Poetry: Harryette Mullen, From Tanka Diary

From Tanka Diary
Harryette Mullen

The botanical garden is just as I remember,
although it is certain that everything
has changed since my last visit.

How many hilarious questions these fuzzy
fiddleheads are inquiring of spring
will be answered as green ferns unfurl?

Walking the path, I stop to pick up
bleached bark from a tree, curled into
a scroll of ancient wisdom I am unable to read.

Even in my dreams I’m hiking
these mountain trails expecting to find a rock
that nature has shaped to remind me of a heart.

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About This Poem

“The spirit of tanka interests me more than following rigid conventions. As I understand it, the tradition allows a variety of approaches, from simple description and heartfelt expression to classical allusion and evocative wordplay. Succeeding generations rediscover and renew the form so that it retains its vitality.”
—Harryette Mullen

Harryette Mullen is the author of Urban Tumbleweed: Notes from a Tanka Diary (Graywolf Press, 2013). She teaches at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she also lives.