By A. G. Coletta
Tanka: Shalom
swirling emptiness
pierced by starlight touching me
through the darkness wide
into the sunlight of pain
here I am, born for shalom
Tanka: Koi
bright fish in the pond
koi (name then unknown to me)
as I walk from school
small pool surrounded by bricks
he swimming/I watching him
Puzzle Me
a thousand pieces spread across a flat surface
unconnected, disconnected,
making no sense.
a conglomeration of color and shape—
half a lime-green leaf, the deep red of a canoe,
mustard yellow for the fish’s tail slapping the steel-blue water.
all the colors are there in me:
half an understood desire in indigo purple
cast upon iron gray rocks, a neglected bent
toward discovery languishing
into burnt umber under the mossy bank.
can they ever make a picture?
unconnected, disconnected,
making no sense,
leaving me spread across the tabletop
waiting for someone to put me together.
