Thursday, June 18, 2026

A Room of My Own: Orphanage Gate Tanka

hand-me-down shirts
with elbows worn thin
in dim twilight
each boy's gaze tracks the couple 
past the orphanage gate


Added:

this fresh morning
I wake alone to the world
of broken dreams ...
yet outside new leaves bud
from an oak stump


Added:

alone
in California golden light
slanted through the room ...
I close my eyes, listening
to the child in my mind's corner


Added:

I waved at her
beyond the departure gate 
yet she didn’t turn ...
memories of her packed
into the folds of my mind


Added:

across the sky
streaks of orange, pink, and violet ...
burning letters
I wrote to her years ago
but never sent


Added: Politics of Distraction, XV

"peace deal" news on mute—
fold after fold
of ceasefire-strike thoughts
into a thousand
rainbow origami cranes


FYI: This tanka is a sequel to mine below:

Politics of Distraction, XII

flip-flopping
on the ceasefire deal
amid camera clicks --
a dove's feather caught spinning
in the White House's wire fence



Added: Politics of Distraction, XVI

smell of muggy noon -- 
the Reflecting Pool's blue sky 
turns algae green

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