Consolations: 48 tanka

 

Andrew Lansdown

 

Picaro Press

(Warners Bay, NSW), 2009

ISBN 978-1-920957-84-1

 

Back Cover Blub

Lansdown is a master of the shortish poem of keen observation and succinct evocation. - Les Murray

                                                                                    

 

 

 

Four tanka from Consolations

 

 

Happiness

 

Happy to be here

on this mild autumn evening

ambling by the marsh—

happy to leave the moaning

mainly to the moaning frogs.

                    © Andrew Lansdown

 

 

 

Fishing

for Susan

 

We stand on the shore

and cast out to the dark sea.

We wait for something

unknown to bite, for the tug

at the line’s faraway end.

                    © Andrew Lansdown

 

 

 

Celebration

 

Ten weeks before

Christmas, the arum lilies

conduct their own

celebration of the Child,

waving candles in white cups.

                    © Andrew Lansdown

 

 

 

Consolation

 

The re-hydration

of bees at the garden tap—

some consolation

for the water still dripping

from my procrastination.

                    © Andrew Lansdown

 

 

To read the other 44 tanka in Consolations - click here to download an order form.