Beautiful Tanka by Rika Inami

I love Rika Inami’s tanka/photo pairings! She is such a wonderful poet and photographer, and I wanted to share her recent post. Blessings and peace, my friends. Click the photo below

2023年3月 短歌 March 2023, Tanka All rights reserved ©Rika Inami 稲美 里佳  < This winter is over. 今冬が終わり> 1 春きたり雪のあがたの天開き重き調べの冬越えしかも spring arrives… sky in …

稲美里佳の短歌:Tanka by Rika Inami (67)

Facing the Sun

It is only February and yet it feels like spring here in south Louisiana! The smell of early blooming flowers and greening trees lifts my spirit with hope for a good year ahead. I think about the snow and ice just about a days drive north and wonder: Is climate change real and is this the new normal? Whatever the case, I know we cannot control it and thank God for His many blessings, trusting Him to lead me on. Blessings and peace, my friends.

blooming azaleas…
birds at the feeder oblivious
to lawnmower noise

Al Gallia

Babel

Friends, I must say that am very proud to have my one of my haiku included in the latest THF Haiku Dialogue! The selections from so many wonderful multinational poets are a great pleasure to read! Check it out.

cypress buds…
multilingual chatter
of nesting birds

Al Gallia
Louisiana, USA

HAIKU DIALOGUE – Avian Adventures – Diversity (1)

Is It Spring Yet?

In the cypress swamp the approach of Spring promises renewal of life and spirit, warming air and water, nesting birds, and budding trees and flowers; all creatures wait in anticipation of rejuvenation. The little blue heron stalks along lapping wavelets, watching… for careless minnows or frogs, its feathers ruffled by the southerly breeze. It is s good time to be alive.

a fresh breeze carries
the smell of bedding fish…
nesting egrets

Al Gallia
Anticipation

Summer Respite

Nothing is more peaceful in the summer than a cypress swamp in the dead heat of day. The stillness is broken only by cicadas harmonizing, peepers chirping, and occasional egrets calling. Nature’s pungent perfume wafts on a random light breeze that gently moves a few lily pads. Sweat drips from my brow onto my camera. I love it! okay

in the duckweed

a gator’s eye twitches…

foraging wood ducks

©️Al W Gallia 2021

Thank you, Lord, for this moment of your peace in our troubled world.

A Spring Day

Spring has sprung here in south Louisiana and it is so welcome! As I walk along the gravel road bordering the cypress filled Lake Martin, almost every step exposes another sign of new life! My camera stays at the ready as my eyes search out Mother Nature’s fresh tidbits of color and textures. Wildflowers with their faces turned sunward, greening trees and lotus pads, the calls of nesting egrets and herons, a sunning alligator, and smell of bedding fish overwhelm my senses. Thank you, Lord, for this day!

spring morning…

flooding the cypress swamp

sunlight and birdsong

©️Al W Gallia 2021