My Poetry

Nirvana, #TankaTuesday

Colleen M. Chesebro

Our #TankaTuesday prompt this week is a #PhotoPrompt. Diana Peach chose the image:

Pixabay.com, compliments of “Pretty sleepy.”

“Nirvana”

Before you stands the door to Nirvana…

Now is the time to break free from the chains that bound you to this earthly plane. Let go of all the restraints that held you back. Breathe in the quiet serenity. Enter the Bardo—the liminal state between death and rebirth. Walk with the hands of time through the red door into that which lies beyond…

darkness of rebirth
held inside the womb of time
sacred realism
flashes of past and present
a transcendental release

Our existence cannot suggest any discontinuity in time and space between the place and moment of death to those of rebirth. Time and space unite each reality as one.

© Colleen M. Chesebro

2019 Steve and Doreen, our house in Arizona

I wrote this tanka prose for my beloved brother-in-law, Steven Chesebro, who passed through the red door on February 15, 2022. May he rest in peace. So, Mote, it be!

Namaste. 🙏🏻 ❤️

Published by Colleen M. Chesebro

Colleen M. Chesebro grew up in a large city in the Midwest. Keen on making her own way in the world, she joined the United States Air Force after graduation to tour the world and find herself. To this day, that search continues. 💜 Today, she’s a Michigan Poet who loves crafting syllabic poetry, flash fiction, and creative fiction and nonfiction. Colleen sponsors a weekly poetry challenge, called #TankaTuesday, on wordcraftpoetry.com, where poets learn how to create traditional and modern forms of syllabic poetry. 💜 Colleen’s syllabic poetry has appeared in “Hedgerow, a Journal of Small Poems,” and in “Poetry Treasures,” and “Poetry Treasures 2: Relationships,” including several other online publications. She’s also received several awards for her flash fiction pieces from the yearly Carrot Ranch.com rodeo events. 💜 Colleen created Unicorn Cats Publishing Services to assist poets and authors in their book publishing needs. 💜 When she's not writing poetry or crafting short stories, you’ll find her digging in her garden, or playing with her two unicorn cats, Chloe & Sophie. Most days you can find her writing poetry on wordcraftpoetry.com. 💜

64 thoughts on “Nirvana, #TankaTuesday”

  13. I am also wish to send condolences to the passing of your brother-in-law, Colleen! Its always a hart time loosing someone, whom we never believed could leave us. But i am sure we will reunion all together in future. Please keep the drinks cold! 😉 Best wishes, Michael

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  15. Sympathies and condolences to you and your family. Such as it is, endings, beginnings, beginnings, endings. A lovely way to stop and pause, reflect, and share your blessings for his next leg’s journey, as shared in your poem. May you all find joy and love, in light, as you mourn and grieve, knowing that celebration of the soul in this life, carries us along, makes it a bit easier, as we linger in memories and moments shared. Namaste

    Like

    Reply

  16. What a beautiful tribute to your brother-in-law, Colleen, and my condolences to the family. The way you describe that transition between worlds strikes a big chord with me. We will all experience it. Thank you for sharing!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  21. Pingback: The Saturday Symphony #25 Back Again – tales told different

  24. I’m so sorry for your loss, Colleen. Your poem is a lovely tribute. It’s amazing how the photo turned out to be the perfect segue image. Blessings to you and your family always but especially during this difficult time. Lots of love, Marsha

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. It always is no matter how much they are suffering and we don’t want that. I am reading an interesting book in which one of the main characters dies. The weird son comes up with an explanation of death, that really helped his mom. It’s something like, “When dad is away, he’s not here, he’s there. When he’s there, he can’t be here, but you know he’s there. Now he’s there.” Something like that, anyway, the idea was that he was still with her (and him) even though he wasn’t “here.” I thought it was a pretty comforting thought. The book is Night, Sleep, Death, the Stars by Joyce Carol Oates.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply
  25. Pingback: #TankaTuesday #Poetry Stars No. 261 | #PhotoPrompt – Word Craft: Prose & Poetry

Thanks for your comments. 💙

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.