you may call them turtle doves; monogamous pairs
yet menage a trois at times, during courtship games
when wings whistle on take-off, flying fast and straight
they live thirty years or more and stay through seasons
their streamlined yet pudgy forms, of silk, milked cocoa
forage seeds with strut and peck, filling crop caches
to later roost and digest, safe and high in pines
side by side brown-spotted wings, cooing lullabies
top image: Mourning Doves photograph by
Colleen Chesebro is the host of Tanka Tuesday. Colleen says:
This week’s challenge is to write an Imayo poem. Your subject must be about a 🦃bird! 🐦⬛ It can be any type of bird. 🦉
Tao Talk 
These are very pretty verses.
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Robbie, thank you. The mourning doves live in the yard so I get to watch/hear them.
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Love this.💕
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Thank you, Melissa <3
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Beautiful 🤍
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<3 Thank you, my dear.
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A beautiful Imayo Lisa. I love doves, I am delighted to know more about them.
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Thank you, Balroop. I’m also pleased to share that Michigan has a ban on the hunting of them <3
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What beautiful love birds, the turtle dove’s soft call is the sound of summer, but unfortunately now rare in the UK with the rapid decline in population. It’s on the Red list and work is being done to try and preserve them, I do hope it’s successful ❤️
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Ange, it is with sorrow to hear they are on the Red list in the UK :( Please let them be <3
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❤️
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A beautiful poem Li :-) wonderful imagery here!
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Thank you <3
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I haven’t seen doves of this color before. Beautiful imayo, Lisa. This challenge is teaching me a lot more about birds than I knew.
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I hear you on learning about birds. Yes, they are such beautiful and gentle beings.
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Pretty birds! :-)
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Do you have them around your place?
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I don’t believe I’ve ever spotted one of them! Also, I know more about the Byrds than other birds!😆
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LOL, Christian. Listen for their coo. They can be shy.
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I love this poem and the photos you chose
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Sadje, thank you very much. They represent innocence to me.
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Beautiful
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Very pretty…
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Thank you. I’m sure you have mourning dovers where you live don’t you? How was the game?
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I don’t think so….but they are beautiful…
It was a lot of fun but HOT…it’s so humid
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If you ever hear their cooing you will know it is them. About the game and it being hot, that’s why God made beer :)
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And I did sample some….a dog and a beer. I like saying it and I like sampling both.
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Beautiful, Lisa! I love the imagery here- “of silk, and milked cocoa”.. ❤️
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Thank you, Chu <3
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You’re welcome, Lisa!
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Lisa, I think your Imayo are perfect. This is how I envisioned the form (but I’m not sure until I do more research). You’ve literally described the mourning doves. That’s what I think we should do with this form. It’s perfect.
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Colleen, thank you very much. I was hoping that my affection for the little critters came through between the lines <3
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I wake up each morning to the sound of the mourning doves. I enjoy their personalities, as well. Thanks so much, Lisa.
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They are lovely, I didn’t know they live 30 years. Beautiful poems!
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Thank you, Elizabeth. Yes, 30 or more!
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What a sweet set of stanzas, Lisa! I loved them!
Yvette M Calleiro :-)
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
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Yvette, thank you very much. Am trying to get an answer to that question you had :)
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Gorgeous!
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Thank you <3
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So beautiful, Lisa. It makes for lovely song. I love it. xoxo
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Selma thank you very much.
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I love their songs. Beautiful poem!
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Thanks, Sassy!
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