the roses in your minefield
a pair of tanka poems
Published in
Aug 5, 2022
by Joe Váradi
the roses in your minefield
I must forge ahead
delicate treasures await
among deadly traps
will it cost a limb to reach
the roses in your minefield…?
your pencil me in
you pencil me in
tentative and frivolous
but I write in ink
my self-worth waxes and wanes
as you requite, or shun me
tanka is a form of classical Japanese poetry, composed of a 5–7–5 haiku (the “upper phase”) followed by a 7–7 line pair (the “lower phrase”)
