she slips
through my mind
again and again
no more now
than a ghost of memory

a white gate
blown open by the wind...
I wonder
what dreams await me
on the other side

Gusts No.14 Fall/Winter 2011

clouded moon -
I'm not the man I was
even a moment ago

singing the song
of forever
ten billion suns
appeared
like daisies

that innocent glint
in your eyes
reminds me what I lost
so long ago
too soon

Modern English Tanka V2 No3 Spring 2008

I imagine you leaving...
a blossom in the breeze
silent
weightless
free

red lights V7 N2 June 2011

I hear the song
of your heart
gently beating...
a white butterfly
on the breeze

For the inspirational R.D.Bailey

deliberating
over morning coffee
I choose not
to let yesterday's fallout
colour my day

Tanka Reading!

I've uploaded a short reading of my tanka poetry to Youtube. Click on the title above to view it. I hope you enjoy it.

'First Winter Rain' by Denis M. Garrison

I'd like to recommend 'First Winter Rain' by Denis M. Garrison as a must have collection for any serious reader/writer of tanka.

Denis is an excellent poet whose words are full of depth and creativity.
Through this collection he invites us to walk beside him for a while and with clarity and a light touch opens windows on new worlds, as page after page, his poems capture the pain and joy of life, just as it is.

As a writer, editor and publisher of tanka, Denis has given so much to this fast growing poetic form.

Through my early years as a fledgling writer, Denis published, supported and nurtured me and for that I am deeply grateful.