Animal Tanka Poems

pungent skunk like smell
my nose feels assaulted
eyes quickly water
horrible stench makes me wail
i quickly see Bambi's friend...

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minnows barely swish
pond is quietly simple
cattails stand guard
bullfrog's belligerent voice
a bellow beyond the pond...

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brick wall climb/ascent
spiral shell against red brick
snail's steady labor
patience etched in slime trail
nature's victory assured...

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cows stand in their beds
trod on grass loosen like springs
blades of grass enriched

cows fulfilled and contented
cows unfilled their content ... parts...

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The soft zephyr hums
the carefree spirit of youth.
A calf ruminates
under the sun's gentle rays.
Tomorrow, the slaughterhouse.
...

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               A fox in the mist
     ...

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Desert thorns that sting.
Careful desert animals. 
Both have great instinct,
Finding safety together.
Not permanent for either....

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on the veranda
sounds of raindrops, twirling leaves
scurrying squirrels
gunshots in the distance boom
- deer to decimate garden      ...

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Like puppeteers
organ grinders will always exist;
there can never be a last;
there’s an endless supply of monkeys,
and sheep....

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like Labrador retriever 
squirrel wags his bushy tail
forth and back and forth
happy go lucky* amidst
Autumnal storm of acorns


*cheerfully unconcerned about the future...

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stains and paints a deer
after distressing the wood -
husband’s a hunter
her encounter with the wild
finds a buckshot in deer’s chest...

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Pig, with a fine nose.
Truffle, with a rustic smell.
Forests, where they meet.
The pig, to hear his sweet praise.
Mushroom, now served on a plate....

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Scurrying people
windy city wind whistling
Wet animals flee
Blue thunder, silver slick streets
Hued blooms close their perfumed rooms....

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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...

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a bird is perched high
                    ...

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