Tanka--By Elizabeth Howard--United States

clusters of red poppies
climb the hills
from Rome to Florence
prelude to other chefs-d’oeuvre
the David and the Pietà

a bunny clown hopping
on a pogo stick
his big ears flopping . . .
the sick children laugh
for the first time today

those towering hills
gray and silent--
once periwinkle blue
they rang morn and e'en
with your yodeling joy

Elizabeth Howard lives in Crossville, Tennessee. She writes poetry and fiction. Her poems have appeared in Comstock Review, Big Muddy, Appalachian Heritage, Cold Mountain Review, Poem, Still, Mobius, Now & Then, Slant, and other journals.