Category Tanka

Wollondilly sequence a tanka string another spring rain dandelions vibrating between kikuyu and clover — the jerry can sits empty my teacup full on the counter A kitchen, Picton, NSW purple topped thistle beside a crushed gravel path in late…

inlaid shells and stained glass saints embracing the light – a mission bell rings above souls at rest in hallowed ground St Barnabas Chapel, Norfolk Island

daybreak service weak light on heavy shoulders fading bugle notes raindrops inside collars – an uneasy shiver rear-vision mirror – eucalypts and scrabbly greens peripheral to the swirling dust storms of encroaching bulldozers strung on wire fences wind-whipped plastics Australia’s…

they bow their heads weighed down by raindrops as nature’s cups – roses bearing the burden if only to blush brighter dreaming of vistas whose breezes dance on my neck as seen before with sillage sensed – memories adrift at…

Craig Lincoln is a poet from Toowoomba in Queensland, Australia, who especially enjoys writing Japanese-style poetry. His poems have been included in various poetry anthologies, including three of the Yamada Basho Memorial publications.

Her Garden a tanka sequence I linger in evening’s gentle hold the shadows falling across the valley echo with her voice the plum she planted as a bride its gnarled limbs scarred by sun and storm ghost in gathering night…

city streetlight full to overflowing with cockatoos preening themselves in the midday heat

wild dogs roam city streets violence simmering within these tame walls Chiang Mai, Thailand city workers too busy to notice honey bees nose-deep in lavender gathering sweetness morning breeze sweeps butterflies this way and that orange snowflakes in summer

see again that ethereal island resting on mist pillows – fields of vibrant gilded greens form a worthy throne

Poet’s House a tanka string coming home to this empty house and full garden a blaze of tulips a tangle of weeds picturesque poetic image… a leaking roof… omg it’s raining in our bedroom now shattered vase… flowers all over…