Tanka Entries for The SILOH Tanka Contest!

Many thanks to all here for their entries into The SILOH Tanka Contest. Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below about which tanka you enjoy, and say hello to your fellow poets. Good luck to everyone who has entered! :)

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winter greys

if tomorrow never comes

will she know?

just how much

I loved her

Mike Keville

England UK.

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end of summer

these cherries smell
of snow
suddenly I realize
we have the same skin

angie werren
USA

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the shiver

of a long-forgotten wish
winter dream
our days slowly become
longer and longer

Christina Nguyen
USA

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winter parting…

I’m leaving on the night plane
won’t be back…
on his pillow her last note
in her bold perfect writing

John Daleiden

Phoenix, Arizona USA in the Sonoran Desert

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mulling over

the difference between
haiku and senryu
I buy courgettes
out of season

Dick Whyte
NZ

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snow falls

into the darkness
beyond our back door
a thousand dreams
waiting

Aubrie Cox

USA

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suddenly awake

to see a sharp sickle
hanging low
in the winter sky...
I grasp the edge of my dream

Chen-ou Liu
Canada

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waking up

this winter morning
I remember
how to fold paper
into a heart

Angelo B. Ancheta
Philippines

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first winter dream
i float inside the heart
of my mother's womb
evening snow blankets
my innocent body

Pamela A. Babusci

USA-NY

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crescent moon

its winter companions
crisp clear stars
inside we dream
the milky way

Jeff Hanson
USA

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winter evening

the choices I didn’t make
the path I have taken …
it is never too late
to dream another dream

Asni Amin
Singapore

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wrapped up

in my favorite book
I resist
the temptation to skip
to the last page

Cara Holman

USA

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even as I sketch

you're softly erasing
the dream...
to the last beat of my heart
deer tracks in the snow

Claire Everett

UK

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waking to fireworks

the midwinter's dream
has long vanished
I no longer can remember
the sound of his voice

Merrill Ann Gonzales
Dayville, CT USA 

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snow caps

lost in our view
through smoke
the full thunder moon
refocuses our dreams

Andrea Grillo
US

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spectacular sea

of clouds, I hope no one
finds
an alibi as I drift
lazily to age(s)

Ernesto P. Santiago
Philippines

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restringing

your grandmother's pearls
pure and white
worn on our wedding day
and now at divorce court

Patricia Sullivan

USA

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sand peppered on rocks

wind-powered balls of froth
beach observations
salted tears sting my face
anger seasons memories

Kylie Dinning
Australia

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an old love

remembered...
beneath the snow
does the meadow dream
of spring

Paul Smith
England

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like that wooden bench

on which we first kissed
in your garden
you and I both have seen
much better days

johnny baranski
USA

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my dream is one

of winter long ago...
my cold father
whom first I met late in life
helps me build a snowman

André Surridge
New Zealand 

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left hemisphere or right

north or south
shadows cast on both sides
of the gnomon in a
winter solstice dream

Terri L. French

USA

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A winter's journey

Glow of candles light the way -
Another year
A handful of dreams
For me and you

Kris Kennedy
USA

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winter dreams

how they always show me
the same thing...
you waking from your sleep
in the graveyard

Tracy Davidson
UK 

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crystal droplets

and leafless branches
of dark bronze. . .
my chandelier becomes
a winter garden

Janet Lynn Davis
USA

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summer heat

inching closer on
the subway to read
her tattoo
Winter Dream

Alan S. Bridges
Littleton, MA USA

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winter dream
some clouds a bouquet
of roses
in sleep even emptiness
is an embrace

Alegria Imperial
Canada

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putting aside

a book, I meet your face

a cloud of smoke

rushing in haste out of

the terrace glass door

Sasa Vazic
Serbia

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‘brass monkeys’

don’t care about origins—
the wind
coming off the North Sea
pulls tight on my scrotum

Colin Stewart Jones
Scotland

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the transparent weave
of this vintage tea-cloth
my fragile dreams
still hand-dried and polished
by the faded green linen

Julie Thorndyke
Australia 

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a frosty start
and fog that hangs around
all day
I dream of coconut palms
and a warm lagoon

Elaine Riddell
New Zealand

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winter darkness—

holding on to a light
summer vision
        that field full of fireflies . . .
        each slight luminescence

Margaret Dornaus

U.S.

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A lacklustre moon
upon snow-capped mountain peaks
amidst dwindling stars
I walk a desolate road
to exit my winter dream

Keith A. SIMMONDS
FRANCE

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winter dream...

waiting for the not waiting

in thrall to the sun

and a place to spread our wings

before the earth has woken

Helen Buckingham

England

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by the fireplace

the crackle of our laughter
melting into a dream
only the winter moon knows
how long is forever

Christine L. Villa

USA

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the tremble of pine
in cardinal song
from Vivaldi's dreams
I measure my breath
by candles not yet blown

Kathy Uyen Nguyen

USA

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Summer solstice
Sweat wet days
Cicadas scream love songs
Bringing dreams
Of winter

Charles T. Whipple

Japan

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