• Arts & Entertainment, Poetry

      Poetry Corner: Life Changes

      POETRY CORNER

      – 7/20/16

      ♣ We welcome and encourage your response especially in the form of short poems. You may reply by leaving a comment below.

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      Assemblage: watercolor, foil, and found objects by Kathabela Wilson.

      Assemblage: watercolor, foil, and found objects by Kathabela Wilson.

      Briony James

      jigsaw puzzle life
      edges worn down
      the pieces
      float downstream
      to unknown seas

      Briony James and her partner are about to have a big adventure moving across the country from Altadena, CA to Charleston, SC. The puzzle of living creates changes that ebb and flow into our psyche.

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      Illusion by Chris Wesley.

      Illusion by Chris Wesley.

      matsukaze

      a sepia photograph of you and i. remember life in Bronzeville? Its been nearly 40 years since seeing you; both of us newborn in our adolescence.
      we used to run the innocent streets, wind at our back, laughter greeting us…never getting old.

      these legs, knobby knees
      still skinny
      and even in my skin
      i retain memory of your smile

      matsukaze is a classical vocalist/actor always drawing from yesterday to enhance tomorrow. Japanese short verses are his expression. He resides in Dallas.

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      Prickly by Jean Sudbury.

      Prickly by Jean Sudbury.*

      M. Kei

      the most delicate
      lavender-magenta hue
      rises from
      the cracked dry earth,
      surprising us with what we become

      even cactus
      will bloom in time-
      a lesson for those
      who think they can’t know
      this prickly me

      M. Kei is a tall ship sailor, poet, editor, and publisher of tanka. He pays keen attention to the changes in the world around him. Those who wait quietly are rarely surprised, but frequently delighted. He lives in Perryville, Maryland.

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      *Jean Sudbury is a musician, gardener and yoga teacher in Sierra Madre. Photos of her wonderful garden inspired these tanka by M.Kei, as part of a Poets on Site garden tour, still in progress.

      > The Poetry Corner is hosted by Kathabela Wilson, who says: ‘It is an honor to welcome M. Kei to our Poetry Corner today. A longtime poet, novelist, editor, publisher and scholar, he is greatly admired by me, the other two poets on our Corner, and tanka poets worldwide, who have benefited from his knowledge and encouragement. He publishes Atlas Poetica, a Journal of World Tanka, many anthologies, online and in print, and books by selected authors. He is author of “January, A Tanka Diary” and series of novels “Pirates of the Narrow Seas” . He says “I suffer from a disease of the heart that can only be cured by the sea.”

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      Author

        • Kathabela Wilson

          Kathabela Wilson is a local poet/writer/artist and musician. Her Poets Salon has become an international respected must read in the poetry world. She's the creator and host of the Pasadena-based group, “Poets on Site.”

          Award-winning Colorado Boulevard Newspaper is your go-to source for informative news, engaging events, and vibrant community life in the greater Pasadena area. We’re proud to be recognized for excellence in journalism and remain committed to informing, educating, and collaborating to create a better world, both locally and globally.

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