Yvette Calleiro has come up with the topic for this week’s Tanka Tuesday: Fools Abound! Of course, she’s playing off April 1, April Fool’s Day, a day of sanctioned pranks.
Only I’ve never liked pranks. I don’t like to see people made fools of. In fact, the only place I like a fool is in a Shakespeare play, such as the fool in King Lear. That jester is a smart man.
So I thought I’d write a syllabic poem–senryu today–highlighting the toxicity of foolishness.
And I’m giving my poem a title although that isn’t usual with a senryu.
Fool’s Parsley
the name seems a prank
but one bite can mean your death
even its touch hurts
By H. Zell – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8951747Although this poisonous weed comes from other continents, it has made its way to North American and, yes, even to Arizona.
Apparently you don’t always die from eating the weed. Sometimes you just get sick. However, if you die from it you die by SUFFOCATION.
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PURCHASE SCRAP: SALVAGING A FAMILY
You’ve made every word count!
Thanks, Anneli! That’s why I love those teeny-tinies!
A teaching tanka. Thanks for the warning about fool’s parsley. !
You’re welcome. Pretty scary!
Looks like Queen Anne’s lace. I didn’t know it was toxic!
I think it looks like it, too! But it’s different. Queen Anne’s Lace is edible or part of it is. Scary . . . .
I feel the same way you do about playing pranks on people. Most pranks seem like acts of passive aggression to me.
Yes!!!!!!!!!!!
A lesson in just a few words. Well done.
Eugi, thank you so much! So glad you like it!
You’re most welcome, Luanne.
The fools parsley is like Hemlock… Carrying on your Shakespearian theme … Very well done 💜💜
Thank you so much, Willow! Yes on the hemlock!
Not a foolish warning! 🙂
Exactly. Thanks Kaci!!!
April Fool’s Day is a day I would try to skip school or call in sick to work to avoid being pranked. I didn’t like to be a witness to a prank. I LOVE your poem. It’s perfect, and it does look like Queen Anne’s Lace which makes it even more scary.
I’m sure I’ve seen this plant. It’s actually very pretty. But very invasive too. It hoards space and suffocates other plants. But I didn’t know it had such a bad, horrible reputation. Oh my. now that I know I will stay away. I dont want that in my yard. I wouldnt have known if not for your lovely poem. So doubly thanks. Bless you Luanne. Happy Easter.
The first line innocuous enough, light, but the next two hot home. A modern metaphor .
Thank you, Paul! True about the metaphor!
Fool’s parsley sounds like a terrifying plant to have growing wild! Your senryu shows the human’s response to such a plant! YIKES!!
I know, so scary! And I finally understand why this is a senryu and not a haiku hahaha.
I love it, Luanne. 🤣
test
I left a longer comment which didn’t show up so I did a test… I’ll try again; I didn’t know about Fool’s Parsley – it is similar to but not the same as Queen Anne’s lace. Butterflies – Swallowtails like real parsley which have similar flowers too.
Right, the blossom looks like Queen Anne’s Lace which is so common in the US. But underneath the blossom it looks different. Yes, re the real parsley similarity!
I read some more about the difference –
There is a nice antique image here;
https://www.etsy.com/ie/listing/4332316584/fools-parsley-antique-plant-print-from
That’s a beautiful picture of a deadly plant! it really does look like regular parsley here.
I did notice the hanging bits from the flowers… on the fool that the real stuff doesn’t have. Great I just read that you can find the ‘fool’ in my neck of the woods!
Take care of yourself, Jules! That is kind of scary!
Oh… the hanging bits that were in the illustration, not my real parsley 🙂
Thanks.