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First published in International Tanka (Japan) #10, November 2021, page 5. Originally written in May of 2021 for an anthology
titled We Are All God’s Poems, which was published in December of 2024 by Unsolicited Press with a short comment and bio.
we are all God’s poems—
the hermit crab
that scurries away
from the anemone
closing at my touch
sunlit wildflowers—
we are all God’s poems
in the meadow
stretching to the glacier
on the mountaintop
sand in the lee
of a fallen gazelle—
we are all God’s poems
in the last light
of the desert sunset
wheat waving
under storm clouds
as the harvester passes by—
we are all God’s poems,
even prairie deer mice
Douglas fir
and towering pines
swaying over us
on our last summer hike—
we are all God’s poems
We Are All God’s Poems, edited by Shann Ray, Cinnamon Kills First, Keya Mitra Lloyd, José Hernandez, Patricia Valdés, and Charles Finn was published in 2024 by Unsolicited Press in Portland, Oregon. All of the poems in this 258-page anthology have the same title. My contribution appears on pages 236 and 237 with the following commentary and bio.
This tanka sequence progresses through different biomes offering a variety of plants and animals as God’s creatures, and thus as God’s poets. The movement of the title line to a different position in each verse may suggest the ongoing procession of life.
Michael Dylan Welch is founder of the Tanka Society of America and National Haiku Writing Month and is president of the Redmond Association of Spokenword.
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