Simply Haiku: A Quarterly Journal of Japanese Short Form Poetry
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Autumn 2006, vol 4 no 3

TANKA

Melissa Dixon


a photo of my son
taken the same week
he died
the long years before
I forgave him for it . . .

 

autumn pond
the moon dives between dead leaves
mocking your absence
my fingers in the water
ache in its icy cold

-- 2nd Place Award, Japan Society on Water Environment contest, 2001

 

a half moon moving
in and out of backyard trees--
just like love
it sweetly touches me
then leaves me in the dark . . .

-- from moonset,  Autumn 2005

 

shore of lost ships--
scattered on the rocks
fey lichen faces . . .
shivering, I am aware
of loneliness

-- from Ribbons, Tanka Society of American Journal, VOL. I, NO. III, 'The Tanka Café', Autumn, 2005

 

the quiet
persistent struggle between
my meditation
and the emergent life
of a new poem . . .

 

off with daily news
on with joyous Celtic voices--
letting them flood
my room . . . my being . . .
here is wonder!  here is love!

 


Melissa Dixon Melissa Dixon discovered the joys of Asian poetry some fifteen years ago--moving from haiku to tanka and later haibun--but tanka is her clear favorite.  She loves its openness to all avenues of expression-- always with the challenge to light up the lines while fitting the words seamlessly within their required structure.  Melissa recently published her first book of poetry, Slow Spring Water.  She is grateful to live near the ocean in Victoria, BC, Canada.