Tan Pratonix

Tan Pratonix Poems

Hoosh, whoosh,
The wind is up,
The birds go whizzing by,
And all around
...

Between you and me
Is a long stretch of sea
Preventing us
From communicating with each other
...

(Lines written spontaneously after seeing the photo of the body of a little Syrian boy washed up on the beach of Bodrum, a Turkish resort town, as the family were trying to escape by boat to Greece. Tragedy of the 5 year old Syrian Civil War.3rd September 2015)

The little boy
(A Kurdish toddler
...

A hand reached out from heaven,
It strove to touch my head;
Then I was just eleven
And I ducked and turned and fled.
...

It was in Ruwenzor
I found the Bashan bull,
The purple-headed mount
Was bathed in misty blue.
...

Trigonometry began
When Sine and Cos and Tan
[The latter, a perfect gentleman]
Agreed to work in a Triangle.
...

Where no birds breathe, bird-magic breathes
Bird-beauty, bird-spirit, bird-splendour,
And brings where no bird wings,
Wing-beats that woo me to wonder.
...

DEATH OF AUTUMN

Autumn dazzles with her dress
(Such gorgeous hues of red and gold!)
...

September clouds
Gather over the graying city
Ready to attack
...

Every day
Melanie May
Walks down the shore,
Along the bay.
...

Bound by four hard glass walls
The fishes in the glass-tank think:
'We have all
We need - food to eat, water to drink;
...

Whose woods these are? Oh, do not mind;
His house is what I left behind.
He will not see me stopping here
Watching his woods fill up with sheer
...

Suppose all Facebook accounts were hacked.
(Those on Fakebook are hacks anyway)
That will be the day!
It would be a huge mess.
...

I
If I were a Muddlehorse
With a black mane,
I'd be running on a race course
...

Suppose I was living on the bank of a river
Where ladies occasionally would come for a ride
In a boat with a friend or relative or lover;
And under the trees (all cosy inside,
...

16.

Hands, expressive hands;
The gold bands around your wrists
Make beautiful hands.
...

Just those few months of sunshine
Squeezed in by a protracted winter
And a long chilly spring
...

The smell of crushed mango leaves
Takes me back to more than forty years ago,
To early schooldays,
When little boys in khaki shorts stand
...

From a shock of trees it sifts
in, spreading a black
hush over the water, dims
the grass at her feet tucked
...

In this soft night thread
A necklace of stars
And wear it in remembrance
Of moments that never will be.
...

Tan Pratonix Biography

The majority of the 125 poems here were written in my youth, between the ages of 17 and 19. Then I stopped writing poems; perhaps the Muse died, or you might say I killed the Muse. Then after a long period of barrenness the Muse awoke again and I started writing poems in 2006. That was when I got on to Poemhunter. There used to be a nice group of poets and reviewers in those days, ten years ago, and I got encouragement from quite a few of them. There were some critics also, but their criticism was purely from a literary and artistic point of view. Things have changed in 2015-16. The Ninjuns have got in and Poemhunter seems to be going into a rapid decline. I don't find real poets here; you have to search hard to find them. Well, I hope to find a good group of friends, like I had way back in 2006. I am hoping to find a better poetry site which will welcome 'crafted' poetry, instead of mere 'gush' or reckless torrents of emotion.)

The Best Poem Of Tan Pratonix

In Praise Of God's Good Earth

Hoosh, whoosh,
The wind is up,
The birds go whizzing by,
And all around
Upon the ground
The dandelions fly.

I cannot see a speck of grey
I cannot see the sun,
But only one vast stretch of blue
Where foamy horses run.

I cannot see for ecstasy
In one huge throbbing thrill
Has burst into a wave of wings
And dances in the hills.

Tan Pratonix Comments

Max Reif 13 February 2006

I tell you: I've read, enjoyed, loved many poems and poets here at Poemhunter. But it's never occurred to me, somehow, to download, print out, and carry around with me the 'complete works' e-book of anyone-until today, when I began at the beginning of Tan's poems and was dazzled, refreshed, utterly charmed, and given new eyes-AND ears-by his rainbow rhymes, his wonderworld rhythms, and the vast, African skies full of birds, that may be flushed and flutter up at absolutely any step.

5 0 Reply
Emma Beverage 17 February 2006

Very nice poem with an uplifting rhythm and very good rhyming. To the person that could not figure out the mention of the horses, I copied those lines so I could comment: 'But only one vast stretch of blue Where foamy horses run.' I could be wrong, but that made me feel that you were talking about the ocean and the horses were the way the waves foam and break. Very nice imagery.

5 0 Reply
Ernestine Northover 14 November 2018

Have tried to give you a well deserved comment but it doesn't seem to have appeared in your comments List.which is very annoying. I found the poem sudden death of Autumn very good. The two coffee lines seem a bit out of step with the rest of the poem but it is a very good poem with lovely storylines. Kind regards, nice to hear from you again. Ernestine Northover

0 0 Reply
Tom Billsborough 30 November 2016

I have just discovered a very fine poet. His African Rhythms is stunning. I shall be paying him many visits. As Pam says, a true talent.

2 0 Reply
Pamela Sinicrope 11 September 2015

A true talent. I look forward to reading more poems.

4 0 Reply
Adryan Barnathan 18 April 2006

Rising up, from out of the garbage....is TAN....Your words are elegant....a long way away...from the flies~!

5 0 Reply
Elisabeth Hines 12 April 2006

I felt like I was there watching horses and feeling the wind! Way to go! Elisabeth

5 0 Reply

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