Graduates
Parents’ arms leaning
Up and toward their graduates
A black-gowned river
Thumbs tap, phone screens flicker, and
Photos ascend to the cloud
Category: tanka
Daily Tanka: Daily Tanka
Daily Tanka
I need many lines –
Ten, fifteen, even thirty –
Filled with dozens of
Words and syllables I hate
To write a five-line poem
Daily Tanka: Keys
Keys
Each workday, I lock
The office door, pocketing
My keys only to
Pull them out in a minute
So I can unlock my bike
Daily Tanka: Graduation
Graduation
I try to avoid
Wistful parenting, because
Time flies straight and true
But ending fifth grade means that
We have no little kids now
Daily Tanka: Field Trip
Field Trip
A river, bluffs, trails
Laughing, running, teasing tweens
Yellow sun, blue sky
Rocks skipped over the water
Just five hours of fifth grade left
Daily Tanka: Birdbath
Birdbath
The freshened birdbath
Draws visitors from the air
Finches sip shyly
Robins gulp, beaks tilted up
Starlings splash, water vandals
Daily Tanka: Riotgrrravel
Riotgrrravel
A peak dad moment:
When girls’ grasp equals their reach
A 20-mile ride
Loose gravel, heat, hills, headwind
Soda, donuts, the finish.
Daily Tanka: Field Day
Field Day
I’ve spent four Field Days
Manning the ball-throw events
And the first exchange
In the 4 x 100
Relay: I’ve earned those sunburns
Daily Tanka: Lost and Found
Lost and Found
The gym’s lost and found
Table evokes mystery:
Lonely socks, shoes, gloves?
Textbooks? Earbuds? Underwear?
No rink, but two hockey skates?
Daily Tanka: Award Day
Award Day
Most darts miss the board
So when an award comes through
For a professor
Who sought and accepted help,
I’m thrilled for him and his work
Daily Tanka: Iron Range Towns
Iron Range Towns
Though I don’t know them
The towns of the Iron Range
Seem familiar
From childhood years of watching
Weather forecasts from Duluth
Daily Tanka: Halfway Home
Halfway Home
Halfway home, views shift
From forestly vertical
(the exceptions: lakes)
To plainsly horizontal
(the exceptions: trees, towers)
Daily Tanka: Life in Northern Towns
Life in Northern Towns
Like a U.P. town
Ely, M N, feels closed in
By the woods and the lakes, and
Especially history.
Northfield feels open and wide.
Daily Tanka: On Driving up North
On Driving up North, v. 1
Fir, pine, spruce, cedar
Canyon a narrow blacktop
River that allows
Cars to sail through the northwoods
Between the small lonely towns
On Driving up North, v. 2
I’ve sailed cars over
Thousands of miles of blacktop
Rivers running down
Evergreen canyons to towns
Clinging to the roads’ edges
Daily Tanka: The Get-Ahead
The Get Ahead
The get-ahead push
Before a three-day weekend
Requires a battle
Against this Thursday’s slacking
And the next Monday’s sucking