Laurels #1
February 2024
Richard L. Matta, editor
Welcome
Welcome to the inaugural issue of Laurels, the Tanka Society of America’s new members-only online journal. As the first guest editor, I chose the theme “a makeover: finding beauty in the broken.” Members from nine countries—through their own kintsugi lenses—responded to the theme with wonderful and varied poems, and I chose fifty for publication. These poetic renderings, arranged by each poet’s first name, range from addressing the power of persistence and courage in pressing through hardship to finding beauty through imagination. One shape poem might give spider-fearing readers shivers, while several others reflect on avoiding the trap of a fixed way of looking at people, places, and things. Thank you to all poets who responded. I’ll end with this quote from Albert Camus: “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.”
Richard L. Matta
again, I pull weeds
those nutrient-sucking
water-gulping invaders
but for one with a blue flower
the color of sky
Adelaide B. Shaw
Somers, New York
after months
of an empty carpet,
a small brown dog
curled where my white darling lay—
learning this replacement
Amelia Fielden
Wollongong, Australia
around and round
a vulture’s vigilance
circling fresh offal
albeit how artful
is the grace of its glide
an’ya
Florence, Oregon
among the cuttings
of lavender and roses
a wish bone twig―
I grab both ends
and pull
Barbara Sabol
Akron, Ohio
leukemia—
keeping notes
on a child’s courage
so someday she knows
a true hero
Betsy Hearne
Urbana, Illinois
a billow
of pollen on the breeze . . .
unfurling
to the dance’s rhythm
i become the flower
Carole Harrison
Jamberoo, Australia
gracefully stretching
into the silence . . .
one by one
the faint shadow
of thick hairy spider legs
C. X. Turner
Birmingham, United Kingdom
fly, don’t hover
too close—
there’ll be plenty of time
to buzz around
my corpse
Cynthia Anderson
Yucca Valley, California
dandelions
dot the neglected lawn
bright harbingers
of prairie flowers’
return
David Chandler
Chicago, Illinois
an angry dog
battered and abandoned
eyes locked on mine
that moment no one saw
two injured spirits intertwined
David Lee Hill
Bakersfield, California
my first
spring stroll without you
the bitter bite
of a late frost sweetened
by plum blossom breeze
Billie Dee
San Miguel, New Mexico
lying on this bed
of sun-warmed moss
and lichen,
I imagine myself
a fruiting body
Debbie Strange
Winnipeg, Manitoba
the new year still young
each day a treasure
I’ve stopped
wondering where I am
on the Bell curve of life
Diane Funston
Marysville, California
wet tankers
in that railway siding
stand and wait
with their graffiti
glistening, gorgeous
Gerry Jacobson
Canberra, Australia
darkness
between shards of ice
on the lake
an unknown flower
frozen in time
Jacob D. Salzer
Vancouver, Washington
the smell of manure
can wrinkle a city nose
so acrid, sharp and pungent
to someone raised on a farm
it can be sweet nostalgia
Jacqueline Korschun Hyman
Sawyerville, Québec
near our garden
catbirds weave a nest
and groom it often
but their snug home
has no chicks
Janet Ruth Heller
Portage, Michigan
forced
in winter’s depth
wafts of decay
signal the brightness
of paperwhites
Jon Hare
Falmouth, Massachusetts
her scars
so well hidden
mark the contours
of her beauty
of my love
John Tehan
Cape Cod, Massachusetts
misshapen
but still mine
re-stitched and worn
the ragged bear
with magic hugs
Joanna Ashwell
Barnard Castle, United Kingdom
Leonard Cohen said
the cracks let in the light
kintsugi fills
the cracks with gold . . .
which way to choose?
Joy McCall
Norwich, England
a suitcase full
of broken dishes
I saved them all
my first fireplace mosaic
was mixed with tears
Kath Abela Wilson
Pasadena, California
it’s even better
second time around . . .
friends notice
a happy lilt in my voice
and love-light in my eyes
Keitha Keyes
Sydney, Australia
my love, i will knit
a cocoon of golden silk
to wrap around you
this winter until the spring
reveals your metamorphosis
Lafcadio
Chattanooga, Tennessee
your pills on the table
cane by the chair
same blue eyes
I fell in love with—
growing old together
Leslie Bamford
Waterloo, Ontario
after a squall
the ocean leaves debris
driftwood, clams and cockles
carried home
to add beauty to routine
Linda Conroy
Bellingham, Washington
left to decay
at the garden gate
snakeskin
today I reveal
my better self
Margaret Tau
New Bern, North Carolina
after the wildfire
the charred eucalypt forest
a sea of green
epicormic shoots
sway in the breeze
Marilyn Humbert
Sydney, Australia
wearing
a kimono remodeled
from grandmother’s
I am a sakura tree
blooming for a hundred years
Mari Konno
Fukui, Japan
the house up the street
sagging disheveled
ignored
until a rainbow
bathed it in indigo
Mark Teaford
Napa, California
my agile ascent
over the porch steps
at last
a caterpillar
gets its wings
Mary Davila
Buffalo, New York
the dusty smell
of an antique store
an old toy
from my childhood
calls to me
Mel Goldberg
Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico
the plaque on the courthouse
by the town square
records the high water mark
as if we might one day learn
how to love again
Michael Dylan Welch
Sammamish, Washington
kintsugi
Grandma’s tea cup
carelessly broken
carefully mended
beautifully scarred
Michael Flanagan
Hamilton, New York
a used copy
of Huckleberry Finn
highlighted in yellow
someone else’s thoughts
about what is important
Michael Ketchek
Rochester, New York
a strange beauty
in the way he glides
down the hallway
the balding macrocephalic
with those vacant fawn eyes
Michael H. Lester
Los Angeles, California
surely bent
but still serviceable
he moves snow
with his old shovel
as easily as a youngster
Michele L. Harvey
Hamilton, New York
spider webs
interlace the treetops
after rain
crystal chandeliers
glisten in the sunlight
Michelle Brock
Queanbeyan, Australia
clearing
the back corner of the yard
I decide not to decide
weed
or flower
Peggy Hale Bilbro
Huntsville, Alabama
an ugly chunk
of live-oak firewood
curved just so
becomes a modest nude
with wide carved eyes
Peter Larsen
Lake View Terrace, California
pink sweater
and tarnished hoop earrings
I will always be
your favorite
cheerleader
Randy Brooks
Taylorville, Illinois
swept up
by the autumn wind
a maple leaf
pinwheels
in the spider’s web
Rick Jackofsky
Rocky Point, New York
grandma
was a fearless wing walker
who married
a well-known snake charmer
such tales she made up for us
Roberta Beach Jacobson
Indianola, Iowa
teary-eyed
the sun a bright orange ball
such beauty
from forest fires raging
hundreds of miles away
Robert Erlandson
Birmingham, Michigan
leafing through old pictures
full of our young smiles
I caress the frayed edges
will your fingers smooth them out
these lines that mark our years
Suraja Menon Roychowdhury
Lexington, Massachusetts
how I persist
despite your attempts
to keep me down . . .
a dandelion growing
in a sidewalk crack
Susan Burch
Hagerstown, Maryland
a grass spider
backs into the funnel
of her web . . .
the mysteries within
our hidden selves
Susan Weaver
Allentown, Pennsylvania
a broken shell
glued to a piece
of sea glass
becomes the fin of a fish
that birthed an artist
Tim Cremin
Andover, Massachusetts
a rough scholar’s rock
sculptured for a waterfall
spoke clearly to me
healing my wounded soul
and bringing me needed peace
William Kerr
New York, New York
too wild for blue
to paint a clear horizon
rolling waves
carry our dreams
our stories from afar
Xenia Tran
Nairn, Scotland