from “Tankas Excavated from Ashbery’s Convex Mirror”
—where all poems, source poem or tanka, begin with 1 or 1-2 lines from “Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror” by John Ashbery
Eileen R. Tabios
Witnessed in the Convex Mirror (#27): Beyond the Stars
Something like living occurs,
a movement
out of the dream into its codification
likea mother’s grieving transformed into
a daguerreotype ofa black swanperched
on a boy’s shoulder. But the moment’s
significance evaporates as the round
mirror widens its circumference until
the tips of its diameter melts into—you
choose—pools of blood or the relieving
blackness of outer space. Your choice
will reveal something about you—it may
not be relevant, or be the breakthrough
long rumored as regards psychologyTrees
alwaysfall alone in thick forests—
They remind All has been foretold, if not
told.Recall when Captain Kirk eagerly
pointed the starship USS Enterprise
towards the star archipelago—the cheesy
albeit charming song observes, “Beyond
the rim of the star-light: a woman.” Just
another romance? How often does desire
for the modern lapse to the archetype?
Tanka #148
Something like living
Occurs: a mother’s grief forms
A black swan’s profile
When a tree falls, it’s alone
Beyond the rim of star-light
Witnessed in the Convex Mirror (#16): Blind Physicists
In suspension,unable to advancemuch farther
thanyour look intercepting mine.I was tiptoeing
through a book, looking for a way to express
my smile. I was contemplating theenergy ofa curve.
I was transcending night dampness
I was curing a cup of yogurt with mashed Bing
cherries, thus appreciating yet again the
recognition of contexts. Where we all exist,weare bound by
the samegravity—there is no
such thing as vacuum. As it turned out, it was
yogurt curing the cherries for my palate, not
the other way around as the cherries were
sour.Physics cannot exist without observation
and, often, the blind most keenly observe
Tanka #149
Unable to advance
Your look intercepted mine—
A curve quick with energy
We are bound by gravity
Physics exist when we see
Witnessed in the Convex Mirror (#59): Hay naku!
Photographs of friends,
the window and the treesmerging in one neutral band
that surrounds
a memory of you until I no longer recognize
the face, the gestures, the scent of this same
memory—so much Sturm und Drang only to end
with a beige whimper? But it’s all for the best
for your body, thus mine too, to evaporate into
a song lyric. These boy bands, girl bands, trans
bands emote so well into microphones. Plus their
dances! Plus their outfits! So many sequins!
There could be a worse ending to romance—
I knowyou,too, aresitting by a window watching
yourself watchingthe moon slip away into haiku
Tanka #150
Photographs of friends
Merge into one neutral band
Who recognizes
YouWho, lingering by windowsWatching moons fall to haiku
Eileen R. Tabios loves books and has released over 50 collections of poetry, fiction, essays, and experimental biographies from publishers in nine countries and cyberspace. Her 2018 poetry collections include HIRAETH: Tercets From the Last Archipelago, MURDER DEATH RESURRECTION: A Poetry Generator, the bilingual edition (English/Spanish) of One, Two, Three: Selected Hay(na)ku Poems and TANKA: Vol. 1. She is the inventor of the poetry form “hay(na)ku” whose 15-year anniversary in 2018 will be celebrated in the United States with exhibitions and readings at the San Francisco Public Library and Saint Helena Public Library. Translated into eight languages, she also has edited, co-edited or conceptualized 15 anthologies of poetry, fiction and essays as well as served as editor or guest editor for various literary journals. Her writing and editing works have received recognition through awards, grants and residencies. Eileen R. Tabios is online at http://eileenrtabios.com.
