Spring tanka challenge

[Saionji Shonagon]

It's that time! (I can't believe I almost forgot either!)

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]

One waits until the
last minute just as often
in all the seasons,
but time passes pleasantly
like warm breezes in the spring.

[Saionji Shonagon]

Clouds hike their long hems
To hurry over the hills,
Chased by yet more storms.
In the breath between, I pause
As birds bravely try to sing.

[akikonomu]

Drumheller Channels
bring tourists from far away,
drawn by the landscape.
New friendships formed on the bus
to the mournful call of cranes.

(Spent Saturday at the Othello Sandhill Crane Festival in central Washington. Both the landscape and the cranes definately worth a Tanka or several!)

Akikonomu

[Deleted]

That second day of
April when you know winter
is over because
it is pouring rain outside,
not snowing like usual

[akikonomu]

The chill of winter
remains in the nighttime air,
reluctant to leave,
overlain with the scent of spring time flowers,
marking the change of seasons.

[Saionji Shonagon]

Wet pavement shimmers
As I pick my way through a
Network of puddles.
Yet it is not all wet feet
With a rainbow to the west.

[Deleted]

Chill air returns to
douse my joy at spring, and I
pull out my winter
coat to warm my way into
the early April morning,

[Please Delete]

The sake was drunk
And the broth already cold
Before one sits down;
Though unfashionably late
The party continues on.

I was thinking about this and even anticipating it until about Monday... then Life happened...


-Ii

[Saionji Shonagon]

Peeping through the clouds
A shy crescent moon briefly
Shows her shining cheek.
It is but a brief respite
Before the next rains begin.

[Deleted]

Despite the chill rain
and dreary gray overcast,
the cold wind bears hints
of rich earth, blooming flowers,
and beautiful days soon here.

[Please Delete]

The old widow stands
In red and white springtime hues
As gentle rain falls;
Slowly the April showers
Soak her overhanging sleeves.

[akikonomu]

Evening clouds reflect
lights from the city below,
as they race across
the sky past the crescent moon,
her face discretely hidden.

[Saionji Shonagon]

Three years' worth of weeds
Have suddenly become a
Sea of mud puddles.
Consult the weather forecast
Before making that <s>eyesore.</s> garden.

[Deleted]

Weeks and months travel
and obligation yield to
just one Saturday
in which anything is fine
and nothing might be fine, too.