Tanka Daily

A new original tanka every day.

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@BenVerlander Best since Chicago/Cleveland?

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Dear readers, I've kept up this page for nearly 5 years and posted over 2000 tanka. I post only about 10% of the tanka I write, & so I am tired. This poem is from Ribbons, Spr/Sum 2022. It's the last poem in the manuscript I'd still love to publish. Thanks for following. So long.

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so many things
we once owned and loved
outside in a dumpster
it doesn’t sadden me
until the rains come

#tanka #poetry #micropoetry #5lines

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war movie
somehow
black and white film
makes the smoke and the blood
feel more real

#tanka #poetry #micropoetry #5lines

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beach day
the sky is overcast
you call it
a metaphor
for our relationship

#tanka #poetry #micropoetry #5lines

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her kids play while she
comes to terms with herself
in a mirror—
last night’s make-up running
through track lines and wrinkles

#tanka #poetry #micropoetry #5lines

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grass creeping up
past our knees as we play
flag football—
i feel mother’s eyes watching
every nudge and tumble

#tanka #poetry #micropoetry #5lines

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the oak tree’s branches
reach so far down the street
it makes its own shade—
she won’t take my advice
on how she can help herself

#tanka #poetry #micropoetry #5lines

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leaving open
the window that faces
the ocean — i hope
she’ll see it on her walk, stop,
and say hello

#tanka #poetry #micropoetry #5lines

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a light breeze
takes the sting of the sun’s heat
out of the air—
she rests her hand on my back
in the middle of our fight

#tanka #poetry #micropoetry #5lines

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smell of eggs
and yeast divinely baked
in the den’s warm air
grandma’s pane di Pasqua
rises under white linens

#tanka #poetry #micropoetry #5lines #Easter

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two sips left
of her expensive wine
i’m hoping
one of them takes the edge
off of her words

#tanka #poetry #micropoetry #5lines

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i set my drink
on top of the barrel—
she told me
when i want more from her
i know where to go

#tanka #poetry #micropoetry #5lines

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invisible
until i take my phone out
and point the camera—
her smile and infrared light
from the TV remote

#tanka #poetry #micropoetry #5lines

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the dark lampshade
cups the floor lamp’s lightbulb
like a hand to a candle—
she sneaks through the room
so i don’t notice her leave

#tanka #poetry #micropoetry #5lines

[Tanka Daily @TankaDaily]

grey clouds aloft
in a sky that’s dark and cool
i’m uncertain
if she’ll still be here
when i wake and turn over

#tanka #poetry #micropoetry #5lines

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cocktail hour—
the happiest couple
i see at the wedding
are the bartender
and the DJ

#tanka #poetry #micropoetry #5lines

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nothing she says
can stop me from leaving—
i walk out,
hear a tanager’s song
and start to change my mind

#tanka #poetry #micropoetry #5lines

[Tanka Daily @TankaDaily]

hearing winds
too far away to feel
you ask me again
what i think life would be like
if we’d never met

#tanka #poetry #micropoetry #5lines

[Tanka Daily @TankaDaily]

tic-tac-toe
played on the countertop
in swiped-away dust—
one day you’ll be the X’s
and i’ll be the O’s

#tanka #poetry #micropoetry #5lines