Tiny Black Stone

I have given my heart to watercolor again as a result

of playing with the app called Waterlogue. 

Here is a little scene from our ride home 

last Thursday before 5 o'clock. It is getting dark

at this time of year and the sun is already going down.

I especially like the mysterious thing that has 

happened to the electrical tower on the right.

Those delicious tubes of melting color!

Those soft brushes!

Ahhhhhh.......

all day long the thought

that wouldn't leave me alone

rinsing jasmine rice

the tiny black stone

at the bottom of the pot

        James Chessing

red geraniums

on the widow's balcony

in fading light

she talks to every bud and bloom,

each leaf that curls and browns

Beverley George

Mariposa 30; 

Haiku Poets of Northern California,

Spring/Summer 2014, both on page 19.

This poetic form is called a tanka and is modeled 
on ancient Chinese and Japanese five-line forms. 
It gives a little more room to express a short thought 
than a haiku, yet is very self-contained, and not show-offy.