It's been unseasonably warm, unusually late here. I pass a small stand of these on my way home from work. It took a couple times to believe what I was seeing.

out of step and time
blossoms clash with autumn leaves
the eastern redbud
blooming in november
while all else is winding down

#tanka

Deer come surprisingly far into the city, partly because they're protected by law from hunting, and partly because we've encroached so much on the forests.

a riverside path
a deer hoof among footprints
a brief reminder
even in concrete jungles
life will find a way in, through

#tanka

all the rest are spent
with tired petals trimmed in brown
late summer’s last rose
its scent already fading
with the shortening days

#tanka #poetry

a small-town graveyard
thin headstone blurred by moss and time
stately monument
name still etched crisp and clear
both bones now, long forgotten

#tanka

the cars’ hazy plumes
trundling over the bridge
the boat's wide wake
cutting across the river
oblivious, endless flows

#tanka

gliding with such grace
envy the water skaters
who tread so lightly
who truly leave no trace
who go where we cannot

#tanka

Couldn't tell whether they started on the island & jumped to the lawn or vice versa, but it was a delightful bit of unruliness in a manicured landscape.

sterile landscaping
from a parking lot island
rebellious bluebells
break free of corporate confines
color outside the lines

#tanka

fleeting suncatchers
their measured, delicate drip
provides no warning
to the grinding, abrupt crash
of icicles from the eaves

#tanka

birthday reminder:
facebook wall posts become a
makeshift memorial
a digital dead letter office
to a departed friend

#tanka #poetry

imperceptibly
the days will start to lengthen
incrementally
a scientific certainty
that still feels like it needs faith

#WinterSolstice #tanka #poetry

I didn't expect to see such a lovely color driving over the Delaware bridge...

industrial dusk
lavender gradient haze
in a bridge's span
grants this austere steel skyline
a fleeting, tired beauty

#tanka

seasonal road trip
to the V of passing geese
a nod of greeting
briefly crossing paths during
our respective migrations

#tanka #poetry

just a day's journey
the gradual transition
to weathered granite
to white birch and evergreens
to russet leaves and woodsmoke

#tanka #poetry

It's supposed to help people coping with grief. Maybe because it's spooky season, my mind ran with this in totally another direction...

disconnected phone
that rings when the passer-by
is about to die

or:

when i picked it up
expecting only silence
a faint, reedy ring
do i dare stay on the line
to find out who will answer?

#haiku #tanka

https://www.ctpublic.org/news/2023-10-06/connected-by-love-in-ridgefield-an-old-rotary-phone-helps-people-cope-with-grief

Surprised to discover it's invasive here. I enjoy the scent, but it's a reminder of how humans have mucked about with the environment without thinking things through 1st. #tanka #poetry

california 's
exotic and iconic
eucalyptus scent:
invasive and pervasive
environmental folly

https://www.kqed.org/news/11644927/eucalyptus-how-californias-most-hated-tree-took-root-2

the silent spider
with methodical patience
walks and weaves her web
untaught, yet so adaptive
her subtle architecture

#tanka

Not sure what it was, really, but it looked more bee-like than anything else.

the tiny bee and i
each absorbed in the book
in our own fashion
me, by reading the content
her, by tasting the pages

#tanka #poetry

It turned into a #tanka, so all's well that ends well, I suppose...

the embarrassment
of a half-finished haiku
the familiar scent
of an unknown wildflower
unrealized potential

#poetry

AQI of 258 this morning; put out the recycling, and there was a fine layer of ash on the bin and my car.

an ash grey whisper
distant wildfires' dirty pall
a stark reminder
of interconnectedness
warning of the world to come

#tanka #poetry

chilly cherry trees
stubbornly optimistic
their pink pops against the brown
would that i so fiercely bloom
when all else is dead and cold

#tanka #poetry