Tanka by Kayla

 Walt Whitman's Crystal Spring

bubbling from the sand

flowing all these years

touching many emotions

as did his poems

She's 3000 years old

I am fascinated

seeing her eyelashes

how beautiful

how delicate

Suddenly

the flame up of a match

my youth

has come 

and gone

          1

Train crossing

signals flashing

wheels clanging on rails

boxcars swaying side to side

followed by the end car

          2

It's red strobe light flashing

disappears into the darkness

the spirit

of my Father

rides into the night

Strange night sounds

chilling calls

in the darkness

I feel my way

down an unknown path

Tanka by Kayla

 Hot summer night

loud traffic noise

yet a strange silence

walking this trail 

into the woods

Tanka by Kayla

 Up during the night

looking out the window

I see Venus

with the cresent moon

rising above the trees

Tanka by Kayla

On my journey

I walk this winding path

hoping to see him

I shout out !

Emery , I love you

Gender dysphoria A Tanka poem by Kayla

not recognizing

in the mirror

this face of a man

she tries to wipe away

his image

          2

desperately rubbing

at the surface of the mirror

she searches

for the  face

of the women inside

Tanka explained

A tanka poem is a short Japanese poem having only 5 lines.
the following poems ( each having only five lines) are all separate poems.

Tanka poems by Kayla

Spring

a lonely crocus

deep in the woods

I walk this winding path

hoping to see you

above the field

a hawk circles

in her silence

suddenly I am aware

of being alone

early morning

a white skunk

climbing up the creek bank

I follow her

into the farm field

noisy crows

filling up the trees

in the cemetery

the grave stones are quiet

the  balloons are white 

one  grain of sand 

on a vast beach

only a speck

in the universe

this world of ours

white cat

out of the darkness

into the darkness

the moon rises

above the trees

farm field

a cat watches

across our difference

I make my way

toward her

spring robin

nesting in the evergreens

coming home

I also look forward

to have a family

spring

sparrow on sparrow

in the side yard

memories of our honeymoon

and all the love

quiet house

above our roof

the sound of geese

fades into the distance

a part of me follows

mausoleum

through the peep hole

I look into the past

and at the same moment

into the future

night walk

met an old women

sitting on a bench

we talked about health

and about Russia

years fade away

to become the present

and moments ahead the future

becomes the present

then again the past