Tom Clausen
Tom has been interested in reading and writing tanka
since the early 1990's when he discovered tanka in Mirrors, Lynx,
Five Lines Down and Woodnotes. The tanka of Takuboku have had a strong
influence on Tom's attraction to tanka. He has had one collection
of tanka published, A Work of Love ( Tiny Poems Press, 1997) and
his most recent collection, Homework ( Snapshot Press, 2000) also
features tanka mixed with haiku and senryu. A lifelong resident of
Ithaca, in upstate New York, Tom is married with two children, Casey
and Emma. He works in a library at Cornell University.
my wife asks what
it is I want-
there it is, that question
that not even I
can answer
the problem with facts
is there are too many of them
to manage-
I think of Kent State
and this dark dahlia
for years I had desire
to purchase things
that reminded me of my childhood
but now, even that
is gone
without fanfare at dusk
I drag the dead branch
to the brush pile-
another day risen
and fallen from my life
*************
we work briskly
into the momentum of the day
a long list of what to do,
once all there was
was to fall in love
Poetry in the Light
e-zine journal
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