I was talking to my Mom last night about my Poetry Challenge project, and she gave me one. She said:
“How about one about cats?”
So here is my poem about cats. I’ve decided that I’m going to occasionally integrate my photography and my poetry. Some people aren’t very excited about poetry so maybe this will engage them a little better. This poem is again a Japanese form. I’m still studying the English stuff. I just want to get a bit better at it before I humiliate myself. This form is called a Tanka and traditionally has a 5-7-5-7-7 pattern, though in modern Tanka as in Haiku, that is no longer always the case. Tanka is not something I’ve done before, so this is still a challenge for me. I hope I’ve got it at least somewhere near what it is meant to be. I decided to put this one on a photo I took of Truffle, one of our cats. I suppose you could call it a sort of photographic Haiga. Obviously no great skill was required in this case, and my mastery of Zen, well – what mastery? Anyway, enjoy.
Cat
by M.J. Adams
the midmorning sun
shines through the vertical blinds
onto the table
I fail to attract your gaze
you ignore me as always
I got a Poetry Challenge submission from my friend Joe the other day and this is what it said:
“driving along a country road in Arizona”
Now luckily I have lived in Arizona and I have driven there on country roads. What I most remember about Arizona was driving at night and feeling the heat still there. Though its bite had been taken away with the loss of the sun, you could still feel the warmth left from the day. Some of my fondest memories there were driving on deserted roads in the black of the night with the windows down. It has a special feeling.
Since I didn’t feel up to the task of trying to convey that feeling via a form of poetry which is new to me, I decided to revert to haiku in this case. To make up the “challenge” of this, I’ve added in a haiga. This is a way of attempting to give an artistic expression of a haiku’s feeling. Mine is pitiful indeed, as my drawing skills leave much to be desired and I don’t really think I can adequately capture the feeling of anything with my meager abilities, let alone accomplish the aim of a haiga. Nevertheless, here is my attempt.
Arizona Highway
by M.J. Adams
arizona highway
the warm molasses air greets
the rising moon
