Tanka published online in the Mooninkanthology 2020
escaping
to our utopian
life at sea
where waVe by waVe old age
is but a rite of passage
opening day
this hush-hush of wee hours
before the crowd
when you and a tranquil
sea are all that matters
fragrances
aplenty fill the air
each summer
memories of that first
sweet flower linger still
I dare let
my heart or soul wander
back in time
it is long since we loVed
and want is unceasing
a drear day
inside my mailbox
dark cold steel
rain seeps through its hole
soaking no letter
daffodil cup
a Viceroy curls dewdrops
up to it's tongue
thist is an unquenched end
that equals your egress
a running
of cormorants across
the riVer
whereVer fate takes us
you lead and I’ll follow
a rock doVe
and its mate roosting
in the cliffs
where cool recesses
house seaside dwellers
it’s this way
when we come together
hearts pounding
oVer and oVer and …
like waVes upon the sand
while we were
sleeping it came to town
a carniVal
and of likeness are you
the attraction for me
eddying
in an estuary
loose petals
swirl after pink swirl
in and out with the tides
musing on
the zenith of night's
autumn moon
again risen in full
to where it belongs
wildflower field
were you near me loVe
this day in spring
surely I would come
with a nosegay courting
as ocean mist
corkscrews into a cloud
come this morning
I who was once alone
am now one with another
the wharf planks
waterlogged by time
and thunderstorms
I breathe in deeply
their wafting ozone
poplar tree leaVes
from last eVening’s rain
pressed together
was it fate unforeknown
we could neVer liVe apart
the way of