T is for Thorns and Tanka

I am participating in the A to Z Challenge this month, and today's letter is T.

Click here for the list of blogs participating.

 
I have spent the past year-ish taking pictures of Maine vanity plates when I saw them.

I am writing a poem for each one, and this year the poem form begins with the same letter.  I found 6 Maine vanity plates for today, and chose to do a Tanka for THORNS.

Tanka is a classic form of Japanese poetry related to the haiku with five unrhymed lines of five, seven, five, seven, and seven syllables. (5, 7, 5, 7, 7)

The 5/7/5/7/7 rule is rumored to have been made up for school children to understand and learn this type of poetry. For an in depth description of Tanka, please visit the Shadow Poetry Japanese Poetry Tanka section.
http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/tanka.html

Thorns

Sweet the rose in bloom

Its misty fragrance rises 

Sharp the thorns hidden

Dutifully keeping safe

Royalty in the garden

by Donna JT Smith, 2018

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More Maine Vanity Plates:

As you can see T is a popular letter.