Robbie’s Inspiration – Tanka Tuesday: Purple passion, a poem #poetry #TankaTuesday

This is my contribution to Tanka Tuesday hosted by Colleen Chesebro. You can join in the challenge here: https://wordcraftpoetry.com/2023/03/21/tankatuesday-ekphrastic-poetry-challenge-no-312/

Purple passion

Trays of juicy figs line

Supermarket shelves

Attracting the eye with their dark purple skins

Heliotrope flesh tempting

Potential buyers

***

Would they be so eager

If the truth were known?

Not real fruit, but masses of flowers and seeds

Pollinated by wasps

Who die for their pains

***

Tricked by a female fig

Wasp is trapped inside

Fig ripens into a delicious plump fruit

By digesting its meal

With special enzymes

By Robbie Cheadle

Instruction: 💐 This week, using the painting as your inspiration, please write either a syllabic poetry form or a freestyle poem, including a syllabic form (both on the same post).

The painting is from Rebecca Budd’s blog, Chasing Art.

As you can tell, I was inspired by the purple in the picture rather than the flowers.

Meet the poet

Colleen was kind enough to interview me for her Meet the Poet post.

Welcome to Meet the Poet, a Word Craft Poetry feature written to introduce you to the poets in our writing community.

This is a way to get to know more about the poets and their work. Many of our poets have written both fiction and non-fiction, and self-published their works. We also feature many published authors. It’s a brilliant mix!

Some of our poets are also artists, crafting their magic through watercolors or other artistic means along with the written word. There are even a few musicians in our poetic community!

At least once a month, I’ll be introducing you to the poets in our community! Grab a cup of tea or coffee, and meet the poet!

Our guest this month is Robbie Cheadle.

Award-winning, bestselling author Robbie Cheadle has published thirteen children’s book and three poetry books. Her work has also appeared in poetry and short story anthologies.

Robbie also has two novels published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.

The ten Sir Chocolate children’s picture books, co-authored by Robbie and Michael Cheadle, are written in sweet, short rhymes which are easy for young children to follow and are illustrated with pictures of delicious cakes and cake decorations. Each book also includes simple recipes or biscuit art directions which children can make under adult supervision.

Robbie’s blog includes recipes, fondant and cake artwork, poetry, and book reviews. https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/Amazon Author Page

Wait until you see the wild animals in Robbie Cheadle’s new book, “Lion Scream.”

Hi, Colleen. Thanks so much for the invitation.

I’m glad you’re here, Robbie. It’s always fun talking about syllabic poetry with you.

Thank you for this lovely opportunity to discuss poetry. I appreciate the guidance you have given me over the years, I’ve known you in the Blogosphere. I don’t know if I would have ever attempted to write syllabic poetry if it wasn’t for you and your weekly poetry prompts.

Thanks so much, Robbie. You know, I love syllabic poetry. So tell us, what is your favorite syllabic poetry form?

I have gone through phases with syllabic poetry where I have loved one particular form and written numerous poems using that form. I started with haiku, but then I discovered I preferred tanka because tanka allows for a more expanded poetic message because the syllable count is higher. I have written hundreds of haiku and tanka.

In October 2021, I came across your Double Ennead challenge on Carrot Ranch Literary Community (https://carrotranch.com/).

A Double Ennead is a syllabic poetry form which you created. It comprises 99 syllables, divided into three stanzas of 33 syllables each, as follows: 6/5/11/6/5.

This idea for syllabic poetry really excited me, as it allowed for the telling of a story with a beginning, middle, and ending in a syllabic poetry format.

I wrote syllabic poems for each of the three challenges you posted, and these poems led to ideas for two books, both of which are now published.

My poem for Halloween expanded into a new children’s book called, “Haunted Halloween Holiday.”

(click all the book images to find the books on Amazon.com)

My poems, Colours of Africa and The Romance of the Sunflowers, are included in my new poetry collection, “Lion Scream, Syllabic Poetry About Southern African Wildlife.”

Continue reading here: https://wordcraftpoetry.com/2023/03/20/meet-the-poet-robbie-cheadle/