Feb 23, 2018

POETRY FRIDAY: IT'S TANKA TIME (again)

Thank you to Liz Steinglass for hosting Poetry Friday today!
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South Carolina has officially slid into a spring-like weather pattern, and I am not sure how I feel about this. Everywhere I look, trees are blooming and spring bulbs are poking up through the ground, and yesterday it was almost 80 degrees where I live! Seriously!! I am not sure how I feel about this…as much as I love springtime, I feel like we barely had a winter here.

For this week’s Poetry Friday post, I was inspired to write a poem about our quick switch from winter to spring, and chose the tanka. Tanka poems are siblings of the Japanese haiku and follow a 5/7/5/7/7 syllabic format. They allow the author more room to “move around” within the poem, but still provide a relative close snapshot of the subject, which is what I love so much about haiku poetry. Here is my tanka:
Variations on a Theme
by Becky Shillington

Winter, where are you?
Outside, blooms make their debut
to birdsong, although
the calendar tells me it’s
February twenty-third.


 I hope that, wherever you are today, the weather is just the way you like it this time of year! Have a wonderful weekend!
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4 comments:

  1. Alice NineFebruary 23, 2018 at 5:10 PM

    I liked the question as the opening line of your tanka. Since you asked... early in the month we had springlike weather with temps in 60s. Then on Sunday winter blew us over and it snowed S. M. Tu. W. Funny thing, it snow significantly and then melted before the next one came. The kid built 1 tiny snowman first day. 2 medium snowmen on second day. and 3 very tall snowmen on the third day. Now it is COLD with traces of snow lingering. I REALLY am ready for spring.

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  2. Liz SteinglassFebruary 23, 2018 at 5:55 PM

    I like the warmth but it also feels so wrong and worrisome. Thanks for sharing your poem and for being part of Poetry Friday.

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  3. KayFebruary 27, 2018 at 2:13 PM

    Love that opening question and the answering spring images. We've had springlike temps--and lots of rain--here in Indiana. I even found a few green shoots poking up through the earth late last week. I hope a late freeze doesn't kill all these early blooms.

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  4. DMSMarch 9, 2018 at 9:32 PM

    I am jealous! We just got a foot of snow two days ago and they are saying more is on the way. I do like winter, but I am ready for spring and nice weather. :)

    Great poem!
    ~Jess

    ReplyDelete

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