The frost sucks the life
Squeezing the breath out of earth
Blanketing the ground
The season is transient
The dark oppression fading

© 2018 Jason A. Muckley

I wrote this Tanka in honor of Claude Monet’s 178th birthday and his piece, “The Frost near Vétheuil.” Monet was born on November 14, 1840.

Monet is considered a father of Impressionism, the artistic movement characterized by thin brushstrokes and depicting the visual impression of the moment–especially in terms of light and color. The term ‘Impressionism’ derives from a review of Monet’s painting ‘Impression, Sunrise,’ which he exhibited in 1874. (Today on Bing)