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~ poems and photos

Tag Archives: writing

Gusts tanka by Tom Clausen

13 Monday Sep 2021

Posted by Tom Clausen in Gusts, poems and photos, Published Poems, tanka

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Gusts, poetry, tanka, writing

to ward off
who knows what
i buy a dozen pencils
to be armed
just in case


***


covered quietly
by falling snow
in the woods
along with everything else
the deer’s remains



***


with three running lights
burning through the night
our neighbor’s house shipshape
on it journey
to tomorrow


-Gusts no. 33 spring/summer 2021

homework- review- by tom clausen

01 Sunday Dec 2019

Posted by Tom Clausen in americana, Chapbooks, haiku, Haiku Way of Life, Lynx,, tanka, Published Poems, senryu, tanka

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book review, chapbook, family, family life, haiku, home, homework, life, poems, poetry, senryu, tanka, writing

Homework by Tom Clausen. Saddle-stitched, full color cover, 4″ x 6″, 36 pages. $10., ppd. ISBN: 1-903543-00-2. Order from Snapshots Press, 132 Crosby, Liverpool, L23 8XS, England.

To quote the jacket notes: “Focusing squarely on domestic life, this collection of haiku, senryu, and tanka is often funny, often sad and always paradoxically both familiar and eye-opening.” It cannot be said better nor more succinctly what this newest book by Tom Clausen contains. I can only add my continuing praise for Tom’s work. It is always a revelation and delight how he seizes on the tiniest experience, and through his examination of it and the cool observation his own feelings, carries it over into a major event. This leaves the reader wondering, “Now, why did I not notice that?” and “Why did I not think of that as material for a poem?”. It seems that tanka is especially designed for the methods of Tom Clausen. Even when aware of the smallest thing, he is also aware of how that thing or event is affecting him. This occurs even in his haiku.

While some purists might fault his haiku for not being closely enough aligned with the nature-nature viewpoint, his sensibilities are absolutely accurate for tanka. This collection gains, I think, by the inclusion of his haiku (which often portray the lighter moments of family living). They seem to play off and actually highlight the attributes of his tanka. Altogether, the editing and arrangement of the poems seems especially fine and relevant. For anyone who has grown up in a family or is living in a family now, this book will take away those terrible moments of aloneness when one felt that no one else in the world ever had such moments of doubt, despair and pure undiluted joy. Tom has been there, and he has the courage to face them directly and honestly, and to continue to hang with the feelings until he has created pure poetry out of them.

no longer me
it proves a mystery who it is
I’ve become
walking around this house
with my family there inside

I sort of knew
my coffee cup
was empty –
so much I look in it
just to see

The sensitivity of the editor, John Barlow, is shown in the choice of a drawing done by Tom’s young daughter, Emma Clausen, as cover along with the insider joke of the title of the book – Homework. Delight piles on delight with this one. Review written by Jane Reichhold

this complete enigma by tom clausen

01 Sunday Dec 2019

Posted by Tom Clausen in poems and photos, Published Poems, tanka

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Tags

documentation, five lines down, little poems, observation, poems, poetry, tanka, writing

Lynx- XVII:1, February, 2002


out in the yard
the crow caws crazily
as if it knows my life
quite like
the compost i leave…

**


with my son
we pass the house
where he was conceived –
a certain run down look
weeds in the window box

**

not much celebration
to this winter solstice
but the neighbors maple
just big enough for a squirrel
and two bird nests


**



the deep blue sky
goes so far
yet the photo has borders
like those we come to
in our love…



**


its a little flaw
i’ve come to accept
as it may be…
these overmatched feelings
loving too much

**


cold rain
in another town
the streets empty –
from one house
a gift of wood smoke



**



this complete enigma
of me wanting more solitude,
then company in turn
on my terms
at just the right time


**



I have seen the cat
sleep most of the day
and yet seem satisfied
my calendar says to show
a cat a piece of gold


Why We Write Haiku by Tom Clausen

23 Friday Jun 2017

Posted by Tom Clausen in clouds, Favorite Haiku, haiku, Haiku Way of Life, Ithaca, landscapes, nature, poems and photos, sun, sunsets, Wabi Sabi

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Tags

art, haiku, inspiration, life, photography, photos, poetry, relationships, sunsets, writing

Why We Write Haiku ( this list contains alot of overlapping and was intended just as a consideration of what might be some reasons…)

to express gratitude
to report something real with honesty
to share something directly and concretely
to share and create meaning
to say something meaningful in as few words possible
to communicate
to find a voice
to give a voice to nature and discovery
to celebrate our connection to nature, to all that is non-human
to sharpen and develop our awareness as a witness
to express observable truth
to give praise
to celebrate existence
grounding and centering
transcendence
to express admiration
to identify those primordial forces we love or relate to
to feel a sense of purpose
to express our longing and belonging
love for our being here now
to express joy and happiness in a moment
to show what is lost and found
as a means of catharsis
to show the aha moment and suggest the wonder of existence
the desire to turn words into greater awareness and understanding
in the eternal search for meaning and identity
to maintain a healthy focus and awareness
to attain some levity or lightness to our being
prayer like reverence and respect for what is before us
to achieve some clarity
to reduce confusion
to express insight
to improve and gain relationships and understanding our place in the world
in hope of finding a peace of mind and heart
to have an epiphany
to reaffirm what we know but had forgotten…nostalgia for our child mind
for the practice and routine of forgetting ourselves
an alternative focus and refreshing point of view
alter-identity
as a release from what bothers us or distracts us from the poetic in our lives
as an antidote to anger
to exercise a spiritual communion with our place in this world
to commune with the muse
to attain credibility
to fulfill the searching aspect of our being here now
to recognize what is mortal and immortal in us and our world
as a form of satori and connection
because we love poetry and sharing something
because we feel inspiration in moments freely found anyplace, anytime, anywhere
because we are in tune with a universal reality
to get some satisfaction
as a path out of depression
to find ‘the way’
to see and feel light
to report natural ‘news’
to commune with nature
nurture of a spiritual relation
to join a community of people sharing a poetic point of view
to be in the now
because we believe in nature and the poetic relationships small, large and wonderful
as a means of disciplined expression
in recognition of natural nuance
to exercise our senses
to praise the life in the inanimate
to write concisely
to write what is in the heart
to find our-self outside our-self
to respond to a calling
to give voice to wabi -sabi aesthetics
to be at home on this seamless journey through the here and now

 

Sun setting in some clouds on west hill... from Hungerford Hill Rd.-east hill today 6-21-15.

turtles sunning by tom clausen

01 Saturday Oct 2016

Posted by Tom Clausen in close up details, nature, poems and photos, ponds, summer, turtles, water reflections

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art, Denmark, design, details, dream, dreams, duck weed, Finger Lakes, haiku, India, Japan, logs, nature, Netherlands, New York, New York State, New Zealand, observations, patience, photography, poetry, ponds, position, shell, slow, spirit, spiritual, summer, sun, sunning, time, turtle, turtles, UK, universe, waiting, walking, watching, water, witness, writing, zen

 

turtles sunning-
the time between fall
and spring

 

(a bumper crop of turtles on logs at a Sapsucker Woods pond  9-25-16 )

 

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frog pond by tom clausen

01 Saturday Oct 2016

Posted by Tom Clausen in frogs, haiku, Ithaca, nature, poems and photos, ponds, summer, water reflections

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Tags

art, design, details, earth, faith, Finger Lakes, found art, frogs, haiku, images, inspiration, Japan, leaps, life, lilies, lily pads, nature, New York, observation, photography, photos, poems, poetry, ponds, reflections, Sapsucker Woods, summer, swamp, swamps, U.S.A., UK, waiting, water, witness, writing, zen

 

frog pond-
so many leaps
of faith

 

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lower treman by tom clausen

21 Wednesday Sep 2016

Posted by Tom Clausen in lakes and rivers, landscapes, parks, poems and photos, water reflections, waterfalls

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art, beauty, design, details, dreams, Finger Lakes, found art, haiku, Ithaca, light, Lower Treman, nature, New York, New York State, photography, poetry, sheen, sparlking, State Parks, summer, sun, time, Treman Park, wabi sabi, water, witness, writing, zen

all these years
to make peace
with myself

 

 

lower-treman-park-falls-9-15-15
treman-park-falls-in-sun
treman-park-falls-9-16-15
treman-park-falls-in-light
treman-light-in-the-falls
light-in-the-falls-at-treman-park

home free by tom clausen

17 Saturday Sep 2016

Posted by Tom Clausen in americana, clouds, poems and photos, trees

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Tags

art, beauty, design, details, dreams, Finger Lakes, found art, free, haiku, home, Ithaca, light, nature, New York, New York State, now, observation, peace, photography, pine, pines, poetry, reflections, satori, sky, summer, sun, time, trees, wabi sabi, witness, writing, zen

back home…
the refreshing journey
to get here

 

back-home-the-refreshing-journey-to-get-here

globes by tom clausen

17 Saturday Sep 2016

Posted by Tom Clausen in americana, poems and photos, summer

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art, beauty, design, details, dreams, education, Finger Lakes, found art, globe, golbes, haiku, Ithaca, learning, life, light, New York, New York State, orbit, photography, play, poetry, round, school, spinning, spring, summer, teaching, time, wabi sabi, witness, world, writing, zen

first day of school
a child gives the globe
a twirl

the spin
of our world
everyday

empty classroom
windows open
to summer

empty-classroom-windows-open-to-summer
first-day-of-school-a-child-gives-the-globe-a-twirl
the-spen-of-our-world-everyday

akitsu by tom clausen

16 Friday Sep 2016

Posted by Tom Clausen in close up details, gardens, landscapes, nature, poems and photos, summer

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art, beauty, design, details, dreams, found art, haiku, light, nature, New Hampshire, photography, poetry, reflections, Shire, summer, sun, time, wabi sabi, walking, witness, writing, zen

the poet…
a new day begins
with a poem

 

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