A Room of My Own: River Trail Tanka

Starlight on the Gutter of  Blossoms, IV

silver moonlight 

drips through weeping willow leaves

the river trail  reeks 

where a stray rips the throat

from a bag of rotting guts

FYI: My new writing project, Starlight on the Gutter of Blossoms, applies the violent lens of the urban onihishigitei style to the modern landscape. Inspired by Christine Judd’s "neon lights" tanka, the title hijacks Oscar Wilde’s romanticism—"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars"—and forces that celestial gaze down into the city’s filth to "slay" traditional beauty.

You can read its I, II, and III here.

Added: Starlight on the Gutter of  Blossoms, V

the milky way 

floats in the midlight river --

one yellow stream

arcs higher than the other

while two drunks shout and laugh

Added: Starlight on the Gutter of  Blossoms, VI

the warbler’s wail

ripples through the morning mist --

the screech of brakes

as a truck grinds to a stop

inches from the toddler

Added: Starlight on the Gutter of  Blossoms, VII

the moonlit creek

chatters over mossy rocks

the drainage pipe 

spewing vomit after vomit

of neon-blue factory sludge

Added: Starlight on the Gutter of  Blossoms, VIII

fields of wheat

rippling in morning sunshine

roadside billboards

hawk cheap loans and debt swaps

to the hollow-eyed and aged

Added: Starlight on the Gutter of  Blossoms, IX

morning mist

veiling the river’s curve ...

the bridge traffic stops

as a rusted semi-truck 

grinds a stray into pulp