Hello, my dragons and dragon lovers!
I will be one of six readers for an event celebrating Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage.
The topic of the reading is Being Filipino and what it means to be Filipino.
If you are in the Seattle area on May 19th, please stop by. The event is free and will include an open mic at the end.
I hope to see all you lovely writers and readers there!
I see streets of gray, gray buildings too.
I see them grow around me and you.
And I think to myself:
What the fuck is this shit?
I see skies of gray and clouds of gray, (wtf!)
the wet windy day, the cold ass night,
and I think to myself:
What the fuck is this shit?
The colors of the pavement, so ugly on the ground,
are also on the faces of people screwing around.
I see addicts shooting up, saying “Do you want to fight?”
They’re really saying, “I’m high as a kite!”
I hear babies crying, I watch them bitch.
There’ll be more crying when their dad cracks the whip!
And I think to myself:
What the fuck is this shit?
Yes, I think to myself:
What the fuck is this shit????
You left concave shapes
scattered around the house
molds filing up with my tears.
I keep fine fibers
of you – hair strands, sock lint, dust
-warm in my pocket.
I wash the canvas
bleeding bruised blues into black
dripping drops of white
onto purple yellow bursts
attempting to capture you.
The tanka (or waka) is a classical Japanese poetic form, typically consisting of five lines or units (lines in the Romanized forms). Each line or unit has a specific number of syllables, creating a total pattern of 5-7-5-7-7.
Much like a haiku, the form appears simple. However, brevity is often easier to digest than it is to create. Moreover, the goal of any tanka is to create a specific picture and mood within the reader’s mindscape. The previous poem I wrote for the blog was a tanka. If you feel up to it, give it a try in the comments or link me to your own tankas. I’d love to read my reader’s works.
Sleep — death’s twin sister
stole me away at dawn
leaving my breathing stale husk
air
the flavor of BBQ left out overnight
tobacco smoke from a walnut pipe
crisp as an open freezer
grey as hospital walls
