My prompt for this poem was the Ten of Pentacles from Dana Driscoll’s Tarot of Trees. (Click here to see the card.) I tried to make this poem into a tanka but just wasn’t happy with the result. The syllables kept sliding into a different pattern, which I gradually realized was a variation on the traditional pattern (5-7-5-7-7). So here I give you a type of inverse tanka (7-5-7-5-5).
tenacious conifers grip
thin soil with woody
toes, their snow-bent, needled boughs
an elegant fringe
to the mountain’s cap
The Daily Compost 
Great Poem
Thank you for reading! I’m pleased that you enjoyed it.
welcome
I will never look at trees the same again. I’ll be thinking about those woody toes!
I’ve always been a tree person; the Ents are my very favoritest thing about Middle Earth. 🙂
Do you ever look around and wonder which ones are Ents?
I’m known some trees that were very Entish and wouldn’t be surprised if some of them turned out to be. It would be such a thrill to meet an Ent, if I survived the initial shock, that is. 😉
Hah, yeah, there would be that!