Novel Tenkara . . .
Hudson River Sunset
11 2014
Tenkara infuses writing with rhythm. The result can be, sometimes, a longer form for pure soulful entertainment:
8.
. . . He heard a crow, birds seen as conspicuous black spots adorning the cooler bare branched times. The call from above, the coal black guest from the nest perched attentive on the center point of the house’s gabled third floor. Bird in interaction rocked up and down a few times and spoke again.
“Smart-ass bird! Are you cheering me on, or laughing at me?”
“Caw-Caw-Caw,” the crow replied.
*** *** ***
. . . He took out his frustration by reeling in as hard as he could without knotting up the line. Such little private protests were all he would muster. He was too timid to show anger. Petey was a valuable shield against bullies. Let Petey lead; they shared other fun.
Once, without Petey, he missed school bus and had to wait for PAT Transit to take him down the long inclined face of the hill. A kid his age but bigger, cloaked in a long, untucked white shirt, appeared from behind a parked van:
“Hey! Catch this!”
Football flew forth in his direction. Young Robert, stalled in thought, cringed a bit and stubbed his left index finger in fending off the hammer ball.
“I’m a basketball player,” he yelled in his defense, which he followed with the first and only passable spiral pass of his life. The other kid caught his ball.
All was cool until a Saturday afternoon, when on his way to Center Arcade, he found himself sweating at the same bus top. This time he heard first the sound of a hard ball bouncing on pavement. A pause followed the kid’s appearance from behind another, different van:
“Hey, Basketball Player.”
Rubber burned. Young Robert ran, thus beginning his secured future as a cross country player.
Hudson River Sunset
11 2014
(photo by Maryann Amici)
– rPs 11 24 2012
Postscript: (excerpts from Little Hills: a novel by ron P. swegman)
Tenkara Takes Manhattan 
Leave a Reply