Category Tanka

dry river once carrying these stones rough edges now smooth my life story a dry river bogongs lured by bright lights… the morning cleaner sweeps away another species silhouettes stand to attention, the haunting notes of a bugle… Remembrance Day…

we love shiny things just like crows love shiny things, home comes with trinkets – the curios of our lives in nests above the graveyard Karrakatta Cemetery, WA

Tick Tock a tanka string a little girl with dandelion clock blows away strong parachutes that need enormous puffs her smile hovers in delight tick tock will there will always be more seeds to blow away? one moment — let…

Slow glow a tanka string over the edge of the water day’s end in fire with canons of silvery power emptying the beach from my shoe in the morning dew only the stone smell remembers washed skies – drops of…

after the bomb I stumble through rubble — this tunnel vision shows someone stealing a dead man’s wallet Colombo, Sri Lanka, 1987 grandma’s shrine I sort blooms on trays learning the brief nature of all things’ existence Ratnapura, Sri Lanka,…

damp crumpled body in a dark dry corner – as rats rustle bolts driven shut carriage rolling

flares zooming brighten the sky bodies of women and children flying through the air Gaza, Middle East collecting eggs in the coop another chicken on the ground lifeless

side by side in Andamooka eating drumstick ice-creams rainbow matrix opals on our minds Parachilna Gorge an elegant parrot flashes green against vivid red rocks the colours of my city home quick to evaporate in awe of small wonders –…

morning light a wash of seaweed tangled along the shoreline a pair of child’s goggles reflecting the sky hailstones turning the garden white among the shattered pots my children marvel at the ice in their warm hands akatombo song takes…

reviewing poems before the winter solstice… blackbirds in a pair beneath Japanese maples help this rake tidy leaves Contingent Street, Trafalgar, VIC bird-count day inside this breeding season – magpies swooping in low from behind to keep our numbers up…