amuse
06-05-2005, 09:17 PM
I'm so glad to see the contributions to this thread (http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2483) going strong! Such fantastic work! :) :)
PAGE 1
the tanka...was really popular into the 1500's...
"The first three lines (kami no ku) usually present an image or thought and the last two lines (shimo no ku) shift the focus to a related idea. We might see this as similar to a sonnet's "turn." - from http://web.njit.edu/~ronkowit/ poets...arch_tanka.html >>>
For our game this means a 5-7-5-7-7 format.
for mine someone could have said "metal," "jewelry," "blood," etc... "difficult endeavor," "head holes"... you get the idea. And so I write thusly...
Ten rings on a tray
Barbells are hard to remove
My ear is bleeding.
A warm sting on my eyelids
The x-ray passing over.
Glaring sunlight
Eyes blinded by light,
Shading the sun from my face,
See nothing clearly,
The strange shapes keep passing by,
Like I am not even there.
Rain
Rivulets dazzle
and dance down each other's backs,
and my hair itches.
Stamping the mud off my boots,
leaving the beauty outside.
the ocean in winter
this deluge pounds, boards
without leave, and freezing gales
strip us of our warmth
he loved without mercy i've
always enjoyed winter storms.
birds on telephone wires
the restless species
mumble, scream, whisper, converse
through thinnest hammocks
gently swaying with the dance
of children in their dj's.
beechwoods in autumn
Silent sentinels,
arms dripping with new copper;
staring, not seeing.
Old boots pick their way through the
sunlight and soda-fizz world.
the moon
icon of madness,
lovers special sun, beaming
light into raw hearts
fusing streamflows of dreamy
feeling, chaotic passion.
isolation
dank and lightless in
this closet i burn my nails
into walls, floors, hearts
sun shines on dimmed lids black holes
invert, spit me out deathful.
harvest-time
White frost and dawn mist,
The raw sky snaps blue candy,
trees whisper with flame.
Hard frost comes, we celebrate,
Then heaven harvests the souls.
Morning's tidy sky
Sweeps me through busy London
Dusting down the Sun
Sending solar energy
Snaking up and down my spine.
anthropocentrism
to wake every morn
we hear the annoying cat
clamouring for food
another dear `posession'
don't forget the affection!
schadenfreude
he doesn't call her
pipes are frozen the keys are
snow banked far upstate.
it's great fun when her frantic
life slides slowly down her cheeks.
framed picture(s)
Staring from a box,
False faces frozen in time,
speckled with hard dust.
Standing with hands to the wall;
these faces won't stay level.
Standing on a cliff.
She stands on a cliff
In a shawl, looks out to sea,
Alone, lost in time
This was my lovers picture.
Now she sky-gazes seaward.
PAGE 2
a train journey
Grey and grey and grey.
The Alps are gone and here is
dawn in Italy.
A man from Amsterdam is
sleeping in the lower bunk.
intoxication
Skin pricks, buzzes with
this heady kaleidoscope.
Arms of lamplight dance.
Careening into bed as
the sleeping pill takes affect.
a locked door
Every mind is like
A locked door. Impervious.
Except for keyholes
That give a light upon the
Internal world of others.
mountaineering
Ascendency. Peaks.
We always want to climb high.
Progress. Growth. Success.
Until the summit we reach
Our pleasures still lie dormant.
Peace
bitter you are like froth
on the ocean but this deep
water will soon sooth you.
hate shaves away at your heart;
war is just a boomerang.
boats
estuarine love
of the sound of sails and masts
flapping in a wind
floating through the summer surf
and coming home once again
sea views
We are stalworth oak,
lashed and tarred against the world,
cutting a blind path.
We are sinking, creaking and
bubbling to the bottom.
sea views...
Rumbling blue dips and
swells, blindly ominous, to
dash itself apart.
My eyes caught in the rage of
their roaring doppleganger.
Leather
Weathered leather's best.
Softly stroking satin skin
Touching tender hide
You pull me closer with eyes
That shine brightly through the dark
laughter
Children laugh at the
Slightest thing. Repeatedly.
And we who can still
Remember laugh too. We know
What we lost, what we've become.
Loss of feeling
Why do your eyes dance
and glitter life in their pools...
I cringe at the sight.
It seems to me I knew once --
It escapes me now. Oh well.
facing a wall
The sun beats down hard.
My heels are sea-swamped.
The beach drowns under
Ceaseless pressures of water.
The sea-wall falls over me.
Cities
You were once an oak,
Now you're an ant just like me,
amid all the rest.
Once two, we are nothing here;
Snowflakes melted in water.
PAGE 1
the tanka...was really popular into the 1500's...
"The first three lines (kami no ku) usually present an image or thought and the last two lines (shimo no ku) shift the focus to a related idea. We might see this as similar to a sonnet's "turn." - from http://web.njit.edu/~ronkowit/ poets...arch_tanka.html >>>
For our game this means a 5-7-5-7-7 format.
for mine someone could have said "metal," "jewelry," "blood," etc... "difficult endeavor," "head holes"... you get the idea. And so I write thusly...
Ten rings on a tray
Barbells are hard to remove
My ear is bleeding.
A warm sting on my eyelids
The x-ray passing over.
Glaring sunlight
Eyes blinded by light,
Shading the sun from my face,
See nothing clearly,
The strange shapes keep passing by,
Like I am not even there.
Rain
Rivulets dazzle
and dance down each other's backs,
and my hair itches.
Stamping the mud off my boots,
leaving the beauty outside.
the ocean in winter
this deluge pounds, boards
without leave, and freezing gales
strip us of our warmth
he loved without mercy i've
always enjoyed winter storms.
birds on telephone wires
the restless species
mumble, scream, whisper, converse
through thinnest hammocks
gently swaying with the dance
of children in their dj's.
beechwoods in autumn
Silent sentinels,
arms dripping with new copper;
staring, not seeing.
Old boots pick their way through the
sunlight and soda-fizz world.
the moon
icon of madness,
lovers special sun, beaming
light into raw hearts
fusing streamflows of dreamy
feeling, chaotic passion.
isolation
dank and lightless in
this closet i burn my nails
into walls, floors, hearts
sun shines on dimmed lids black holes
invert, spit me out deathful.
harvest-time
White frost and dawn mist,
The raw sky snaps blue candy,
trees whisper with flame.
Hard frost comes, we celebrate,
Then heaven harvests the souls.
Morning's tidy sky
Sweeps me through busy London
Dusting down the Sun
Sending solar energy
Snaking up and down my spine.
anthropocentrism
to wake every morn
we hear the annoying cat
clamouring for food
another dear `posession'
don't forget the affection!
schadenfreude
he doesn't call her
pipes are frozen the keys are
snow banked far upstate.
it's great fun when her frantic
life slides slowly down her cheeks.
framed picture(s)
Staring from a box,
False faces frozen in time,
speckled with hard dust.
Standing with hands to the wall;
these faces won't stay level.
Standing on a cliff.
She stands on a cliff
In a shawl, looks out to sea,
Alone, lost in time
This was my lovers picture.
Now she sky-gazes seaward.
PAGE 2
a train journey
Grey and grey and grey.
The Alps are gone and here is
dawn in Italy.
A man from Amsterdam is
sleeping in the lower bunk.
intoxication
Skin pricks, buzzes with
this heady kaleidoscope.
Arms of lamplight dance.
Careening into bed as
the sleeping pill takes affect.
a locked door
Every mind is like
A locked door. Impervious.
Except for keyholes
That give a light upon the
Internal world of others.
mountaineering
Ascendency. Peaks.
We always want to climb high.
Progress. Growth. Success.
Until the summit we reach
Our pleasures still lie dormant.
Peace
bitter you are like froth
on the ocean but this deep
water will soon sooth you.
hate shaves away at your heart;
war is just a boomerang.
boats
estuarine love
of the sound of sails and masts
flapping in a wind
floating through the summer surf
and coming home once again
sea views
We are stalworth oak,
lashed and tarred against the world,
cutting a blind path.
We are sinking, creaking and
bubbling to the bottom.
sea views...
Rumbling blue dips and
swells, blindly ominous, to
dash itself apart.
My eyes caught in the rage of
their roaring doppleganger.
Leather
Weathered leather's best.
Softly stroking satin skin
Touching tender hide
You pull me closer with eyes
That shine brightly through the dark
laughter
Children laugh at the
Slightest thing. Repeatedly.
And we who can still
Remember laugh too. We know
What we lost, what we've become.
Loss of feeling
Why do your eyes dance
and glitter life in their pools...
I cringe at the sight.
It seems to me I knew once --
It escapes me now. Oh well.
facing a wall
The sun beats down hard.
My heels are sea-swamped.
The beach drowns under
Ceaseless pressures of water.
The sea-wall falls over me.
Cities
You were once an oak,
Now you're an ant just like me,
amid all the rest.
Once two, we are nothing here;
Snowflakes melted in water.