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Linda Jeannette Ward
so busy you say
you hardly know the seasons --
through your window
the neighbor's chained dog
digs a deeper hole each day
a blush of frost
on ripe persimmons
near year's end
this constant forgetting
that I've grown old
easing the chaos
of an airport layover
a magazine from home
...cat fur flies
from the centerfold
the wind-ruffled pond
dissolves snowflakes
on its surface...
the slow accumulation
of things I don't need
unexpectedly
a setback of six years:
I paper my studio
with illustrated pages
of an old tanka book
chains hobble
the eagle's flight
across his tattooed arm
she hesitates to touch
the folded feathers
Linda Jeannette Ward is a native of Washington, DC and currently lives along the North Carolina coast. Her most recent publication is Scent of Jasmine and Brine (Inkling Press, Canada, 2007), a collection of tanka funded in part by the North Carolina Arts Council. She has won several awards for her work, including the 2003 Haiku Society of America's Best Book of Haibun award for her collection a delicate dance of wings (Winfred Press, USA, 2002), funded in part by the North Carolina Arts Council. tankapoet@yahoo.com
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