Tanka Sequence
Rome
i sit
on these steps
where we met
so long ago
in a song
soft light
scarred alter
in shadow
i light a candle
for you, the one lost
keats’
death mask
i glance
out his window—
the Spanish steps
those final days
before his death
for how many hours
did he sit watching
people pass?
my camera
captures her crawl
up the same stairs
Christ climbed
carrying his cross
hair under glass
jawbones in urns
arms and hearts
in alter boxes
is nothing sacred?
Santorini
fresh-squeezed
orange juice
bittersweet
yesterday’s kisses
linger on my lips
kalo mina
we celebrate
together
the new month
sun and moon in orbit
walking the strip
for souvenirs
when will you let go
of the cords
binding you back?
coming out of a shop
we are greeted
by an old man
with a walking stick
riding a donkey
free of the crowd
i slow my pace
one step
then two
finally alone
black pebble
beach
blue skies
a breeze brings
the hint of mint
cyclops
with fresh oranges
a retreat
on the road
to Oia
four-hour hike
across the ridge
ah, sunset
we feast
forget to remember
pink sky
the still water
becomes a mirror
for the sun’s
final rays
we start back
along the path
suddenly
i turn
you are not there
waves lapping
the black beach
take my voice
leave me
howling at the moon
The two tanka sequences
were written during my travels to Greece and Italy last
summer ("Rome" & "Santorini").
View these poems in a
Haiga format:
Carmella
Braniger (PhD) teaches creative writing at Millikin
University, in Decatur, Illinois (USA). Her poems have
appeared or are forthcoming in Modern English
Tanka, Atlas Poetic: A Journal of Poetry of Place in
Contemporary Tanka, Moonbathing: A Journal of Women's
Tanka, Chrysanthemum, Eucalypt, buzzard picnic, Sycamore
Review, Poems and Plays, and The Dirty Napkin.
Her chapbook, No One May Follow, was
published in 2009 by Pudding House Publications. She
collaboratively writes and publishes poetry sequences
with fellow English faculty and students. Her recent
travels in Greece (Athens, Crete, and Santorini)
inspired a series of tanka sequences, "Rome" and "Santorini".
