Raven's Wing Poetry » Tanka

While Waiting For A Bus

ravenswingpoetry — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 18:04:48 +0000

Torn Notebook, 1 by Flowrbx

This tanka was written for two prompts – Monday Mural at Poefusion (which uses the above picture) and One Single Impression Prompt #32: Serendipity. Enjoy.

-Nicole
—————————————————————————–
torn pages in the wind
a white bird lands in my palm
singing silent songs
in ink; I wanted a ride
instead, I found someone’s soul

Written 10/5/08
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.

Stumble It!

Posted in Poems, Prompt Poems, Tanka Tagged: creativity, ekphrasis, ekphrastic, expression, Monday Mural, notebook, one single impression, pages, pages in the wind, poefusion, Poems, poet, poetry, serendipity, soul, Tanka, torn notebook, writing

Sunday Morning in Five Parts

ravenswingpoetry — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 19:26:13 +0000

This tanka chain was written for Read Write Poem Prompt #40: “Be in the Moment”. Enjoy.

-Nicole
—————————–
I.
no clocks, only birds
signal the rising, blue dawn
soft, punctuated song
followed by the cadence of
a gentle, Sunday silence

II.
the rattling of plates
scrape upon scrape of old bones
dry, plastic, and worn
readied once again for their
Sunday, breakfast-time duty

III.
open, whispering
the language of turned pages
books speak a million
they tear the sky open in
quiet, Sunday, solitude

IV.
cicadas rattle
rising from ground up to sky
maracas, living
and speaking their songs loudly
to signal the coming heat

V.
no tunnel, empty
and open to past daytimes
I put on glasses
fresh, brand new, and unclouded
to see this Sunday morning

Written 8/17/08
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.

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After the Rain

ravenswingpoetry — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 01:36:19 +0000

Roses: Two by xTwistx

This was written for the Simply Snickers prompt this week – write a poem with the words “day” and “discover”. I chose a tanka. Enjoy.

-Nicole
————————————-
day after rainstorm
trees destroyed, branches broken
the rains missed a rose
I discover it, upright
defiant to the storm’s winds

Written 6/22/08
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.

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Bad Day At Work

ravenswingpoetry — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:10:22 +0000

A little early for Poefusion’s Friday Five this week, but none the less, here it is. This week’s words were:

social worker
mop
hotel room
beeper
fire alarm

Enjoy.

-Nicole
———————————————————————
my beeper goes off
then the fire alarm screams
dropped my mop, started
now social worker found dead
in hotel room, I just heard

Stumble It!

April 4, 1968

ravenswingpoetry — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:32:11 +0000

From Time.Com

This is another prompt poem – it was written off of today’s prompt from Scott Woods’ LiveJournal: the view from a hotel balcony. This was written as a tanka chain.

-Nicole

——————————————-

standing in front of
the king-abernathy suite
the lorraine motel
rectangular collection
of aqua doors and beige walls

“play it real pretty”
were his final instructions
ben was listening
but then ben heard something else
a shot heard around Memphis

six-o-one p.m.
a missile launched from somewhere
an unseen bullet
they all point across the street
death dealt from across the street

at seven-o-five
they pronounced doctor king dead
bewildered still
are the ones left in his wake
unanswered questions remain

Stumble It!