Category: Poetry

Tanka: Red Rose

a red rose
how grandmother blushes
when she sees him
after all these years his voice
the longest in her mind

© Xenia Tran

When my grandmother moved into a retirement home she met her first True Love (from High School) at the breakfast counter and it felt as if they’d never been apart.

He placed a red rose on her breakfast plate each morning and they had one blissful, love-filled year together before he passed away.

Wishing you all a blessed Sunday and a peaceful week ahead,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Red Rose was first published in Ribbons, Spring/Summer 2021: Volume 17, Number 2. A very big thank you to Michael McClintock and the team at Ribbons for featuring my poem and putting this wonderful edition together.

Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #154: One Photo Two Ways

Cee’s Flower of the Day

Haiku: Wonderful World

grandpa’s lazybed
his potatoes still grow
in the corner

© Xenia Tran

(Autumn Moon Haiku Journal 4:2, Spring/Summer 2021)

settling down
three generations
of oxen

© Xenia Tran

(Asahi Haikuist Network, The Asahi Shimbun, 5 February 2021)

ascending moon
we graft the roots
of our evergreen

© Xenia Tran

(Asahi Haikuist Network, The Asahi Shimbun, 19 March 2021)

such beauty
following a butterfly
who knows the way

© Xenia Tran

(Sharing Our Horizon, A Journey Through the Scottish Highlands
with Two Adopted Whippets by Xenia Tran)

Wishing you all a blessed Sunday and a peaceful week ahead,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

A warm-hearted thank you to the editors of the Autumn Moon Haiku Journal and The Asahi Shimbun for featuring my haiku and putting these beautiful publications together.

Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #153: It’s a Wonderful World

Word of the Day Challenge: Treasure

Haiku: Entwined

cherry blossom
an old pen
fills with ink

© Xenia Tran

Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

The above haiku was first published in Autumn Moon Haiku Journal 4:2, Spring/Summer 2021. A very big thank you to Bruce Ross for featuring my poem and putting this beautiful edition together.

Your Daily Word Prompt: Twine

Cee’s Flower of the Day

Haibun: Pure Heart

a small cluster of Ornithogalum flowers

Between grass and fading shepherd’s purse a small cluster of Ornithogalum appeared, also known as Star of Bethlehem. This symbolic flower stands for hope, trust, honesty, solidarity and compassion.

Our thoughts are with our friends in Palestine and Israel and we hope a peaceful way forward can be found for the highest good of all.

from the shadows
a trail of stars
on earth

© Xenia Tran

Ornithogalum flower in bloom

Wishing you all a blessed Sunday and a peaceful week ahead,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Settings: f/6.3 – 1/1250 s – ISO 250, f/8 – 1250 s – ISO 500 and f/8 – 1/1250 s – ISO 360.

Cee’s Flower of the Day

Haiku: Seeds of Peace

periwinkle among green leaves and snapdragon buds

laurel leaf
the seeds of peace
she planted

© Xenia Tran

a bluebell bud appearing between lily of the valley

snowmelt
remembering her life
anew

© Xenia Tran

a sun-lit periwinkle flowering among spring leaves

Wishing you all a blessed Sunday and a peaceful week ahead,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Settings: f/1.8 – 1/1600 s – ISO 400, f/1.8 – 1/1600 s – ISO 450, f/1.8 – 1/1600 s – ISO 800 and f/1.8 – 1/1600 s – ISO 125.

The above haiku were first published in EarthRise Rolling Haiku Collaboration 2021 – Entering the Earth as part of a haiku sequence which includes our earlier poems Shapes and Shadows and Sunlight on her Wings. A big thank you to Jim Kacian and The Haiku Foundation for featuring my poems and putting this beautiful edition together.

Cee’s Flower of the Day

Puente Poetry: Presence

gravestone in Frank Bruce sculpture park

(Frank Bruce 1931 – 2009)

a wooden post with the inscription 'I was privileged to be'

your words fade from
the headstone, the way you
returned to nature in this life
and after you join the stars

~ we sit with your presence ~

still lingering between
the Lesser Celandine
that point towards the light
you always followed

© Xenia Tran

close up of Lesser Celandine in the forest

This is my first attempt at writing a puente poem.

Wishing you all a peaceful Wednesday,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Settings: f/1.8 – 1/2000 s – ISO 640, f/1.8 – 1/4000 s – ISO 640 and f/1.8 – 1/4000 s – ISO 100.

Puente is a modern poetry form created by James Rasmusson. The first stanza develops one aspect of a topic where you, line by line, work towards another aspect. The centre line is delineated by a tilde (~) and functions as a bridge that forms a couplet with both the last line of the first stanza and the first line of the second stanza. You can choose any number of lines, as long as the first stanza has the same number of lines as the second stanza. You can find more information about the form here.

dVerse Poetics: Build a Bridge

Word of the Day Challenge: Enable

Placing Poems

Placing Poems is an online, interactive map that shares poems about new and imagined journeys away from the stifling reality of the pandemic. We are delighted that this poem now appears on this map. If you visit the Placing Poems website and select The Map, you can scroll up to the Scottish Highlands and find it under Cairngorms, Feshie Bridge, alongside many other poignant poems.

Tanka Prose: Special Moments

faint green aurora just above the mountains across the water with a lighthouse and pier

As sleet mingles with snow, we find ourselves in a new national lockdown. To protect ourselves, to protect each other, we want to do the right thing. We stay at home once more, create our own rituals in the lull between storms.

lighting candles
on your beach and mine
we close our eyes
open them in unison
and feel the love arrive

© Xenia Tran

a faint green aurora over the hills under a star-lit sky

We had a faint aurora on Friday night, visible with the naked eye, and the hand-held taken photographs with a low shutter speed created an almost abstract effect.

The poem was written three months ago and we’re hoping to start easing out of lockdown in mid-April.

Wishing you all a blessed Sunday and a peaceful week ahead,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/2.8 – 1/8 s – ISO 3200.

Special Moments was first published under the title Tier 4 in Ribbons, Winter 2021: Volume 17, Number 1. A very big thank you to Susan Weaver and the team at Ribbons for featuring my poem and putting this beautiful edition together.

Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #139: Special Moments

Weekend Sky #20

One Word Sunday: Light

Tanka: The Light Always Returns

snow-covered trees next to lit victorian street lights and parked cars

deep at night
the moon on snowy windows
sparkles, sparkles
the light always returns
your smile behind the lens

© Xenia Tran

dawn breaking in a snow-covered street with the street lights still lit

Wishing you all a wonderful new day,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/3.5 – 1/15 s – ISO 1600, f/5.6 – 1/20 s – ISO 1250 and f/5 – 1/25 s – ISO 800.

The Light Always Returns was first published in Ribbons, Winter 2020: Volume 16, Number 1. A very big thank you to Christine L Villa and the team at Ribbons for featuring my poem and putting this beautiful edition together.

Dutch Goes the Photo Tuesday Photo Challenge: Tomorrow

Thursday’s Special: Pick a Word – Quintessential

Word of the Day Challenge: Generous

Haiku: Sunlight on her Wings

an oystercatcher in flight above the water

filled with love
her lasting footprint
in this world

© Xenia Tran

an oystercatcher rising through the sky next to a rainbow

This post is dedicated to our dear haiku friend Kristjaan from Carpe Diem Haiku Kai who lost his mother to Covid-19.

Our thoughts are with him and his family at this difficult time and with all of you who recently lost a loved one.

Wishing you a peaceful Sunday and a blessed week ahead,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/6.5 – 1/1600 s – ISO 1000, f/5.6 – 1/125 s – ISO 100 and f/5 – 1/800 s – ISO 400.

The above haiku has subsequently been published in EarthRise Rolling Haiku Collaboration 2021 – Entering the Earth as part of a four-haiku sequence which includes Seeds of Peace and Shapes and Shadows. A warm thank you to Jim Kacian and The Haiku Foundation for featuring my poems and putting this beautiful edition together.

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai: Memories of a Loved One

Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #131: Emotions

Tanka: New Year’s Day

part of a large driftwood tree on the beach covered in frost

winter moon
her frost flowers
crystallise
ancestral blessings
from this year to the next

© Xenia Tran

close up of part of a large driftwood tree covered in frost

Wishing you all a blessed, happy and healthy New Year!

With love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/5.6 – 1/200 s – ISO 100, f/5.6 – 1/80 s – ISO 160 and f/5.6 – 1/125 s – ISO 320.

Carpe Diem #1842: End of Year

Frank J Tassone’s Weekly Haikai Challenge #171: New Year’s Day

Tanka Thursday: Year