A Room of My Own: Prayers in the Smoky Air Tanka

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCVII: "prayers in the smoky air"

her prayers 

hanging in the smoky air ...

a bent woman

holds the Gazan night sky

on her bony shoulders

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCVIII: "if only just a nightmare"

Gazan night sky

a ghastly shade of red ...

a white-haired man

murmurs, if only this were 

just a nightmare

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCIX: "blood-stained bird cage"

smoky ruins ...

a blood-stained bird cage

with the door open

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCX: "a headless doll"

smoky skies

between two skeletal houses

a headless doll