I’m still messing around with the Walks and trying to decide how to format them, write them, etc. Should they be recorded in a diary-style? Or prose? Poetry? A series of tankas? Free-form poems? Or should I just give it all up? 😉
So this is the latest incarnation of Walk #1 and a complete experiment. I’ve never written tankas before. A tanka is usually a five line Japanese poem with the syllable count of 5-7-5-7-7. The idea to try my hand at tankas written about walks in city parks was inspired by reading Urban Tumbleweeds: Notes from a Tanka Diary by Harryette Mullen.
Walking Roegner Park: A Photographic Tanka Journey
by Debi
Sun barely risen
Empty, cold I start to walk
Well-trodden concrete
Right or left, is the question,
To take the trail less traveled?
Choose the river path
Sound of crows, footfalls, river
Soggy from night’s rain
The wind is quiet today
Grasses bent from prior storms
Crows are still scolding
Following me as I walk
Same crows or others
Passing their scolding to friends?
In the distance, train whistling
Sound of cars, river
The train’s crossing the bridge now
Graffiti’d roadway
A city park, not country
Impervious surfaces
A pair of mallards
Sun is beginning to shine
White puffy berry
Too wet to pop, it went squish
An albino cranberry
I notice more birds
Sparrows, chickadees, finches
A flock of flickers
A pilated woodpecker
Gaggle of south-flying geese
Abandoned playground
In the midst of a puddle
Surface reflects sky
The mud sucks at my new shoes
Vanity wins, I move on
Playing detectives
Lots of mem’ries at this park
Kids playing ‘gators
Stop! Don’t touch the hot lava!
Nearly twenty years ago
Do people ride here?
A rail for tying horses
Park coming alive
Dog walkers, German shepherds
Hello car, time to go home
http://www.slideshare.net/debihough1/slideshelf
Debi Taylor-Hough 