April Showers Bring...

          As a child, April was never my favorite month, probably due directly to that well-worn adage that states April is a rainy month. I dislike rain as much as I despise winter, especially when the moisture seems to fall on the weekends.
          Okay, that may not be entirely true. That statement is something that the harried commuter who always misses the subway train by seconds feels. You always remember the train you missed.
          A classic case of the glass (always) half empty syndrome.
          As I matured, I didn't think about things like April showers. When the warmer weather came, April was okay after all.
          As a writer? Not so much.
          APRIL IS NATIONAL POETRY MONTH
          April is allergy month too...or marks the beginning of allergy season for most.
          I'm allergic to poems. Maybe afraid of them is more likely.
          Recently, through a writing program offered by the Queens Public Library, an assignment (challenge for the poetry challenged) was given.
          Write three Haiku styled poems
          AND three Tanka styled poems.
          Haiku I remember from grade school.
          Tanka? Trucks come to mind.
          I don't do poems...but tried anyway.
          You be the judge.

A traditional Japanese haiku is a three-line poem with seventeen syllables, written in a 5/7/5 syllable count. Often focusing on images from nature, haiku emphasizes simplicity, intensity, and directness of expression.

(While I hit the syllable count, I definitely missed the nature part of this, but then again as a kid, I'm sure I did the same).

Like Riding A Bike

Not since the third grade

Have I written a Haiku

It still comes easy

Heaviest Sigh (Ella Serenade)

Looking at the sky

Not a single day goes by

Always asking why

Centenarian Super-Hero

He’s my grandfather

World’s greatest storyteller

He is my hero

The Japanese tanka is a thirty-one-syllable poem, traditionally written in a single unbroken line. A form of waka, Japanese song or verse, tanka translates as “short song," and is better known in its five-line, 5/7/5/7/7 syllable count form.

Haiku Super-Sized

A longer Haiku

Whatever am I to do?

Counting syllables

The goal to reach, thirty-one

Here it comes, wait for it. Bam!

Ella Serenade (Reprise)

Her smile so warm

A love like theirs never wrong

The heartache so strong

Every star he wished upon

Wishing every wish were gone

The First Kiss

Unexpected Love

Camping trip, seventy-six

He’s only thirteen

Yesterday so far away

Yet still on his mind today