Welcome to the Tanka Tuesday Poetry Recap featuring the Poet of the Week and the honorable mention poetry that really caught my eye from last week’s challenge. If you would like to participate in this challenge, you can learn the rules in the menu item called Colleen’s Weekly Tanka Tuesday Guidelines.

Congratulations, and many thanks to all the participants! You’ve given me some hard choices this week. I was stunned by all the beautiful poetry. I really struggled with picking a favorite. It just goes to show how accomplished your poetry has become. ❤

Please visit the challenge post comments HERE, where you’ll find the links to everyone’s poetry. Stop by and say hello!

Each week, I like to highlight a poet who I call the Poet of the Week, who has shared an exceptional message, or shown impassioned creativity through words or form. Poetry is all about perception, so don’t be shocked if you don’t feel the same way about a poem that I do.

The Poet of the Week

This week, I’ve chosen Pat R, from her blog, Thoughts & Entanglements, as the Poet of the Week for her Haiku poem featured below.

I love Haiku and Senryu for the brevity of words. You have to pick the right combination of words, not only for the syllable count, but also to enhance your meaning. When you find a word that does double duty and creates something unexpected, as in the word “crying,” you’ve hit pay dirt. This Haiku, in my opinion, holds a powerful meaning!

Undoing

glacier ice tumbles
in a major undoing –
onlookers cheer, gulls cry

© 2019 Pat R

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An Honorable Mention goes to Sally Cronin for her double Etheree, “A Dog’s Life.” The Etheree form is used when the poet tries to create a memorable message through the required line and syllable count. Seriously, anyone who has ever owned a pet can relate to her words.

Not sure how to write an Etheree? Check it out HERE.

A Dog’s Life

Years
so brief,
but so full
of love and joy,
with fun to be had
when a dog chooses you.
Holding them close to your heart,
inhaling that sweet puppy smell,
an ancient bond is reignited,
drawing you deep into their magic world.
They take no heed of the passing of time,
nor do they see into the future.
There are crucial priorities
that have to be considered.
Walks, sleep, play and their food.
But, above all else,
they worship you
as leader
of their
pack.

©2019 Sally G. Cronin

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My final Honorable Mention for this week, goes to Kerfe Roig and her Haibun/Tanka called, “Draw a Bird Day: Grackle.” Kerfe creates her own artwork too!

I really enjoyed her Haibun because I felt like I was walking along the beach with her. The Tanka compliments her prose but doesn’t repeat or explain what the prose already said. Instead, the reader is treated to another facet of her experience.

Draw a Bird Day: Grackle

Every beach vacation comes with its own bird. One year it was mockingbirds, one year a very vocal cardinal.  One year, crows.

This year we were accompanied by grackles. They would sit on the railing of the beach house speaking in their rusty tongue, lined up like soldiers. If one turned, all turned.  Once they saw someone was paying attention they would vocalize a bit more and suddenly disappear.

On the beach they appeared ahead of my walking path and waited for me, foraging in the waves. As soon as I caught up, they flew off ahead again.

Although it’s natural to see their iridescent strutting as a variation on crows, grackles are actually part of the lark family, related also to blackbirds and orioles.

But they do have a connection to crows—all back birds are said to know magic, to live on the borders of the possible unknown.

standing on the edge
between water and shoreline,
feathers glittering, 
you pause, watch me watching you–
our eyes meet through layered light

©2019 Kerfe Roig

See you tomorrow for the new challenge! ❤