Spring tanka challenge

[Saionji Shonagon]

It's getting to be that time!
Here's the concept:
Write one tanka (waka)* a day for the month of April.

*Resources on tanka:
www.ahapoetry.com/TANKA.HTM
www.americantanka.com/
www.wodefordhall.com/heianpoetryjam.htm

The spirit of this poetic form being the impermanence of this dewdrop life, no other make-ups are permitted. If you miss a day, you miss a day and as in real life, you never get it back. (You're on the honor system here....)

No limits on subject matter other than any you chose to impose upon yourself. Hopefully, some moment in your day will inspire you to write about it.

If you write more than one tanka a day, fine. However, you may not carry over tanka to other days. You have to write a poem on each day.

(If you are inspired to "answer" someone else's poem, great. Personally, if I do so, I am not going to
count it toward my daily assignment. The idea is to come up with something myself each day. What you do is up to you.)

Adherence to the 5-7-5-7-7 line/syllable count is required, otherwise it's not a tanka.

It's poetry, not stereo instructions. It should say something and it should make sense.

No rewrites. (I know, I'm evil, but it's part of the process of practicing this form. At least for me.)

If you want to share your poems, you may post them to this thread.
This challenge originally premiered in 2008.

Good luck everyone!

[Deleted]

A cold month starts now
A month that should be quite warm
A month that should shine
with rain drops on new flowers
Our augur of spring did lie

[Saionji Shonagon]

4/1/13

Water slaps pavement
Loudly enough to wake me
Well after midnight.
I wait for a softer rain
To lull me back to my rest.

[Deleted]

Lie beside me, love,
and warm the bed in your sleep.
Soon the messengers
of morning will wake us to
the cold light of the day's work.

[Saionji Shonagon]

How fine it would be
To sit awhile longer and
Talk the night away.
Duty demands that we part:
Tomorrow is a work day.

(Scribbled on a napkin at Coco's at 11:40 PM, 4/2/13.)

[Deleted]

The litter of an
evening's companionship
crowds my mind like clouds
clutter the sky of a spring
sun that rises over you.

[Saionji Shonagon]

He questioned my choice
Of brushes and ink stick meant
For a child to use.
Yet one must begin somewhere
When one is learning to write.

[Deleted]

My turn to regret
a late night in the tavern,
but good business is
concluded over fine drink,
and our budget is settled.

[Saionji Shonagon]

To camp or daytrip?
I cannot decide which which one
Holds greater appeal.
The company of my friends
Or not having to sleep cold?

[Deleted]

1.

If that is the choice
you are being forced to make,
then you need warmer
friends, or friendlier warming
when you go to spring events.

2.

Anticipating
the kumihimo teachings
of Rodrick Owen
this weekend makes the going
to work today much harder.

[Please Delete]

1 Apr 2013:
Cherries in the snow
O'erburdened with icy frost
Where is promised spring?
Mere glimpses tease the senses
Ready for the sun's embrace.

2 Apr 2013
Sun up in the sky
Running through your endless track--
Painter of the sky
How can you shine so brightly
Yet not relieve the winter's chill?

3 Apr 2013
Who is that knocking
Upon the door frame lintel
So incessantly?
In your black coat and red cap
How dapper you look today!


4 Apr 2013

Only yesterday
You were right here in my arms
So close and so warm
Now I await your return
Here in the empty silence.


5 Apr 2013

The tempting sunshine
beckons through latticed windows
with a golden light.
Oh, why do you call me so
Whilst I am herein confined?

[Saionji Shonagon]

Light and shadow play
Out a simple, old fashioned tale
That still wrings a tear.
The faces of those long dead
Still captivate the living.

(Just caught "Stella Dallas" on TMC.....)

[Please Delete]

6 Apr

There's so much to do
And so little time in which
To do it all in.
Why must that cruel, shining orb
Travel its course so swiftly?

[Saionji Shonagon]

Mist blurs the hilltops,
Underfoot, the dewy grass
Seeps through my tabi.
Why did I rise so early?
The tourney is not for hours.

[Saionji Shonagon]

It is a good hurt,
To wake a bit sore, thinking
Of yesterday's bouts.
Four wins only, but each loss
Was a far better lesson.