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Requiem
for a Poet - Robert Gibson |
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Requiem for a
Poet:
Tanka & Short Verses
by Robert Gibson |
plum tree
its blossoms fallen
..........just a tree
...porch swing
........now and then a breeze
...............from the river
........alpine
meadow
sharing snowmelt
........from a tin cup
...evening shower
........she shakes the rain
................from a peony
winter dusk
a coyote running belly low
and silent winter night
the world before stars
had names
when we were so young
so beautiful....so clever
so much in love with
each other...what could go wrong
what could possibly go wrong
her death in war
far away from battle lines
and droning engines
in and out the cold sea fog
hungry gulls searching searching
On a warm spring
evening, Echo and I are
lying naked, or nearly
so, on the lawn of the
state capitol in Salt
Lake City, waiting for
our bodies to return to
normal. We are looking
to the east and waiting
for the full moon to rise
over the Wasatch Mountains.
I mention the moon—
how it looks very large
when it rises but seems
to become smaller as it
moves higher in the
night sky—and saying
that I had been told
that, if you look at the
rising moon from
between your legs, the
illusion isn't there, but
that I had never tried it.
As the moon just
peeks above the snow
capped mountains, Echo stands up saying,
"I'll try it and see."
She moves her feet
far apart, and waits
to bend down and look
at the moon from
between her legs.
just stand there
let me watch the moon rise
between your legs
| A tanka
posted to WHChaikuforum |
lawn daisies
step on them
and they pop back up
you can't keep
a good daisy down
(Note: the first 3 lines of
this poem was also written as a haiku)
References:
-
"plum tree":
"Brussels Sprout" (1997); Children of the Sparrow, by Robert
Gibson (Holly House Publications 1999)
-
"alpine meadow":
"Frogpond" (1997); Children of the Sparrow, by Robert Gibson
(Holly House Publications 1999)
-
"when we were so young"
(1997); Children of the Sparrow, by
Robert Gibson (Holly House Publications 1999)
-
"her death in war"; Children
of the Sparrow, by Robert Gibson (Holly House Publications 1999)
-
"On a warm spring
evening"; except perhaps in spring, by Robert Gibson
-
"lawn daisies":
WHChaikuforum; Thu May 29, 2003 11:13 pm
Tanka Compiled by DW Bender
A
two-part onlist essay on haiku taboos by Robert Gibson
Requiem
for a Poet - Robert Gibson: No beginning, no end
Robert
Gibson: This is Your Haiku Life, by Susumu Takiguchi, (reprinted from World
Haiku Review, Volume 1, Issue 1, 2001)
Quotes
from Robert Gibson at WHChaikuforum
Haiku
by Robert Gibson
