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Tanka ~ Angela
Leuck
spring
wind
chasing an autumn leaf
I call your number
surprised by my sadness
when you’re not there
on my balcony
an orange geranium blooms
under sheets of rain
while you are in Scotland
with your bonny rose
at rest on this stone
while the wind blows the waves
to my feet
I hum a tune so old
I can’t remember its name
racing home
before the storm
I find your letter
in my mailbox &
the first few drops of rain
wondering what remains
of our friendship
I step over
the contents of a bottle
spilled across the walk
I sit beside you
on the piano bench
our fingers stumbling
through the passages
of this complicated duet
gazing out
at maples newly bare
after last night’s wind
stripped away too
my last hopes of you
tall reeds bending
in the strong east wind
and here I am
still thinking your words
cannot move me
sleepless tonight
I wonder what it would be like
to lie in his arms
as the January frost
on the window melts
cold winter morning
still waiting
for his answer
I step into the silence
of the snow-covered pine
the winter storm
has died down and left me
in silence
to wade through drifts
of deep uncertainty
Angela
Leuck is a haiku, tanka, and renku poet, and had a solo show
of her haiga in 2001. Her tanka have been published online in Tanka
in the Light and Lynx,
and in journals, American Tanka and red lights. She
was a winner of Tanka Splendor Awards in 2001 and 2004.
Along with Kozue
Uzawa, she founded
Tanka Canada, with the goal of supporting and encouraging excellence
in English-language tanka and, within Canada, of creating a flourishing
tanka community with strong links to both the Japanese-Canadian community
and other mainstream Canadian poets. The first issue of their journal gusts is
planned for June 2005.
Angela is also working
on developing a line of commercial haiku gift books, most recently Rose
Haiku for Flower Lovers and Gardeners (Price-Patterson,
Spring 2005).
Copyright
2005: Simply Haiku |
