New tanka added: June 6, 2017
gulls shriek,
the ocean shrugs over
empty shells
this fine line between
being alone and lonely
Carole MacRury (USA) 
from GUSTS 25, 2017
spring thaw
splintered ice patches
in pieces
numbly I listen
to condolences
Terra Martin (Canada) from GUSTS 25, 2017
passionately
at a fish market
a mother is explaining
to her three-year-old son
the benefits of Omega 3
Yasuko Ito Watt (USA) from GUSTS 25, 2017
resisting
yet
pulled to you. . .
tonight’s
dark moonrise
elena de sousa (Canada) from GUSTS 25, 2017
once a week
a care worker visits my house
and carefully
cleans
both the rooms and my mind
Fujiko Sato (Japan) from GUSTS 25, 2017
continuous
rainy days on the island
I soak myself
in the stormy ocean
of Dostoyevsky
Natsuko Wilson (Canada) from GUSTS 24, 2016
remnants
of sun and sea
the deck chair
where he used
to sit
Huguette Ducharme (Canada) from GUSTS 24, 2016
this October wind
blows the leaves
up and back…
maybe on a lonely day
you’ll think of me
Stanford M. Forrester (USA) from GUSTS 24, 2016
whiskey voice
and a steel guitar
bluesman
slides his music
along my spine
Jeff Seffinga (Canada) from GUSTS 24, 2016
outside
the cafe window
a woman
with green fingernails
taps the first day of spring
Gerry Jacobson (Australia) from GUSTS 24, 2016
sharing
the glass—
a taste of lipstick
just before
the taste of wine
Colin Bardell (Canada) from GUSTS 23, 2016
your footsteps
on the wooden stairs
as you leave
this old house echoes
with loneliness
Anne Benjamin (Australia) from GUSTS 23, 2016
slipping back to sleep
the rumble
of the midnight train
on its routine run
a lullaby of steel and fire
Richard St. Clair (USA) from GUSTS 23, 2016
coming directly
towards me across snow
a red fox
her cubs all gone now
her loneliness complete
Susan Mary Wade (UK) from GUSTS 22, 2015
holding her
in her sadness
the world
not as we wish
yet perfect
Christina Nguyen (USA) from GUSTS 22, 2015
tired
of rejection
a panhandler
asks me
for the time
Robert Piotrowski (Canada) from GUSTS 22, 2015
dark energy
pushing space itself
apart...
a ribbon of birds
wheels across the winter sky
Jenny Ward Angyal (USA) from GUSTS 21, 2015
cafe coffee
with friends not seen
for a while
listening to them chatter
wondering why I came
Kirsty Karkow (USA) from GUSTS 21, 2015
All men
become brothers… it says
tonight
I listen to Beethoven
in deep resignation
Tony Boehle (Germany) from GUSTS 21, 2015
my nieces
sort out their toys
for the needy...
tiptoe out at night
to rescue them back
Dawn Bruce (Australia) from GUSTS 21, 2015
every night
the far high room
calls to me
every night the snow
falls in my sleep
Joy McCall (UK) from GUSTS 20, 2014
just as you told me
now in the stream bed
the braille
of river-stones
under my feet
Kath Abela Wilson (USA) from GUSTS 20, 2014
a pine-dark hill
in the distance--
unceasingly
my thoughts
return to you
Marje A. Dyck (Canada) from GUSTS 20, 2014
is it the river
they follow in the dark?
cranes crying
hundreds, thousands,
under a waning moon
Ingrid Kunschke (Germany) from GUSTS 19, 2014
two foreign girls
on vacation
my cat
suddenly fluent
in their language
Jeff Seffinga (Canada) from GUSTS 19, 2014
I watch him
glide the bow across
a cello's strings
closing my eyes
I am cello in his hands
Genie Nakano (USA) from GUSTS 19, 2014
cabin fever
the sound
of a snow plow
scrapping away
my loneliness
Pamela A. Babusci (USA) from GUSTS 19, 2014
name tag. . .
as if you might know
who I am
hidden deep
in aubergine ink
Carol Judkins (USA) from GUSTS 18, 2013
going into a cafe
to be alone, I choose the table
surrounded
by the ebb and flow
of French conversation
Makoto Nakanishi (Japan) from GUSTS 18, 2013
my wings
feel broken today
my corduroy coat
flung over a chair
in winter light
Michael McClintock (USA) from GUSTS 18, 2013
lavender
coming into flower. . .
my mind drifts
to the oncology ward
your quiet acceptance
Mary Franklin (Canada) from GUSTS 18, 2013
seventeen years
does not erase
the memory. . .
marigolds still bloom,
water runs in the creek
Susan Constable (Canada) from GUSTS 18, 2013
if I leave
this colorful world
before you. . .
look for me in clear rain,
in the dew on a rose
Carole MacRury (USA) from GUSTS 17, 2013
the things
I couldn't imagine
at twenty
I understand at sixty-nine
mom's love affair at seventy
Jeanne Jorgensen (Canada) from GUSTS 17, 2013
clouds clearing
silver streaks on the sea,
this long long beach. . .
is seventy-one too old
to be ambitious
Amelia Fielden (Australia) from GUSTS 17, 2013
the goodnight kiss
my daughter says . . .
what she missed
the most
when I left home
Ken Slaughter (USA) from GUSTS 16, 2013
I miss
the slight sound of
deer
walking on dry leaves
in our backyard
Naoko Kishigami Selland (Japan) from GUSTS 16, 2013
written in pencil,
great-grandfather's letters
from Ceylon . . .
how far can one travel
resisting change?
Maria Steyn (South Africa) from GUSTS 16, 2013
damson stones
in the gravel
path--
so many
missed chances
Robert Davey (UK) from GUSTS 16, 2013
she holds
her newborn brother
close to her chest
he's breathing
in time with my heart
Dawn Bruce (Australia) from GUSTS 15, 2012
one grey goose
floating amongst
the reeds
the shape of
my solitary childhood
Marje A. Dyck (Canada) from GUSTS 15, 2012
a thousand fireflies
out of dark woods--
light springs
from unexpected
sources
Luminita Suse (Canada) from GUSTS 15, 2012
sunrise . . .
you hand me a cup
of coffee
darkened with what
you think of me
robert d. wilson (Philippines) from GUSTS 14, 2011
Fukushima---
a land
uprooted
and yet
the cherry blossoms
Pamela Cooper (Canada) from GUSTS 14, 2011
just by chance
the trail of a falling star
all my life
this unpredictability
of grace
Michele L. Harvey (USA) from GUSTS 13, 2011
trying
to tightly wrap
my anxiety
this furoshiki should do
with its flying cranes
Sanford Goldstein (Japan) from GUSTS 13, 2011
