This is the 2nd week of the Heavy Snow (December 7 – 20) season for Colleen Chesebro’s #TankaTuesday challenge based on the 24 Japanese seasons.
The challenge this week is to write three kimos, which are an Israeli form of haiku. Colleen suggested three kigo phrases to use in the three. A kimo has 10, 7, 6 lines and is fairly static. Here are the kigo phrases:
- #1:“buying a new calender” (7 syllables)
- #2:“winter desolation” (6 syllables)
- #3:“trimming the Christmas tree” (6 syllables)
Here are my kimos:
almost at the end of a painful year
buying a new calendar
brings me hope for healing
***
remembering his proposal to her
on the twelfth of December
winter jubilation
***
on my mother’s floor they gather around
to celebrate together
trimming the Christmas tree
The first poem is obvious. This has been a pretty bad year on a global scale.
The second poem is about my daughter and SIL’s engagement several years ago. It was on December 12. Then they married in the courthouse on March 12 during Covid and had a big wedding on February 12 almost two years ago. As Colleen points out in her #tankatuesday post, this is the 12th season. We are also in the 12th month by our calendar. Notice that I turned the kigo “winter desolation” around, making it “winter jubilation.” I wanted to write about daughter’s love of twelve and didn’t want it negative.
The third poem is about my mother’s retirement community.
On Sunday, the journal Roi Fainéant Press and its EIC Tiffany M. Storrs published my new Remedios Varo-inspired tiny story, Mimesis. This one is just as weird as the others, and it does have a cat as an important character. https://www.roifaineantpress.com/post/mimesis-by-luanne-castle?fbclid=IwAR0J2DQ4KmcmG_l1Iw8te2MYMXtAw6ydZfm11MEr68lrlFXVBZIJgVMv0Wk
I love the stories behind the poems.
So glad I included them!
Winsome poems and with welcome back stories, Luanne.
Thank you so much, Joy!
The stories help to give the poem a new perspective.
Thanks, Anneli! It can be a lot of fun to see the backstory of a poem, IMO.
Gives it a lot more meaning. I found that in high school when we learned about poems. Once we had an idea what the poet might be talking about, it gave us a new appreciation for it.
That is why I think the haibun form is a form for the future. You get the poem, usually a haiku, and you get prose expansion.
I’ll have to check that out one day.
Your kimo poems are brilliant! I also like the story behind the poems and the date! How cool! ❤️
Thank you so much, Colleen! Yeah, it was pretty cool. They got engaged on the 12th day of the 12th month.
I love the synchronicity of the dates. That’s really special. 💗
I like all the 12th connection! Lovely moments you have registered in the poem.
Wonderful personalized kimos! The stories with them do add extra meaning. Mimesis was so good!
I particularly like your second kimo. “Winter jublication” makes the poem sing.
Congratulations on the publication of “Mimesis”! I think it falls into the category of speculative fiction?
I love your kimos. The stories you share make them even more special. Congratulations on your latest publication 👏🏻👏🏻 I’m going to read it now 🙂
A fine trio. I wondered about the change of word so thanks for the explanation – more joyful
These are wonderful!!
Evocative poems, Luanne!
Congratulations again on the publication!
Congratulations on the publication, Luanne! I enjoyed learning the story behind your beautiful poems.❤️
All of them lovely, and congratulation on the publication. 🙂
I especially like the middle one, being a hopeless romantic. The string of 12s is so romantic!!
I love the stories and the verse – beautiful! 😊
I love those poems — how each is relational. Countries fighting. Two people loving. Residents working together for peace and beauty.
Congratulations on “Mimesis” being published. You are sowing your seeds far and wide!
Gee, Luanne, I left a comment before but something told me to double-check and, well, it’s not here so I’m leaving another comment. I love your kimos! And congratulations on the publication! Your CV must be so long! 😉
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Luanne, your series of kimos beautifully encapsulates the transition from pain and reflection to hope and celebration. The evocative imagery in each haiku paints a vivid picture of the emotional journey. Well done!
~David
Lovely poems, Luanne. I liked how you changed winter desolation into jubilation! It made for a wonderful chance to smile. Happy Holidays and wishing you a marvelous new year. 🙂
Luanne, I enjoyed your afterword as much as your poems. Such an eerie story, told with great skill.