Photo by Olesia Misty on Unsplash
An alchemic drive
to transform this fallen world
into paradise
how many moments of Grace
missed in the ordinary?
We almost don’t recognize each other. Her near-pixie cut hair and blue lipstick, and my ever-growing beard, conspire to conceal us. A moment later, we exchange our excited greetings. My former student sits in an office chair behind the school’s main office desk. Her nearly one-and-a-half-year-old daughter sits on it. She says she’s studying to become a midwife.
A midwife! She witnesses the punchline of the old joke, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans!” For how could an unwed, teenage mother so pull her life together? Isn’t that what society at large would say? Grace had other plans!
beloved animals
I walk my dog one last time
before her giveaway
even a heartbroken boy’s
love is ordinary grace
for dVerse’s Tuesday Poetics (Grace),
Colleen’s Weekly #Tanka Tuesday #Poetry Challenge #65 (Synonyms of ambition, change),
Kiwinana’s Weekly Tanka Prompt Challenge–week 78 (animals and love), and
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Categories: haikai, haiku community
Frank J. Tassone 
Ouch, I was so stoked about the student’s transformed life and dreams, and then heartbroken over the boy losing his dog. Your words touch the heart.
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And yet Grace abounds in both circumstances! Thanks, Sherry!
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And now I am incredibly curious…who is the boy and why is the dog being given away?
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A tale for another time…😉
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10-4. 😉
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Amen!
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🙂 Thanks, Dwight!
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It is often the case: “Grace had other plans!”
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Indeed, Frank. Thanks!
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Grace in all things dark and uncomfortable; a fallen world, a boy’s heart-cry. Loved the tankas. By the way, what’s happening to the dog? 😦
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Thanks, Vivian. As for the dog…’tis a tale for another time. 😉
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You’re welcome! I hope the tale’s a happy one😊. I love dogs❤
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Who is the boy and why is the dog being given away? I have soo many questions! Great write! 🙂
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Thanks, Sanaa. The full story of the boy and his dog is a tale for another time. 😉
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Both touching poems, Frank.
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Thanks, Jane. Technically, the poem is a tanka-prose–like a haibun, but with tanka instead of haiku. I used two tanka in this one. 🙂
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It’s a very successful poetic rendering.
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Thanks! 🙂
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Delightful renditions that carry a wisdom within. Thanks Frank.
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Thank you, Paul!
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Maybe parting with a beloved pet can learn the boy sometimes… wonderful
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Thanks, Bjorn!
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Frank, this is some of your BEST work. It’s emotional and hits you in the gut! My kind of poetry! Well done! ❤
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Thank you, Colleen! I appreciate it!
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I mean it! Wow!
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😀
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Heartbreaker, Frank.
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Thanks!
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Indeed. Grace exists where we overlook it as well as in the intentional grace-filled moments. Both poems startlingly brilliant.
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Thanks, Charley! It’s technically one poem, a Tanka-prose, with two Tanka. I’m happy you liked it! 😀
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I did, indeed!
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🙂
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I enjoyed each section of this.
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Thanks, Rosemary!
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Warm, heartfelt poems, Frank.
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Thanks, Purple!
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For me this was a roller coaster ride of emotions. But it is so true–grace found in the ordinary…that requires a heck of a lot of awareness.
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Indeed, Victoria! It requires the three “greats” espoused by zen: “Great Faith. Great Doubt. Great Determination.” Thanks for reading! 😀
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I am a Catholic Christian, but oh how I love to incorporate Eastern viewpoints such as Zen into my own practice of faith. I’ve got to write these three down and “digest” them. Thanks.
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I, too, am a Catholic Christian with an appreciation for philosophical Taoism and zen. Not to mention a love of Contemplative prayer. 😄
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Love it!
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I like your wording of the “alchemic drive to transform.” Nice haibun!
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Thanks!
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