“A Tanka Trio (4)” published at Gobblers by Masticadores

On By Mike U.In Poetry

Hey, everyone. The fourth installment of my tanka series titled “A Tanka Trio (4)” is now live at Gobblers by Masticadores. Each of these installments contains three tanka (be sure to click this link or the link below to read all of them). A special thanks to Editor Manuela Timofte for publishing this installment as all three tanka in this set are especially appropriate at this time, given the destruction of American democracy by right-wing fascists.

“A Tanka Trio (4)”
© 2021 by Michael L. Utley

(#10)

Ersatz patriots
Gabble lustily amid
Smoke and blood and screams
Mindless primal mob worships
Q-birthed abomination

…..

(#11)

What have we become
Sun sets on all we have known
Cultists rend and tear
The soul of democracy
Freedom’s heart weeps in darkness

You can read the rest of this tanka installment here:

A Tanka Trio (4)

Also, don’t forget to follow and subscribe to Gobblers by Masticadores, where you’ll find some wonderful writing and plenty of food for thought.

16 thoughts on ““A Tanka Trio (4)” published at Gobblers by Masticadores”

  15. Mike, these are felt with every word, the harshness of reality and the sense of helplessness when one tries to think what to do. At least I do. I am not usually fearful to stand up and be counted however, with what is going on today, one does not know what to do.

    This line said so much to me Mike – it pretty much said it all.

    «Freedom’s heart weeps in darkness»

    Especially as a woman, I feel like rights that have taken decades or a century to gather will never be held again. It was 1972 before all forms of contraception became legalized. With men’s tendency to be hell-bent on not wearing condoms, women have been forced for years to get contraceptive devices like the IUD. I had one of these things with my first husband and when I started having pain – the doctor who put it in could not even find it. Talk about a scare. They were recalled from perforating uteruses.

    So many women have died from childbirth. Once you have seen a young girl in a mental health center who had given birth to her grandfather’s child and was now pregnant with her brother’s child, well, I rest my case. True story, and it was not in the South but in a highly sought after city to live in and extremely cosmopolitan.

    Add this to the mix that I still can’t stop crying every time I think about the lost children separated from their parents. God only knows where those beautiful children are – truth be known, I shudder to think. Thank you for always speaking your truth, Mike. I get it, believe me.

    Your tankas are beautifully written, Mike and the things I am reading are haunting me. Keep writing your words.

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