Deep Night

deep night
buzzing with silence
until at last
a single magpie
calls in the new day

glow

glow of green
on blackened eucalypts
life springs again
on powdered hills
above the grieving towns

at a tanka workshop

cygnets piggyback
in shoals by the shore
birdwatchers
binoculars in unison
follow their guide

breath infused
black-barrelled clarinet
lifts me high
lays me low
urges me on

yoked together
these twenty five years -
fresh fields
tempt this horse
chafed by the harness

more for the music string

guitar strings pour
an avalanceh of discord;
you bury me
in a landslide
of angry words

dragon fly dance
on cello strings:
skill and grace
marry in arma nd bow
eye and finger and string

fingers caress
a broken chord
from yellowed keys;
the touch of an old friend
on my shaking arm

stillness
amid bird babble
dawn mantra

a music string

I'm working on a tanka string based on my interest in music. Some early offerings:

a soprano sings
a ladder of notes -
she climbs,
then descends
readies to start again

a low note
soft and round
sounds,
the listener
leans forward

haiku

on the path
a crumpled snake skin
house to let