an evergreen tree
dons a frosty coat of white
its snow-laden boughs
hang heavy with winter’s tears
like incandescent pinecones
a jolly snowman
with a Pinocchio nose
wears momma’s red scarf
its buttoned smile, coal black eyes
and pipe, polished to a gleam
I dance in the snow
as arctic breaths billow in
a mushroom of smoke
snowflakes faintly touch my lips
then melt in a puff of air
Having horns of coal
His hair is of twisting smoke
His flesh a dim gold
His black blood tastes of sea salt
Holding a tyrant's sceptre
With a lion's face
Skin of green-tinted copper
With a flaming mouth
On a throne of red fire
That certain men bow down to
Rusted iron skin
A face of a proud eagle
Who whispers to all
Robed in red animal blood
Worshipped though he's deaf and blind
Made of silver scales
His own see-through blood is sweet
With a sad fish-face
Who drowns the lost in rivers
While proclaiming "Purity"
Made of tin and lead
A dragon loosely held up
With flames breaking though
Its flames used for magic spells
Its tin scales used for potions
A Tanka chain to desribe the 5 demon kings from the religion of Manichaeism.
As though treasure lost
Cuckoo chirps in rhyme hiccups
Eggs lay in crow’s nest
She knows crow will care her chicks
For mother, every child’s hers
Does cuckoo trick crow
Persuading care for her chicks
Could one fully know
Nature’s rhythm that calculates
The roles of cuckoo and crow
While crow shelters all
Cuckoo brings food abundant
Each one protects all
No true parasitism found
Agape is the norm profound
N/A’ d in Brien Strand’s, ‘All Yours (April 24)’.
A Tanka Chain
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