Advice, like youth, probably wasted on the young

The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.
Mary Schmich, Chicago Tribune; June 1, 1997

Tanka

Tanka #1
the dark sky dropped
poured itself into footsteps
a rose, quieted
she pinches eggs from next door
and sells them for ice cream
Based on the poem “A Rose Quieted” from the chapbook Brushing Back History.

Tanka #2
metal biting thing
exposes pulp pink flesh
water marries beads
of blood that took seventeen
stitches to thread together

Based on the poem “Seventeen Stitches” from the [...]