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Renee
Sapp: Tanka
My
two-year old sits
in a trance, his mouth opened,
watching Sesame Street.
(Brought to you by the letter
A and the number 3).
I remember years ago
in my drunken youth,
walking barefoot on
gravel (too close to the road),
looking for the Waffle House.
Saturday morning---
instead of birds, the first thing
I hear is the grass
being sliced to bits
across the street.
I threw my head back
to wash the pill down and saw
a little black ant
on a long journey across
the third tile of my ceiling.
Visiting hour---
the old woman sits alone
wearing too much rouge,
waiting for him to arrive
with flowers and a donut.
Renee Sapp lives with her husband and three boys in Richmond, Virginia.
She has been writing poetry all her life but these are her first published
tanka, notable for their droll, direct gaze into those very ordinary moments
that somehow set hooks down in our memory and stay there. She likes to
read and write fiction. Tanka and haiku are her favorite types of poetry.
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