tanka – Page 3 – Tina Stewart Brakebill

Reena’s xploration challenge invited us to explore the space of Passages, Doorways, Thresholds, and/or Transitions, which dovetailed beautifully with dVerse Poets Banned Book challenge. As an avid ally for the trans/non-binary community, I was drawn to the following quote from Susan Kuklin’s book Beyond Magenta.

… my subjects’ willingness to brave bullying and condemnation in order to reveal their individual selves makes it impossible to be nothing less than awestruck.”

Check out both sites for more information on the challenges and for some great writing.

Reena’s Xploration Challenge #402

OpenLinkNight #393

Haiku & Other Poetry, tutto e niente

memories unveiled: a two-person rengay

October 9, 2025 Tina Stewart Brakebill

Alternating verses By Tina and David

trace the shadowed lanes
the mind’s meaning hidden still
veiled in the dim light

chamberstick nears old keyhole
air tightens around the glow

wax seeps through cracks
that lost melody flickers
a dance remembered

warm mold on cool skin
death accepts this final cast
breath displaced by form

silence meets the needle scratch
the melody lost again

hands draw thread through gauze
grief hums softly in the weave
~ memory is held

This week I tried something new by writing a rengay with David from The Skeptic’s Kaddish.

I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed the process. Visit David’s site for more inspired bits of poetry.

What is a rengay? Rengay is a form of linked verse created as an alternative to Japanese renga or renku. The form was devised by Garry Gay in California in 1992. A rengay consists of six thematic haiku verses and is normally composed by two or three poets, although solo and six-person rengay are not uncommon. You can read more about this form HERE.