NaPoWriMo Day Eleven: A Tanka and Then Some

Tanka, at least the version with 5-7-5-7-7 syllables, preferably with a 'twist' to the theme in the last two lines, is today's NaPoWriMo challenge. Let's see whether I can rise (or condense what, coincidentally, I'd  already written last night) to the 'occasion.'

Married love can be
like eating an artichoke.
You have to know how
to ignore the sharper points,
while you peel away layers,
find, and enjoy, what's inside.

                        -- Shirley Smith Franklin

And, lest you think I am shirking to have written two-in-one poems twice this month, here's another:

Oh, I Get Noir, All Right

They say it's nonsense to think that
you can just open scripture and expect
to get a verse meant personally for you.
     You mope along, believing it's true
     that nobody cares, ev'ry thing's going wrong,
     and there's nothing much you can do.
Then you read, out of habit, from your pocket
devotional, knowing that it's canned, planned
by an author with his own point of view.
     And it smacks you in the face
     like a fish jumping out of water,
     mocking you with its miniature, gaping jaw
(because all day, so far, you've caught only two.)
The fish flops into your ancient boat,
gasping for air, or is it laughter,
as you fuss over what little you can do.
Still, you swallow your broken pride, and read,

"Cast your nets on the other side."

                       SMACK!                            
                                       
                                   --- Shirley Smith Franklin