2012-04-22 Spring

Spring Renga at Antelope Park, Lincoln, NE

April 22, 2012 During Earth Day Celebrations!

Each stanza © by the poet who composed it, 2012, Lincoln, NE.

Sarah Fairchild (SF), Sheila Tinkham,, Charlene Neeley (CN), Mark Fairchild (MF), and Larry Reznicek

Earth Day in the park

poets writing linked verse

a butterfly vortex - © SF (1)

The breeze strokes your hair

The sun soothes your face - ST (2)

with faces turned to the sun

we lazily watch the hawk

sliding from tree to tree - © CN (3)

The hunt must continue

above celebrants in the grass - © MF (4)

Who will last longer?

The birds or the humans?

likely, the hard shelled insects - © LR (5)

Since the dinosaur age—

the shimmering dragonfly - © SF (6)

Lifts leisurely his glance to the skies

while mosquitoes dart for safety

awash in the velvety sky - © ST (7)

that keeps us all from floating

into space and oblivion - © CN (8)

Yes, gravity is our friend

only hawks and Painted Ladies

defy it with impunity - © MF (9)

The Printed Ladies are flowers

their petticoat petals reluctantly spread - © LR (10)

the hawks nest against the child ← NOTE:   a "reverse tanka"

stretch the petals and feed them

to their young as dessert. - © LR (10)

Bees and butterflies

plunder the flower

turn straw into gold - - © SF (11)

Golden like the sun rays against my skin

I luxuriate in the sultry air - © ST (12)

nearing sleep on my blanket

in a secluded spot in the park

until laughing children invade my reverie - © CN (13)

A mouse-sized dog pulling pint-sized kid

challenges boulder-sized bull dog - © MF (14)

Like a tiny ant

carrying away your picnic

morsel by morsel - SF (15)

A feast for the famished eye

the children rushing to and fro - © ST (16)

balloons escaping singly

and in bunches fly skyward

small clouds of red, green and yellow - © CN (17)

clouds keeping tornadoes at bay

and putting thunderstorms to shame - © MF (18)

floating through the ethereal heavens

the kites touch the surreal horizon

dipping and ebbing in the breeze - © ST (19)

The hawk returns to join the fun

a bit of play before dinner - © CN (20)

The wind dies down to a breeze;

the sun beam angles narrow.

Small animals vanish from view. - © MF (21)

Under the shadow of a hawk

or a hovering black Frisbee - © SF (22)

a mouse scurries for the shelter

of a fallen leaf or drooping flower

in a vain effort not to become an entrée - © CN (23)

shivering during spring nights

reveling when the sun comes up - © MF (24)

The poets disperse

treasuring their scraps

of observations and revelations - © SF (25)

Notes:

→  Tankas and "reverse tankas" may be used to break up the order in which poets write. This is sometimes necessary when an even number of participants results in each poet always writing only one type of stanza (haiku or couplet).