the raindrops
on the old car's windshield
and the light
that gets through
in late November

spg

you want to talk
but i have nothing
to say
around our silence
rain falls


avv

thought I was immune
to fata morgana's wiles -
I am desert bred -
but my mouth is full of sand
scooped from a dried-up wadi
mac

the dream of love

seems particularly hopeless

this afternoon

not even one man in the street

I can pin my fantasies upon

~K~

this same fly
belly up on the ledge-
just yesterday
did I not see it buzzing
against my hospital window?

-spg

moth batting itself
senseless
against the lampshade
it will be a long night
for both of us

o-tsukimi -
sometimes obscured by haze
but never extinguished
September's dreaming moon
the lantern above my gate
mac

the brave ones

burn bright like

lamps at midnight,

and I lie sleepless

in a bed alone

~K~

Our crew team
running down to the lake
I follow
that boy's blond hair
and his sun soaked legs

bounce in my step
kicking up gravel
my path from here on
littered with
mistakes all my own

avv

a hundred drops slide
meandering and merging
down the window pane
as in life, the path is clear
only after choice is past
mac

thunderheads towering

up through the pink sunset—

this letter

raising the rent

one hundred and ninety dollars

~K~

Are you still
thinking about her —
able to smirk
but not say why she smirked
until even her eyes went out?

dj

in the waiting room
I am caught off guard-
the grip
of my frail mother
and her blue veined hands!

spg

at dawn
the feel of wet grass
on my hands
remembering my first night
howling at the full moon

avv

my wrists encircled
with lush garnet bruises
my head crowned with stars
I kneel, my brow to the earth,
each ragged breath a triumph
mac 7/16/09

"boat bites"

another bruise,

another scrape,

but at least

I have all my eyebrows

~K~

Before rose and gray
could vanish in a golden
blaze of clear sky
the 10th floor sucked them
into it's dark-tech slick.
dj 7/14/09

Take It From The Top (but read it from the bottom)

she walks slowly
my neighbor with her dog
gray hair and coat
where once there was gold
and barks met with laughter
spg 7/09/09


wandering
around this wild world
in search
of a strong hand
to hold my leash
avv 7/05/09


Leash taut between us
we dash along the creekbed -
she loves hide-and-seek
Happy yelps announce her prize:
dead hand curled among dead leaves
mac 6/27/09


warm breezes
men walking dogs
along the waterfront
today maybe I'll
find a lover
mk 6/27/09


This time last year
hope held sway.
A light was on.
The beloved one wanted me.
We gazed...
dj 6/08/09


today I returned
to that cafe on main street
hoping to see you
it has been two seasons now
since I touched your boyish face
spg 6/06/09


awake from dreams
of fire and fierce panic
no dim room to check
no downy cheek to kiss
no ease for a mother's heart
mac 5/26/09


the children
gone for a week
sleeping deeply
in the silence
of an empty house
mk 5/21/09


No word
of acknowledgment
comes
from the other side
of my world.
dj 5/15/09


No sea so wild
I would not sail
nor shore so savage
I would not land
if he but gave the word
mac 4/28/09


much more
than my eyes are
following
those handsome men
in their naval uniforms
mk 4/27/09


On Bonapart Lake
a spider web of stars
so close
they get lost
in my comrads' beards.
dj 4/24/09


in the stars
I can trace the contours
of your body
and all the glowing pieces
I wish to touch
spg 4/24/09


All night we waited,
huddled against bitter frost
to watch the slaying;
Summer bled a storm of stars,
felled by Orion's club.
mac 4/19/09


waking
with Orion
before dawn,
following his hounds
as they follow him
mk 4/17/09


A muffling redwood
scorched in Chaucer's time
roots me to the Eel
while through stone-still air
it reaches into space.
dj 4/16/09


in this silence
as the dress slips off
even birds wait-
hear each amber thread give way
to the singing of your skin
spg 4/16/09


Green-gold the crown
I plait for my love's hair -
willow, daffodil
Heron jabs her reflection,
snatches the bright fish beneath
mac 4/16/09


the twisted links
of a willow tree—
ten-year-old me
still wants to climb
this toppled giant
mk 4/16/09


cigarette smoke
I used to wave away
from my clothes
now clings to the walls
where your picture was
spg 4/14/09


This mind, like water,
distorts all that enters it:
what is straight, it bends;
what is solid, it dissolves;
what is sullied, it cleanses.
mac 4/09/09


Onto a driveway
the sullen rain drips collapse
to embody splash patterns
into which reaching
Om Mani Padme Hung Hri
dj 4/07/09


a rain drop
into the sea
swallowed whole
I chant a mantra
under my breath
spg 4/01/09


What word will pierce through
the roar of these delusions?
None is clear enough.
If I held up a flower,
who would be there to see it?
mac 4/01/09


Listens to silence
One who can no longer speak
For some words to come;
An expanding sphere ensues
Empty of speech and language.
dj 4/01/09


bedridden
for the whole day
whimpering
like my mother
on her death bed
spg 3/26/09



The #tekkan crew are (in order of appearance):
SPG - Sean Greenlaw
DJ - Dirk Johnson @dirkjohnson
MAC - Marin Corentyn
MK - M Kei @kujakupoet
AVV - Alex vonVaupel @alexvonvaupel

Introduction

Tekkan Tanka was created to facilitate the #tekkan tanka game on Twitter. Having our tanka for the game posted in random places made it hard to keep track of them all and to know whose turn it was. We established this joint blog so that all the tekkan tanka would wind up in the same place, making it much easier for us (and any fans) to follow the sequence.

The current Tekkan Tanka poets are:

SPGreenlaw (S. P. Greenlaw)
DirkJohnson (Dirk Johnson)
Kujakupoet (M. Kei)
Cobwebstir (Marin Corentyn)
AlexvonVaupel (Alex von Vaupel)

You can follow them on Twitter for more #tanka goodness, progressive politics, nautical history, music, cats, and whatever else strikes our fancy.