lucky that you dropped in...


Remind me why I agreed to my doctor's plan of losing weight in Autumn, in Wisconsin...

[Saionji Shonagon]

Ironically, the Rod Stewart/Dolly Parton cover of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" was on my sister's CD player when she picked me up from the airport last night....

[Saionji Shonagon]

11/15/12

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.

[Please Delete]

11/15/12

Red footprints on stone--
Generations of respect
To soldiers unknown;
How many tears have fallen
Upon this field of white stones?

(Arlington National Cemetery today)

[Please Delete]

11/16/12

Exotic spices
Could not come to the rescue
Nor the flaming heat;
One now tries to remember:
"Even monkeys fall from trees."

(Tonight's culinary episode was an attempt to resurrect some lamb and rice that was a bit too far gone to make it. Oh well... good kabocha soup and 四李豆)

PS: After tomorrow, I may be silent for a week while on a cruise for my sister's wedding. I will make sure to have poems ready when I return!

[Saionji Shonagon]

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.

[Saionji Shonagon]

Musicians play while
Guests chat, sip festive wines and
Sing "Happy Birthday."
Mother's Eightieth was an
Auspicious celebration.

[Saionji Shonagon]

It's the waiting in
Places I'd never visit
When I could be home.
Here I sit in another
Anonymous way station.

[Saionji Shonagon]

A bold stroke of cloud
Slashes across a sky of
Watered purple silk.
Pausing to watch a sunset
Is never a waste of time.

[Saionji Shonagon]

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.

[Nagamochi]

Work, work, work, work, work
Master cracks the whip again
hoping for responses.
We jump yet do nothing else,
as dreams of turkey fill us.

[Saionji Shonagon]

The stash of quarters
Dwindles inevitably
With each trip downstairs.
One thing is unchangeable:
There is always more laundry.

[Saionji Shonagon]

Our harvest feasting
Overlooks the sparkling bay
Before the sun sets.
Smiles make the best seasoning
At a table among friends.