tanka – Page 3

The Olive Tree

The olive tree cries
Blood-stained roots long for water
alone in her death
Once the dwelling place of God
now turning to dust and death

The settled forest
tanks rolling in the distance
the destructive sounds
Birds take flight, and creatures flee
The trees don’t flinch as they die

communion with trees
called the cursed, malignant girl
crying to the sky
church bells carry her body
killed by a feverish priest

longing for fairies,
magical creatures, and a
rare nature magic
caught within the mundane world
an imaginary wish

Soft garden party
Grandma spiked the stock last night
They can’t stop laughing
a giggly bubble wild lunch
lost in the afternoon haze

a restless spirit
the unfulfilled potential
wandering alone
unable to move on home
keeping the trees company

exhausted angel
slowly falls apart from war
a wing gone astray
hands lay still in the rubble
weeping tears of blood alone

We turn our faces
from the sun that burns our eyes
The sun will still shine
We turn ourselves from the one
full of seethe and destruction

watching the night sky
finding childhood memories
the remembering
feeling love for your siblings
the saucepan constellation

Caught by the sunlight
Mortar and Pestle pummel
a little pesto
Today you are Italian
flour footprints and sips of wine