Tanka by Elizabeth Howard

abruptly there in the path

a black bear rears up,

turns, scrambles up the cliff-

if only all my fears

vanished so quickly

a lizard scurries away

with a crumpled cricket--

I should be sorry

but was this the cricket

that screeched all night?

frozen sidewalk

snow in my eyelashes

I pause longingly--

oil mist and body butter

in a shop window

early morning

heaven’s great red eye

seeing red

red windows, red ponds

red eyes of red crows

a white-turbaned woman

clings to her husband’s arm

a bright speckled feather

in his red straw hat--

I smooth my wig, wondering

a great orange blossom

on the oak stump

at closer inspection

I see it’s a fungus--

all those flowery promises