Selected Tanka: Migrant and Potato Fields Tanka

the setting sun
floods potato fields
with crimson
a migrant looks up
at geese flying south

tinywords, 17:1, 2017

Selected Tanka: Abortion Clinic Tanka

alone outside
the abortion clinic ...
a teenager
stretches her hand to catch
falling rose petals

Cattails, April 2017

Selected Tanka: Night of Deportation Tanka

first night
of deportation ...
a child
looking at the grass
covered with frost

Cattails, April 2017

Selected Tanka: Cricket Songs and Shadows Tanka

night by night
the cricket songs
grow weaker
no one comes to see me
except the shadows

Skylark, 5:1, Summer 2017

Selected Tanka: Aging Mind Tanka

no more loon calls
as the sun sets in flames
of color
alone by the lake
of my aging mind

Skylark, 5:1, Summer 2017

Selected Tanka: Yellow Leaf Tanka

go back
to where you came from ...
a yellow leaf
tossing and turning
with each gust of wind

Chinese Translation

你從哪裡來
就滾回哪裡去 ...
一片黃色葉子
在每一陣風吹來吹去中
不停地翻轉和滾動

Coviews, January 2, 2017

Selected Tanka: Ferris Wheel Tanka

at the top
of the ferris wheel
alone
with a harvest moon
and my immigrant dream

Haiku Canada Review, 11:1, 2017

Selected Tanka: Permanent Resident Card Tanka

April snowflakes
rearrange hometown memories
in the lineup
I wait for a brand new
permanent resident card

tinywords, 16:2,18 January 2017

Selected Tanka: Two Swans Tanka

the edge
of a long silence
between us --
two swans on the lake
flapping their wings

Gusts, 24, Fall/Winter 2016

Selected Tanka: Fifth Corner of the Sky Tanka

home sweet home
in the promised land:
my attic room
ten-square feet with a fifth
corner of the sky

NeverEnding Story, October 11, 2016

Selected Tanka: Mind-Demons Tanka

midnight moon ...
a war veteran
stabbing and slashing
his mind-demons
onto the canvas

NeverEnding Story, October 24, 2016

Selected Tanka: No Lights On Tanka

no lights on
in his mother's new house ...
the clip-clop
of his Wild Horse skateboard
fading into the night

TSA 2016 Members’ Anthology

Selected Tanka: Emptiness Tanka

inspired by the 9/11  Memorial Fountain

at the footprint
of each tower that once stood
vast emptiness
( loss and grief ) surrounded
by four walls of water

NeverEnding Story, September 12, 2016

Selected Tanka: Emptiness Tanka

sleepless again...
I turn in bed waiting
for the moonlight
to fill the emptiness
on her side of the bed

NeverEnding Story, August 15, 2016

Selected Tanka: Migrant Dream Tanka

to Langston Hughes

steep terrain
and long rows of grape vines . . .
my migrant dream
dries up like a raisin
under a scorching sun

Revision, Skylark 4:2, Winter 2016

Selected Tanka: Border Town Tanka

the fog rolling
over the border town . . .
refugees
walk along train tracks
toward a blood moon

Skylark, 4:2, Winter 2016

Selected Tanka: Silence and Shadow Tanka

a wine glass
of the winter sky ...
silence
and my shadow
wait side by side

Whispers, August 11, 2016

Selected Tanka: Old Man and His Dog Tanka

sparrows pecking
at a crust of bread
on the sidewalk
an old man and his dog
cocooned together

NeverEnding Story, August 9, 2016

Selected Tanka: Accented English Tanka

my young friend
now speaks English
without an accent ...
the wu-long tea I drink
tasting so bitter

Ribbons, 12:3, Fall 2016

Selected Tanka: Long Way Home Tanka

first snowfall
on the long way home
any words would be
less cold than this silence
between the two of us

Revision, Ribbons, 12:3, Fall 2016