Today as part of the Couplets poetry blog tour, I’m featuring the poet Margaret Dornaus here on my blog. I enjoy her poetry, especially her tanka, and I know you will, too.
In her own words:
I’ve always loved poetry and can remember my father reciting the opening prologue to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales to me and my sisters every April as a rite of passage when we were children. It’s no wonder, then, that I became an English major and eventually earned an M.F.A. by translating other people’s poetry into English. Still, although I’ve written my own poetry in the closet for as long as I can remember, it’s only been in the past year-and-a-half since I started my haiku blog on a whim that I began my love affair with Japanese short form poetry. How my life has changed for the better since then! I’ve found a way to express myself in 3-5 short lines, and, more than that, I’ve discovered a community of writers who take the time to observe nature line by line . . . leaf by leaf. What a blessing!
a surprise
at this time in life to find
such passion . . .
a covey of quail rises
fluttering on dark wings
Moonbathing: A Journal of Women’s Tanka,
no. 5, Fall 2011/Winter 2012
at Toad Suck
I contemplate syllables
and old ponds
like a child puddle-jumping
loudly through soft falling rain
Ribbons: Tanka Society of America Journal,
vol. 7, no. 1, Spring 2011
double-digging dirt
I find the old pear’s root
still sprouting leaves—
how hard it seems to give up
on a life with such purpose
from “in the loud silence”, a tanka series,
Lynx, XXVI: 2, June 2011
Thank you, Tina, for having me here today. What great fun! Best, Maggie
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These are wonderful. Thank you Margaret and Tina for sharing these. I'm participating in Couplets as well, and have a post on Marty Smith, his art and writing, up yesterday. Take a look, when you have the time and energy.
Thank you, Yousei. I've been enjoying your wonderful posts . . . and your haiku on feathers.
I am just beginning to play with the Tanka form, these quoted here are an inspiration.
"…who take the time to observe nature line by line . . . leaf by leaf." I love that, Margaret! I will always think about it when I am out on a walk. You are one of my inspirations for trying my hand at tanka.
Thank you, Libby and Cara, for your kind remarks.
[...] April 2012: Featured “Couplets” Poet: Margaret Dornaus (at Christina Nguyen’sA wish for the [...]
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