tanka

Daily tanka – 4 May

a royal spoonbill
sashays down the floodline
flings back his plumes
like Elvis at Vegas
man, he just owns this swamp

Image: The royal spoonbill, Platalea regia c/- Francesco Veronesi from Italy, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Spotted yesterday, three royal spoonbills among the raggedy ibis along the flooded suburban lagoon just down from my place.

And today’s musical offering, here’s South African jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim with Cape Town Flowers.

Daily tanka – May 2

In the room the air 
has sides cornered, delimited 
floor to ceiling 

a dragonfly (call it thought) 
clatters against the glass

Image: Waiting room, Wollongong Hospital.

And today’s musical offering, in keeping with the mallet theme of yesterday’s pick, here’s jazz vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson from 1968 (tho not released until 1980…what were they thinking?) with his album Patterns (pick any track you like – it’s all gold – a favourite: Nocturnal – just the ticket for writing tanka…)

A daily tanka – 30 April

here a Bob Ross sky
blended blended blue and rose 
van dyke pines lakefront
happy forest just like that
touch of crimson there you go

Image: On my walk this morning, before it rained. Having missed the poem a month celebrations, I’m going to try for a daily tanka for a while (there’s a local anthology afoot). Bob Ross was a landscape artist and tv personality.

Today’s music choice: Berlin musicians F.S Blumm and Nils Frahm collaboration Tag Eins, Tag Zwei