Spent some time doing background reading on the northern lights and southern lights. The Intuits believed the lights to be the spirits of the animals they hunted. I had been thinking of using angels or spirits causing the lights. So the Intuits' belief gave the perfect image in my mind. Then I tried to become the caribou. I like being weird. After all, I live just outside of Austin, TX. Austin's motto is keep Austin weird.
Thanks, Lynn. I do not always do research but at times I will to make certain there is truth as a foundation. And I failed to mention how the music had me thinking about herds thundering across the plains.
This is the sort of serious work I love, from the research to the composition. A grandiose tanka, true and sincere both because it is heartfelt as well as being real beliefs set into tanka form. Great piece.
Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #38 A Trip Along Memory Lane #1 Carpe Diem Special How happy! Bathing in the tub full to overflowing The above one line poem by Sumitaku Kenshin (1961-1987) really sent me down memory lane. Until I was a teenager my family lived on a farm. The year Sumitaku Kenshin was born, my family moved "in town". That move brought us into a new age, indoor plumbing. Until that time there was a galvanized tub for baths and a path for other bodily necessities. Baths were taken on the screened in back porch during the summer months. There would be 3 to 4 inches of water in the tub. Water drawn from the well just outside the house. Some of the water would be heated in the teakettle on the stove in the kitchen. Youngest child would bath first. Then up through the ages of the children. Daddy was always the last. In the same 3 to 4 inches of water. Once baths were done, the tub was overturned and the porch scrubbed. Cause water was is
Wow ... Janice what a beautiful tanka. You have caught the whole scene and background of the Noirthern Lights in just five lines. Chapeau!
ReplyDeleteI am humbled by your comments, Kristjaan.
Deletedone masterfully,from the heart...
ReplyDeleteThank you for such a kind comment.
Deletesuch a lovely otherworldly tanka. Inspirational!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lolly. High praise from you.
DeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteThis is wonderful!!! Oh that image of the dancing souls... YAM xx
Spent some time doing background reading on the northern lights and southern lights. The Intuits believed the lights to be the spirits of the animals they hunted. I had been thinking of using angels or spirits causing the lights. So the Intuits' belief gave the perfect image in my mind. Then I tried to become the caribou. I like being weird. After all, I live just outside of Austin, TX. Austin's motto is keep Austin weird.
DeleteOh my, Janice, this is stunning! Souls of caribou alight in dancing colors!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kim. Inspired by the Intuit.
DeleteI especially enjoyed your note of explanation to Yamini :D
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lynn. I do not always do research but at times I will to make certain there is truth as a foundation. And I failed to mention how the music had me thinking about herds thundering across the plains.
DeleteThis is the sort of serious work I love, from the research to the composition. A grandiose tanka, true and sincere both because it is heartfelt as well as being real beliefs set into tanka form. Great piece.
ReplyDeleteThank you so very much. I am very pleased it was so well accepted by those who read it.
DeleteVery well done Janice, love the depth of this.
ReplyDeleteGlad you could enjoy this. You know, sometimes when writing it gives a feeling of contentment with a piece? That was what I felt doing this one.
Delete