Here is a trio of tankas. I’ll share them without images, because I’m hoping the words themselves are enough to paint a picture in your imagination. The orb weaver and the buck live in Central Ohio; Rae’s house is in the dry high plains of Eastern Colorado.
Tanka for Rae’s House
Beyond the window:
extravagantly green lawn,
bountiful garden.
In the unwatered pasture
dry grass crunches underfoot.
.
Tanka for the Eight Point Buck
sun low behind trees
morning air carries fall chill
eight point buck sees me
freezes so majestically
you forget he’s in the street
.
Tanka for the Orb Weaver
Above our front door
hangs a ferocious hunter
alarmingly large
seeming to stand in thin air.
She owns the porch. I concede.
all three ©Mary Lee Hahn, 2021
Seven more tanka can be found here.