nature’s lace makers
shadows made by rustling leaves
spider’s silken web
once empty spaces glisten ~
like memories easing pain
Gayle is hosting Open Link Night at dVerse, the virtual pub for poets and we’re invited to post a poem of our choice. I’ve been lace-knitting a shawl lately and have become obsessed with the way making lace is all about creating empty spaces and joining them together. Making emptiness beautiful. Hence this tanka today! A Tanka is a 7 line poem with the following syllabic form: 5, 7, 5, 7, 7. There is supposed to be a shift from the natural in their first 4 lines…to something personal / human in the last line.
lillian the home poet 
I Love this tanka – making the empty spaces beautiful It’s all part of wabi sabi.
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Oh Toni…..so nice to read your comment here. I’ve been struggling with this tanka for the past 3 hours….literally! Sometimes we struggle most with the shortest poems —
I do think that as we age, our memories of loved ones gone, past experiences, can fill in our emptiness and bring smiles to our faces rather than the pain of the empty space beside us. At least, that’s what I was trying to get across.
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And you did get that across. The longer poems allow us to la-di-dah along until we get across what we are trying to say. the short forms you have to get right in the first few lines or words – no second chances. The tanka is truly lovely. I watched a spider today outside my kitchen window spinning a web. I hope he gets it done before the storm and manages to snag herself a fly!
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Wonderful! I will never look at a spider web the same after reading your tanka. 🙂
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Well, I enjoy spider webs much more when I can see their beauty in the mist…perhaps after a morning dew, when their beauty is apparent — rather than having one catch me in the face as I’m walking under a tree….or seeing one with the spider on it, and its prey caught too.
Glad you enjoyed!
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Spiders spin a wonderful lacey home. It’s too bad their guests aren’t in the mood to enjoy the view, lol. It looks like something that would require hours of close work
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Tatting, knitting lace shawls, and weaving a silken web….yep…attention to detail and in reality, linking empty spaces into beautiful patterns. 🙂
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They are indeed lace makers; I am always cleaning them out in the corners, ha ~ Love the tanka Lillian ~
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I like to come across them when walking in a park or woods….not so much in our house! 🙂
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Whew! Right on. That was a very good read for me.
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Glad you enjoyed!
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That something so scary looking can make such art is amazing. Beautiful tanka
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Weaving designs by connecting empty spaces….it is indeed lacey….beautiful….but I’d rather not have them inside! Or walk into them! 🙂
Glad you enjoyed the tanka.
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I think you accomplished what you set out to do with your ethereal tanka. I love the title first off and then love how you describe creating something with emptiness…and then that haunting last line. Well done, Lill!
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Thank you! I remember my mom, even many years after my dad died, taking comfort in a cup of coffee with her old photo album open on the table. His emptiness filled by her memories….it helped her at times.
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That memory must be a sweet one for you too, Lill, and comforting as well.
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Oh nice–tanka perfection. I love the form. It has more meat on it than a haiku, I like to mix tanka in with free verse & haikus & American sentences; a rich collage of styles. Your last line is a clincher; visceral.
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hmmmm I shall have to try the mixing of forms you mention here. A poetic patchwork! 🙂
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I love empty spaces, also in poetry.. great tanka.
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Glad you enjoyed. It’s always tricky for me…to find that switch in perspecive for the last line.
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Such a beautiful tanka, Lillian! ❤️
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Thank you, Sanaa.
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The shortest poems are the hardest, especially when you want to emphasise what’s missing… Well done!
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Thank you! It’s true….to be succinct we many times first have to be obtuse! Then edit edit edit edit!
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Tanka tatting! The title really caught my attention and imagination! A magically spun tanka,Lillian, that would make Ariadne proud.
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Thank you, Kim. I truly appreciate your comment and am so glad you enjoyed 🙂 I’ve had tankas on my mind lately…I belong to the Tanka Society of America (anyone can join) and so enjoy their publications. 🙂 That switch in perspective in the last line is the challenge for me.
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I wonder if there are haiku and tanka societies in the UK…
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This is inspiring Lillian… how your lace making became a meditation and beautiful poem.
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Thank you, Janice. So glad you enjoyed!
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Beautiful and profound!
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Oh my….what a wonderful comment! Thank you! 🙂
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No, no, no … Thank YOU.
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“once empty spaces glisten”–yes, they do. And now I will know what words to use. (K)
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Glad you enjoyed!
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This is lovely! I love the idea of seeing the empty spaces–like listening to silence.
(I bet your shawl is going to be beautiful!)
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Just finished blocking the shawl yesterday. You soak it in lukewarm water for 20 minutes, gently squeeze out extra moisture, wrap it in a towel to take out last excess moisture…then put it on what are called blocking mats (they have lines on them so you can be sure to get it symmetrical). Then you stretch out / open up the lacing and pin it to the board to dry. It’s quite the process but it really opens up the spaces and the lace pattern becomes obvious. As opposed to the spider who just weaves it and it’s done! 🙂
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Wow–I’m impressed!
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Garden spider webs are beautiful, especially after rain or dew. Filling in the spaces with beauty, it’s exactly that.
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So glad you enjoyed this one….some photos of webs are particularly beautiful!
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They are. Such a shame we tend to be terrified of the creatures that weave them!
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A beautiful tanka Lillian and I love the idea of spiders as ‘nature’s lace makers’ :o) xxx
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Thank you! So glad you enjoyed 🙂 I’m learning “lace knitting” and thus have become slightly obsessed with how lace actually “joins” empty spaces and makes those voids quite beautiful 🙂
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Fantabulous! 😎😎😎🥀🥀🥀
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Thank you!
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What a great description of spiders as “nature’s lace makers!”
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Smiling I am….glad you enjoyed!
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The web of memories. I love that image!
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Memories can truly be a comforting “filling” for emptiness 🙂
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