Nurse Tanka
Tough Veins Tanka
George supervises
the nurses at the rehab
tries to find a vein
for antibiotics, gives up,
rolls eyes, calls me unstickable
Critical Patient Tanka
my rehab roommate
unstable, often blacks out
George wants doc’s judgment
ambulance arrives at noon
most nurses sense trouble first
In-Charge Nurse Tanka
George explains treatments,
med charts, measures blood pressure,
strums ukulele on break
dark before reaching rehab
he drives 75 long miles
15 thoughts on "Nurse Tanka"
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George is the best.
George does sound like a keeper. As are these poems. We should all have a George.
love the subtitles, the short lines, the subject-verb syntax, “strums ukelele,” “long”
I love your precision and economical approach to these tanka. You give us a round image of George and his spirit and dedication
like George
these tanka
sent
from heaven
Definitely captures the moment
the episodic nature of this-
a trinity of genius!
Great point of view–such a wonderful piece! I especially loved, “strums ukulele on break.” (And, I had a visceral reaction to “tries to find a vein” — that’s me, too.)
I love the fact that you’re making art from these dark materials. Go ahead on, darlin.
Humor in darkness. An achievement!
Well done- love the story told in tankas bonded together.
Great mastery of the form. I do suggest that you make the title plural, “Nurse tankas”
We kinda went down the rabbit hole on that one. Hours of fun 🙂 long story short both are correct and neither are. Lol….in some sense it’s correct though. The Japanese pluralize generally by adding a number either before or after the word. ( Nurse 3Tanka).
In the end she made the decision to
follow the pluralized form of haiku.
All this said, I like your title. It’s more natural. I also appreciate Coleman’s wonderfully nerdy explanation.
I am Japanese. My name is Manny Tanka Truck. I have manny tanka in my 3000truck family. Just as there are extraordinary 4 to 5 manny in any given moment given Lord Buddha law of cause and effect.
Linda, these tanka were 3homerun.