Neena Singh
Wonderland
turning
the dipper in the honeypot
my little bumblebee
spins tales for me every day
in our make-believe world
My little grandson flips through his picture book.
“Daadi, I went to the Hundred Acre Wood with my Spiderman bag! The bag had arrows and treats.”
“Why arrows?” I ask him seriously.
“For the baddies in the woods!” he is quick to respond.
I raise my eyebrows. “Who were the treats for?”
“For my friend Tigger, the tiger! He waits for me to bring them!” He smiles and bounces off.
buzzing
around a hummingbird
my grandson points an arrow
follow me to the wood
follow me to the wood
Author’s Note:
“Daadi” is vernacular for “Grandma.”
About the Author
Neena Singh lives in Chandigarh, India. Her haiku, senryu, tanka, and haibun have appeared in online and print journals. Former banker, she now runs a non-profit for underprivileged children. She enjoys exploring gardens and has authored two books of poetry.
Wonderland is an interesting Tanka Prose. The tanka at the beginning acts as epigraph. There has been an interplay of prose and tanka with poetic substance. The dialogue-based prose enthuses the readers till the end. The concluding tanka is simply wonderful. The repetition of Line 4 and Line 5 ‘follow me to the wood’ exhibits the aesthetic musicality.
Thanks, dear Pravat for your appreciation for “Wonderland”. Glad you liked the musicality of the concluding tanka.
Tish Davis helped me in polishing this tanka prose and it was a wonderful learning for me.