Laurels #5

 Welcome

All aboard for travels near and far in 73 tanka that provide a wonderful range of experiences and memories in five lines down. Growing up, I was fortunate to go cross-country with my family several times, and it instilled a strong love of travel. What I recognized in editing this issue is that no matter how far or how often you travel, each time you are likely to treasure seeing the world from a new point of view, as well as finding a new world within you. A deep bow of gratitude to each of you who submitted tanka! Enjoy this excursion and, as Bashō wrote in his haibun travel diary, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, “Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.”

Tom Clausen

alone on a train

trying to peer

into the future . . .

the Columbia River turns

into fog

Jacob D. Salzer

Camas, Washington

a golden sunset

cloaks the commuter’s ride

on Phraya River

noise dissolves as my eyes

enter the silence of each temple

Rita R. Melissano

Rock Island, Illinois

moonlight

on the desolate ocean

the women

across the aisle

chat melodiously

Shawn Blair

Cohoes, New York

watching her train

disappear

on the horizon

a study

in perspective

Rick Jackofsky

Rocky Point, New York

above the bay

a long-haul jet heads out

across the Pacific—

an unknown payload

of human hopes and fears

Elaine Riddell

Hamilton, New Zealand

seaside train trip

to my childhood hometown

with eyes closed

and the window ajar

I breathe in, and breathe out . . .

Chen-ou Liu

Ajax, Ontario

fragrant air

above the chamomile field

the willows hold sway

as the train with soldiers

at the windows passes by

Senka Slivar

Pakrac, Croatia

a boy

dearly taking care of

his big shopping bag

on the return highway bus,

midnight from Tokyo

Kazuaki Wakui

Shibata-shi, Japan

dusty all-day

local   to   Vera   Cruz

a grizzled farmer

his rooster in a crate

sits down beside me

Susan Weaver

Allentown, Pennsylvania

his beaming face

and wide-open eyes

first train ride

I hope all his life

journeys are as joyful

Julie Thorndyke

Sydney, Australia

Jersey Turnpike

in a rental car

with no EZPass

I swerve across six lanes

with a satchel of quarters

Peter Larsen

Lake View Terrace, California

time travelling

with the widow

across the aisle

married twice

but only one sweetheart

Steve Black

Reading, United Kingdom

Curacao island

this scent of saltwater

off Sofea’s bow

balmy wind on the island

greets us as we step ashore

an'ya

Port Orford, Oregon

we missed each other

at the crowded ferry

you crossed to Wales

I spent the night on the dock

made tea for some Dublin bums

Wilson Martin

Winston-Salem, North Carolina

the last mile

to Union Station

the back side alleys

of broken promises

and dreams

Randy Brooks

Taylorville, Illinois

outback trip . . .

smiling as I watch

my daughter

plotting constellations

and the moon’s phases

Marilyn Humbert

Sydney, Australia

an endless queue

at the embassy gates

in black snow

I break obi-non

with strangers

Jenny Polstra

Waikato, New Zealand

luxury resort:

touting for a tip

my waiter

sweeps away the crumbs

I’d left for the pigeons

Amelia Fielden

Wollongong, Australia

in a dusty album

what we shared long ago,

our trip to Paris—

on the moonlit River Seine

you wrote a song of love

Marion Alice Poirier

Boston, Massachusetts

taxi ride

to Shibuya

for the first time

practicing a new language

the driver takes the long way

C. Jean Downer

White Rock, British Columbia

in this coffee shop

all the tour groups

who scheduled Anmok Beach

on the day

it rained

Kristyn Blessing

Menomonie, Wisconsin

Rishikesh nights

the sky darkens

into nothingness

torn intermittently by

bells in praise of deities

Rupa Anand

New Delhi, India

not visiting

the Gugong Museum

while in Taipei

I wasted my travels

in smoky night clubs

Jackie Chou

Pico Rivera, California

spires

puncture the disconsolate

blue

crossing Flanders

a windmill in the distance

Patricia Nellene Deal

McLean, Virginia

Glyndebourne . . .

men in dinner suits,

ladies in long skirts

swish past

rows of hollyhocks

Dawn Bruce

Sydney, Australia

moving to Mexico

my old therapist’s

parting words

I’ve got a few hurrahs

left in me yet

Cynthia Anderson

Yucca Valley, California

I love you

Imodium . . .

how many times

have you saved me

in exotic places

Gerry Jacobson

Canberra, Australia

no man says Donne

is an island

people flow around me

as I stare

at strange sights

Simon Wilson

Peterborough, United Kingdom

the trail

to Pastoruri glacier

is longer

the many views

of climate change

Jon Hare

Falmouth, Massachusetts

Cook Islands dive trip

swimming to the lip

of the atoll

I pause to watch eagle rays

and peer into the abyss

Terri Thorfinnson

West Sacramento, California

mountain pass ahead

fog coils around the pine trees

each step rises slow

the valley opens beneath

clouds drifting like soft rivers

R Krishnakumar

Pondicherry, India

Banzai Pipeline

Hawaii’s wild North Shore

experienced

yet still I wiped out

coral reef scars go home with me

Charles Harmon

Los Angeles, California

holiday over—

at the end of a marathon

bike ride

the high country clouds

   zigzag into the sky

Jenny Fraser

Mount Maunganai, New Zealand

my youth hitchhiking

America’s highways

sans destinations

and no hurry

to get anywhere

John Budan

Newberg, Oregon

traveling daily

to my landscape deep within

sitting in silence

welcoming what arises

discovering peace inside

Karen Lazarus

Brooklyn, New York

we pause

on the plaza a moment

so much had to happen

it starts to feel like

more than coincidence

Tim Cremin

Andover, Massachusetts

I went to ’Frisco

to see the beat poets

then surprised

when a tourist asked me

to strike a pose

Michael Flanagan

Woodbury, Minnesota

to a distant land

or around the corner

your smile

renews my spirit

for another day

Laurance Sumners

Lufkin, Texas

setting out

with only a ticket

and one suitcase

I return somehow lighter

threaded with Diwali

Joanna Ashwell

Barnard Castle, United Kingdom

magic

inside an ancient yew

in Wales

a tiny English robin

follows us

Carole Johnston

Lexington, Kentucky

ready

for an adventure

I try

to slip in the hole

after Alice

Susan Burch

Hagerstown, Maryland

here I am

feeling homesick

after

the long genetic travel

from mitochondrial Eve

Mari Konno

Fukui, Japan

it seems to be

a long, circuitous route . . .

a detour here

a scenic drive there

before the honest answer

Michele L. Harvey

Hamilton, New York

not to discourage

you about getting older

travel is harder

best to drink lots of coffee

take slippers and jammies

Doug Profitt

Middletown, Ohio

in the sunroom

mending in the chair

I travel west

through the glass ceiling

with the river of clouds

Tim Dwyer

Bangor, Northern Ireland / Brooklyn, New York

colourful

old postcards forgotten

in a bottom drawer

my first trip overseas . . .

bright days, lonely nights

Margi Abraham

Sydney, Australia

with the walking stick

you gave me before you left

I write a love poem

on the still water

of a lonely mountain lake

Michael Dylan Welch

Sammamish, Washington

post-pandemic return

to my childhood home—

gone the climbing tree

our old red barn

the house I knew so well

Edward J. Rielly

Westbrook, Maine

we snuggle

in the back seat

of grandpa’s truck

turning heads at every bend

field upon field of tulips

Bonnie J Scherer

Palmer, Alaska

Sunday road trip

along the mountain pass

breathtaking view

my old dog’s jowls

flap in the breeze

Margaret Tau

New Bern, North Carolina

faced on the train

with receding scenes . . .

the white pony

I wanted

long ago

Betsy Hearne

Urbana, Illinois

driving through

a balmy sunset

of Brooklyn neighborhoods . . .

a hundred microworlds

settling down to rest

David Chandler

Chicago, Illinois

Old Uncle’s calling out

flag stop after flag stop . . .

no point telling him

the bush train no longer runs . . .

he’s going home

Louisa Howerow

London, Ontario

the city

by the dry riverbed

was home

so empty of memories now

Mohenjo-daro

Suraja Menon Roychowdhury

Lexington, Massachusetts

driving up

La Bajada Hill

in winter dark

Orion seems further away

than in summer

Miriam Sagan

Santa Fe, New Mexico

at mother’s home

after a bus ride

from Warsaw to Lviv—

amid the ruins

her mailbox still unopened

Shiva Bhusal

Bellevue, Washington

hilly fields

tilled & planted

down this road

so many goodbyes

we never said

LeRoy Gorman

Napanee, Ontario

the meander

through my mind

going in circles

the maze always leads

to my long-ago home

Peggy Hale Bilbro

Huntsville, Alabama