Tracy Marks

NOVEMBER TANKA
Outside my window –
the bare bones of the maple.
I know what it’s like
to shed my clothes, be exposed,
live as if I had no skin.

#tanka #tankapoem #haiku #micropoetry #poetry #inkmine
#poetrycommunity #skypoets #nature #trees #autumn

TANKA
November: drab skies,
distant trees with orange fuzz,
last gasp of color
then fading, fall unleafing
till April springing.

#tanka #tankapoem #micropoetry #poetry #inkmine
#poetrycommunity #haiku #haikupoem #nature #autumn

TANKA
Trees bleeding color —
I feed on hints of crimson
and scarlet, trying
to gorge myself on brilliance
before winter’s grey and slush

#tanka #tankapoem #haiku #micropoetry #poetry
#inkmine #poetrycommunity #skypoets #nature #autumn

HAIKU
intoxication:
fall's flamboyant revelry,
winter's hangover
#haiku #3lines #poetry #micropoetry #inkmine
#skypoets #poetrycommunity #autumn #nature

One, two, three alarms —
Still resist waking from warm
blanketed cocoon.

#haiku #senryu #3lines #micropoetry #poetry #inkmine
#poetrycommunity #bskypoets #skypoets #poem

HAIKU
My sunglasses lost
I look everywere for them
except on my head

#haiku #3lines #senryu #micropoetry #inkmine #poetry
#poetrycommunity #skiypoets #bskypoets #humor

TANKA
As the years ahead
of us grow fewer than years
behind, our past calls
to us – genealogy,
photos, childhood memories.

#tanka #tankapoem #haiku #senryu #micropoetry
#inkmine #poetry #poetrycommunity #childhood #aging

TANKA
Ahead, the time change
of November, dark creeping
early over land.
We dread the dim dreary days
ahead – but oh! falling snow!

#tanka #tankapoem #haiku #poetry #micropoetry
#inkmine #poetrycommunity #skypoets #autumn #november #nature #winter

SHADORMA
October:
the sun sets at six,
brilliant
gold, crimson
leaves celebrate with color —
no dread of winter.

#micropoetry #poetry #inkmine #bskypoets #blueskypoets
#poetrycommunity #nature #seasons #autumn #trees
SHADORMA: Spanish form, 3-5-3-3-7-5 syllables

ZOOM TANKA
"You're muted," she said.
My first click on *unmute* failed
to unfreeze my voice -
flashbacks: choking back my words,
speaking but not being heard.

#tanka #haiku #senryu #senryusunday #micropoetry
#inkmine #poetry #bskypoets #zoom #communication

DUAL TANKA
Six month wait to see
a doctor, an hour on hold
attempting to make
each appointment. Or trying
to dispute a faulty charge,

there's a recording
which transfers me to the wrong
party which tries to transfer
me but disconnects my call.
Please! Can ANYBODY help?
#tanka #senryu #haiku #poetry

sci fi stories

WOMEN OF SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY: AWARD-WINNING STORIES Online community ed course starts Wed Oct 29, EDT. 12+ thought-provoking Hugo & Nebula stories provided, great discussions! tinyurl.com/yxcvkp46 #sciencefiction #scifi #fantasy #women #fiction #stories #speclit #scifilit #shortstories

TANKA
I am streamlining
my life, letting go. Only
the essentials now,
most meaningful wants, knowing
what I most need, most value.

#tanka #haiku #senryu #micropoetry #poetry #inkmine
#poetrycommunity #bskypoets #mindfulness #inspiration

DUAL TANKA
The rain didn’t come
in time, bedraggled trees lost
their leaves, unable
to display autumn brilliance,
to celebrate October.

As for me, sudden
setbacks, the limitations
of too-soon aging,
living without all my leaves.
Sap returns me to my roots.

#tanka #haiku #poetry #nature #trees

TANKA
Elms thirst for water.
Interminable rainless
days, maples fade, sage
green, rust red, crumbly brown,
leafless too soon in autumn.

#tanka #tankathursday #poetry #micropoetry #inkmine
#haiku #bskypoets #trees #nature #autumn

DUAL TANKA
Sometimes intention
to change, deep and persistent,
launches tsunamis
of resistance, a backlash
drowning our initial aims.

I struggle amid
towering waves, see no land
ahead, no harbor
behind. Weakening, tired,
still I swim against the tide.
#tanka #haiku #poetry #micropoetry #inkmine

HAIKU
Egrets fly at dawn
the first rays of sun frame gold
their luminous wings.

#haiku #haikupoem #3lines #senryu #micropoetry #inkmine
#poetry #poetrycommunity #skypoets #nature #birds
Photo taken by the poet at Mrazek Pond, Florida Everglades

Mary Oliver

THE POETRY OF MARY OLIVER
Online course, two Monday eves, starts Oct 27 EDT
Together we'll read and reflect on 20 of Mary Oliver's poems, expressing the wonders & inspiration of nature.
tinyurl.com/57nsk32j
#poetry #maryoliver #poetrycommunity #skypoets
#edusky #nature #inspiration #literature

TANKA
Your voice: a whisper
beneath my skin, all your words,
your tone, a feather
touch softly massaging me,
your voice alone soothing me.

#tanka #tankapoem #haiku #senryu #micropoetry
#poetry #inkmine #poetrycommunity #skypoets #voice

OCTOBER TANKA
Another season -
In the autumn of my life,
coloring my days
with golden brilliance before
my leaves brown, crumble and fall.

#tanka #tankapoem #haiku #haikupoem #5lines #poetry
#poetrycommunity #micropoetry #inkmine #autumn #trees

e.e. cummings

THE POETRY OF E.E. CUMMINGS
Online class, 2 evenings, starts Wednesday Oct. 15, EDT. Learn about cummings. Read/discuss 20+ of his delightful poems. Info & registration:
lexingtoncommunityed.org/class/the-po...
#poetry #poetrycommunity #bskypoets #skypoets #eecummings #literature #edusky #litthings

CINQUAIN
Falling
apart, falling
down
in front of
dear friends
It’s ok to be not ok
today.

#micropoetry #poetry #cinquain #inkmine #skypoets
#poetrycommunity #blueskypoets #5lines
cinquain: five lines of 2,3,6,8,2 syllables

TANKA
Clothes in my closet
I rarely put on, feelings
they hold I’d rather
not don, the longing, the grief
of wearing... a memory.

#tanka #tankapoem #haiku #haikusaturday #senryu
#micropoetry #inkmine #poetry #poetrycommunity #grief

Hokusai, The Great Wave of Kanagawa

TANKA
Japanese paintings:
view right to left. Fishing boats
in Hokusai, not
fleeing from the Great Wave
but approaching it (My life!)

#tanka #tankapoem #haiku #senryu #micropoetry
#poetry #inkmine #skypoets #art #Hokusai #GreatWave

equinox birthday:
bittersweet season, falling
into fall, I search
for first signs of color - look!
that tree, golden in the light!

#tanka #haiku #haikupoem #micropoetry #inkmine
#poetry #skypoets #autumn #nature #trees

TANKA
This year: a jungle.
We’re bushwacking through chaos —
Tangled undergrowth
ensnares us, thick dark tendrils
of fear, grief, anger, despair.

#poetry #micropoetry #tanka #5lines #haiku #senryu
#poetrycommunity #skypoets #inkmine
TANKAS: 5 lines, 5-7-5-7-7 syllables

KATAUTA
Inwardly mobile,
this butterfly with one wing
soars across internal skies.

#micropoetry #poetry #inkmine #poetrycommunity
#skypoets #3lines #blueskypoets #inspiration
katauta: Japanese form, 3 lines, 5-7-5 syllables

KATAUTA
Urgent care. Long wait
Surrounded by sick people.
Is it better to stay home?

#micropoetry #3lines #poetry #poetrycommunity
#skypoets #inkmine #blueskypoets #health
katauta: 3 lines, 5-7-7 syllablles

Arthur Sze - new U.S. poet laureate. I teach his poetry in my online poetry courses. From The Shape of Leaves:

I feel what others are thinking and do not speak,
I know pleasure in the veins of a sugar maple,
I am living at the edge of a new leaf.

#poetry #poetrycommunity #skypoets #nature #trees

GRIEF: A tanka

The loss of icons
we never met but cherished —
Mourning: Maggie Smith
Pope Francis, Jimmy Carter,
Robert Redford, Bill Moyers

#tanka #tankapoem #tankathurday #haiku #senryu
#micropoetry #poetry #inkmine #skypoets #grief