The Japanese form of Tanka with its 31 syllables perfectly catches the experience of beauty and of time passing. The brevity of the form often captures an intimate moment or insight. Like the sonnet, the tanka has a turn partway through. Mimi White, who lives in New Hampshire, and on an island in a lake in Norway, Maine, writes with subtle grace. The poems are arranged by season in her collection, The World Disguised as This One (published by Deerbrook Editions). I’ve selected five, the first three set in winter, the fourth in spring and the last in autumn. Betsy Sholl
Poems by Mimi White We follow deer tracks from the woods to the field then pause where the sun shines through not knowing ours from theirs When I resist December’s fierce clarity a sparrow pecks in dirt reminding me to feed this hunger I have for less How many years have we walked the cow road long after the cows have left— there is always something after where we used to be I wanted the boat but the tide tugged harder one day I will drift in a wooden vessel beyond where I can hear voices Long after we are gone leaves will turn crimson a thousand miles north of where our farmhouse stood its cellar hole flooded with the sea
Berri Kramer, Berri Kramer,”BN #2” (detail), 2015. 6” x 8”. Encaustic
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