Tanya Joyce is a San Francisco Bay Area poet and visual artist. Her poetry emphasis is on reading out loud and listening. As ancient Welsh poets put it, poetry is “tongue music.” Tanya performs as a featured reader and participant in open reading events. She has won two Grand Prizes at San Francisco’s Dancing Poetry Festival. She has three books of poetry in print and recently created her first Zoom video on how to use “scraps” of art for new creations. Currently, Tanya is finishing acrylics and watercolors that were saved to finish “one of these days.” It is a good Pandemic activity. So far, she has completed over 100 compositions — small and large.
I.
Tai Chi at the water’s edge,
Blue flower stalks in blossom,
Hummingbird drinking from blue flowers.
II.
Harsh wind.
She finds a sheltered spot
To practice Qi Gong
Beside the sturdy apple blossoms.
III.
Two lotus ponds.
Strong winds turn leaves
Half upside down
Revealing red-brown warmth
Intended just for koi.
IV.
Under the bay laurel
A dragon mask reflects the yellow Sun.
After the dragon dance,
The Tai Chi master moves in silence.
V.
She throws her penny in the wishing pond.
As moonlight shines,
He picks the penny out.
Beside the red pagoda,
Another smiles, sitting in meditation.
VI.
Those still at the teahouse
Find their tea grown cold
As they watch a smiling Moon
Rise through ragged pines.
The path
Followed the countryside.
No buildings there,
No steeples, high-rises,
No “Right turn only,”
“Left turn on arrow,”
No instruction
But the human voice.
Yet every culture
Walked this path
And loved
The countryside.
Click on
Exercise video
Put your feet up
On the bed.
Open wide.
Feed yourself
A bite of ice cream.
What’s your favorite
Flavor?
Think
About it.
Breathe
Deep.
