Tanka ~ Elizabeth Howard

white kids cavorting
on the bluff’s edge
above the shiny river–
my ears roar
from the high pressure

behind rattling combines
flocks of brown birds
how can I name the sparrows?
how can I name my sorrows?
one ache much like another
      —from American Tanka, #12, Spring 2002

mammography suite–
my eyes drawn to waxen pods
in the bouquet
when the radiologist
takes out her pointer
      —from World Haiku Review, 2:2, Jul 2002

migrants in the fields,
pretty young girls
in vibrant dresses–
buying green beans at the market
my back aches
      —from Stylus Poetry Journal, #5, Mar/Apr 2003

on a mountain porch
far from the Yucatan
where a Mayan girl
wove the hammock chair
a blue-eyed child swinging
      —from American Tanka, #10, Spring 2001

Elizabeth Howard lives in a country home in Crossville, Tennessee. She is drawn to tanka because of the form, but most of all, because of the freedom it allows in expressing a wide range of ideas and emotions. She is a member of the Tanka Society of America. Her tanka have been published in Lynx, American Tanka, World Haiku Review, and other journals and anthologies.

Copyright 2005: Simply Haiku