TANKA -Published
Carol Raisfeld

wet
 

the window
glazed in rain,

my belly
warmed by your wetness;                     
we gleam in the dark   

 

 

 

uncurling
at midnight, our shadows 

press and glide;                          
outside, a full moon

enters the night   

 

 

           

in bed,

we gorge

on chocolates shaped
like seashells

filled with praline cream          

 

 

 

early morning,
a blossom’s wet mouth
at the window —
the air fills with light
as I tighten around you  

 
 

 

after love,

two umbrellas go chatting

in the rain . . . *

a swirl of willow seeds

in the rushing stream
 

 

Carol Raisfeld

 

*homage to Buson

 

The Dreaming Room Anthology - may 2007



she bends
to collect her tip
and smiles,
aching to be touched
by knowing hands
 

I suck
the brandy from
his finger
before love; whispering
promises of much more
 

refuge from reality
in a night of shooting stars
I open to him . . .
in half-light, the pleasure
in each other’s eyes
 

near you
my senses soar;
heart racing,
candles dim as your
slow hands please me
 

falling up
into the stars from
a cradle of sand . . .
nestled close beside you
I turn and taste the night
 

with quickening
pace, your breath at my
throat, dissolving me . . .
in waves, I sink into heaven
with you deep inside
 

time together
in the warmth of dreams
on sultry nights
how softly we pillow
our souls entwined
 

stolen moments
in morning shadows;
the softness
of her every breath
an angel’s whisper
 

nodding into sleep
the breath of the moon
on your back;
I pull you closer, holding
the light between us.
 

side by side
we wake to the rush of
an ordinary day . . .
your lips graze my cheek
the scent of love lingers
 

ceiling shadows
move with the rain;
your touch
lingers, making today
anything but ordinary
 

a last look
at the room of passion
and loss;
in the rearview mirror
a curtain of dust
 

I still think
about that evening
at summer’s end
and the dark-haired stranger;
he loved me all night long
 

my poems, will you
read them to your lover
tonight?
weary, I watch the pale stars
light the way home
 

coming from afar
the memory of his touch
taking me;
the softness of whispers
still wrapped in heat
 

the earth softened
and we planted tulips
when he loved me . . .
“whisper my name softly
once more before you go?”

Modern English Tanka.
Volume 1, Number 3. Spring 2007



kissing hello
again, the smile
I remember —
how turns itself loose
at the edge of your lips.

TSA Journal, Ribbons
Spring 2007 - Editor's Choice

amid good-byes, 
the flowered couch on which
I became a woman . . .
the bus heading west
is warm, with dreams

TSA Journal, Ribbons
Tanka Cafe - Spring  2007


midnight,
on the slope of the dune
you sigh . . .
light touches your breasts   
  
and I thank the  moon    

moonset, May 2007
sunday service—
in the soft light
her nape
begs to be caressed
as if I knew all of her

Winter 2006, TSA Journal, Ribbons
how bittersweet
that last look in your eyes
knowing all
the might-have-beens
now are truly gone

Summer 2006,TSA Journal, Ribbons

noon sun,
plum blossoms
one by one . . .
our shadows bend
to the scent

haigaonline


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