Image by Mircea Iancu from Pixabay
Form: Tanka (5-7-5-7-7)
her form objective
my taste purely subjective
I watch my watching
looking for deep below soul
eschewing the outward signs
Copyright 2026 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️
A Tanka by Paul Vincent Cannon
Fragile – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon
Photo: formlabs.com
Fragile
His recoil surprised me
as if I’d struck him,
though not immediately
it leaked
over days
in splintered cryptics,
once heavily rendered
now uneven shards,
tracing his jaw line
I discovered his
antipathy for
repeated questions.
Copyright 2026 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️
Filed under Free Verse, poem
A Tanka by Paul Vincent Cannon
Photo: found at betterup.com
Form: Tanka (5-7-5-7-7)
primordial sludge
disturbances agitate silt
the old darkness rises
feelings held by inward breath
my heart is clear once again
Copyright 2026 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️
Filed under life, meditation, mindfulness, poem, reflection, Tanka
Endless Possibility Creed – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon
At dVerse Sanaa is hosting Open Link Night (with live edition) – the night we choose a poem to post.
Image/quote: found at quotefancy.com
Endless Possibility Creed
I believe in humanity
the possibility of love
I believe in community
the possibility of connection
I believe in gathering
the possibility of belonging
I believe in listening
the possibility of hearing
I believe in attending
the possibility of caring
I believe in silence
the possibility of presence
I believe in others
the possibility of meaning
I believe in myself
the possibility of purpose
I believe in you
the possibility of being
I believe
the possibility of good.
Copyright 2026 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️
Filed under Free Verse, Good, hope, life, mindfulness, poem
A Tanka by Paul Vincent Cannon
For Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge No. 55, Ekphrastic Poetry, Colleen has invited us to source a work of art and to write a syllabic poem using a syllabic form from the forms list HERE. Select a piece of art as your inspiration! You can either use the painting I shared, OR… Find a piece of art and write your syllabic poem! Don’t describe what is in your painting; instead, let the colours and brush strokes inspire your words. If you write a freestyle poem, you must include a syllabic form with it.
Art work: I painted this in 2014 ‘Easter Lillies’ acrylic on canvas.
Form: Tanka (5-7-5-7-7)
luscious acrylic
bold blends of nature’s colour
reds ever green blue
palette knife describes a scene
brush strokes carefully refine
Copyright 2026 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved
My Desert Drift – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon
At dVerse Dora is hosting Poetics with an invitation to incorporate a landscape or cityscape into your poetry that either mirrors or amplifies your interior landscape (or lack thereof). Be sure to use the examples above to guide you as to what I mean by “embodying a landscape.” Is there a place that’s special to you, that moves you, that has become a part of you? Perhaps you have a memory of encountering a landscape that has changed you or enlightened you? What particulars of this landscape have inspired, comforted, encouraged, strengthened you, or done just the opposite? Put it all in a poem, and take us there.
dVerse Poets – Poetics – Embodying A Landscape
Photo: Looking out over the western end of the Great Victoria Desert, July 2017 road trip.
My Desert Drift
We talk it rough,
enduring
tough wilderness
everything here sharp,
spiky survivors
like my body wrap
pocked by wounds
bleached by sun
scarred by words
of moral injury,
thorns of pride
hide cool denial,
a soft fragility
exists at the bottom
of my desert drift
held by tons of sand
fragile like talc in a
high summer wind,
only the hollow
boned flora
holds its fleeting
will to live,
every breath a
nervous lurch
of surprise that
another day has
dawned.
Copyright 2026 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️
Filed under awareness, bush walking, Free Verse, life, nature, poem
This Way That – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon
At dVerse De is hosting the Quadrille (44 words sans title) inviting us to write a poem using some form of the word bird.
dVerse Poets – Quadrille – Bird Is The Word
Photo: A New Holland Honeyeater found at birdfact.com
This Way That
Angels delighting,
moving totem
of gods,
honeyeaters swift
quiet as a murmur,
she came out of
the flock to
my shoulder,
singing in bird
dancing, turning
this way that
pulling on my beard
jumping to my head,
she left me light
as a feather.
Copyright 2026 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️
Filed under birds, mindfulness, nature, poem, Quadrille
Store Bought – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon
Image by d Bossarte from Pixabay
Form: Shadorma (3-5-3-3-7-5)
Store Bought
Mannequin
looking through me to
some future
undefined
but one kiss and your plastic
lips softly entwine.
Copyright 2026 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️
This was originally posted at @pvcannon.bsky.social for #PoemsAbout #Mannequin
A Tanka by Paul Vincent Cannon
Photo: wallpaperaccess.com
Form: Tanka (5-7-5-7-7)
a black candle burns
sage smoulders in ancient bowl
adding other leaves
a sprinkle of graveyard dust
I curse your love thievery
Copyright 2026 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️
Filed under awareness, Cleansing, love, poem, relationship, Tanka, Uncategorized
Which Ones? – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon
Image: found at focusmalaysia.my
Which Ones?
Fifties westerns
spaghetti bowl offerings
white hat
black hat
cheesy
cliched clap trap,
but recently
down at the
not so ok corral,
lots of dust
n horse shit and
a white horse
is no hero's steed,
which ones
are the bad guys?
Copyright 2026 ©️Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®️
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