| |
|
Tethered in sand, sharks fly
among parafoils and Day-Glow dinosaurs
in a sky lit half by a gravid moon,
half by the sun sinking
into a molten bay.
Small hands hold fast to thin leashes
and voices rise up
in the valleys between waves.
Wind, sea, beach, the double-lit sky,
all poised on the hinge of night
in these moments before
the day passes westward
and the kites are reeled into
a hundred childhoods.
From The Grace of Light (Finishing Line Press, 2004).
This poem first appeared in Potpourri Magazine.
Used here with the author’s permission.
|
Kathe L. Palka lives in Hunterdon County, New Jersey and writes in both Japanese forms and free verse. Her short tanka collection, As the Years Pass, won an eChapbook Award from Snapshot Press in 2011. In 2015, Red Moon Press published A Path of Desire, a book of tan renga written by Kathe and poet Peter Newton. Two poems from her long form collection, Miracle of the Wine (Grayson Books, 2012), were featured on The Writer’s Almanac. Kathe is a member of the Haiku Poets of the Garden State and has been involved in the presentation of haiku for their yearly April haiku sign installation at the New Jersey Botanical Garden in Ringwood, New Jersey since its inception in 2018. She has co-edited the online micro poetry journal tinywords.com together with Peter Newton since 2012. Kathe is currently at work on a manuscript in Japanese forms. Learn more about her at her Haiku Foundation web page.
|
|
69Dorcas:
The continuance of life.
Posted 08/02/2012 08:18 PM
|
wendy morton:
Ah, the gravid moon. Beautiful.
Posted 08/01/2012 11:04 AM
|
rtaylor947@aol.com:
"Tethered in sand, sharks fly" is an arresting opening line. On line 2 we get to say, "oh, she means kites." It's a surprise, and great fun. The fun continues to the nostalgic sigh at the end. Thanks for sharing this, Kathe.
Posted 08/01/2012 10:24 AM
|
dotief@comcast.net:
I too enjoyed the images created in this poem. The last two lines are particularly powerful! Love the entire poem!
Posted 08/01/2012 09:27 AM
|
Janet Leahy:
Love the ending of this poem, "kites reeled into a hundred childhoods." Thanks Lathe.
Posted 08/01/2012 08:57 AM
|
lincolnhartford:
Gorgeous poem; beautiful poetic language, gathering the experience of ocean and retreating daylight to share with us. Excellent showing of the craft of poetry writing.
Posted 08/01/2012 08:57 AM
|
|
|
|
My Cart 
