Loons
On Bear Point, I saw
Only gift shoppe bears
I didn’t see loons
But I heard them on the lake
Invisible dinosaurs
Category: art
Daily Tanka: Reunion Weekend
Reunion Weekend
Reunion weekend
Campus tours are upside down
A few kids amid
A shuffling, sandaled swarm of
Retirees in college hats
Daily Tanka: Ballers
Ballers
Forty-some hours at
Basketball camp was enough
Time to be without
The girls, who came home happy,
Tired, sweaty, and more skillful
Daily Tanka: TNG
TNG
Tuesday night gravel
Means facing the hot headwind,
Soaking up the views
Into the river valley,
Then riding tailwinds back home
Daily Tanka: Uncertain Terrain
Uncertain Terrain
A bicycle ride
Is a rite of oneness with
Certain terrain and
With uncertain terrain too.
There is value in the act.
(After John McPhee, The Survival of the Bark Canoe)
Daily Tanka: Procrastinating
Procrastinating
The simplest pleasure
Of procrastinating is
Putting off pleasures:
Finishing this book, drinking
That beer, going for a ride
Daily Tanka: Graduates
Graduates
Parents’ arms leaning
Up and toward their graduates
A black-gowned river
Thumbs tap, phone screens flicker, and
Photos ascend to the cloud
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: Birdbath
Birdbath
The freshened birdbath
Draws visitors from the air
Finches sip shyly
Robins gulp, beaks tilted up
Starlings splash, water vandals
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