Roberta Writes – Tanka Tuesday, W3, Bird of the Week & Thursday Doors

Bird of the Week, photography, poetry, Tanka Tuesday, Thursday Doors, W3 3 Minutes

It’s been a crazy week! Is there any other kind of week, I wonder. I attended New Partner Induction on Monday and Tuesday and a Partner Conference from Wednesday to Friday. So many new ideas and new people. My coping mechanism is to draw and paint and write poems so I have three poems to share with you today. I have also started a new art project – my biggest to date and perhaps my most ambitious. Michael thinks its ambitious but I just think its just bigger. All my art projects are very ambitious at the time of initiation. I push myself further with each new painting.

Tanka Tuesday

Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday challege this week is to write a tanka Puente poem with the theme of light vs dark.

Colleen has also announced the submission dates to the new Sunflower Tanka anthology 2027. I would love it if you participated and submitted your syllabic poems. You can find out more by reading Colleen’s post here: https://tankatuesday.com/2026/07/07/tankatuesday-poetry-challenge-no-72-tanka-puente-7-7-26/

Something New, something older

room of new partners

most young – bright eyed and bushy tailed

full of excitement

ready to take on the world

determined to make their mark

AI won’t replace humans, but humans who use AI will replace those who don’tβ€”Sam Altman, CEO, OpenAI

sprinkling of old hands

pockmarks on golden surface

engaged yet cautious

veterans of corporate wars

survivors of constant flux

More excitement with Sunflower Tanka! Colleen and I are running a new series to promote the anthologies. You can read the first post here: https://sunflowertankaanthology.com/2026/07/10/introduction-to-contributor-chris-hall-her-review-of-sunflower-tanka-an-anthology-of-tanka-tanka-prose-experimental-tanka/

W3

Jodi’s prompt is “For this prompt, write a poem in which every line is a lieΒ β€” except one.“

No, I didn’t write about AI – hehe! You can decide if what is a lie, if anything. Lies in this poem are in the eyes of the beholder.

Some Days

Some days the sun does not rise

Golden horses do not pull the fiery ball

across the blue washed sky

Cotton tailed clouds do not gambol and play

Flowers do not bloom

do not expose fragrant centres

to buzzing bees and butterflies

the day does not progress

all remains in darkness

Other days

the sun leaps into the sky

washing the world

in golden light

Bird of the Week

You can join in Bird of the Week here: https://anotherglobaleater.wordpress.com/bird-of-the-week-invitation/ and read the latest post here: https://anotherglobaleater.wordpress.com/2026/07/07/common-gull-birds-of-the-week-clxxvi/

Racing or The World’s Dumbest Bird

Kori bustards are Africa's largest bird that can fly. They have grey and white feathers on their longish necks, small heads with a black feather 'cap' on top, brown body feathers and long slim legs

Two kori bustards

racing down the road

are they trying to escape

our slow paced vehicle

(perhaps its TC’s purple jersey

I hate it too)

Or

is the male chasing the female

male kori bustards

have a bad reputation

for playing the field

attempting to breed

with as many females as possible

but taking no responsibility

for the resultant off spring

(Hey! that sounds familiar …)

One goes left

the other right

they appear the same size

more or less

but males are up to 40% larger

my perception must be wrong

(what about yours?)

Picture caption: I see you? he thinks

Mr Right looks confused

(there’s a surprise!)

glancing over his shoulder

as I hang out of my window

(you’re not supposed to do this!

what if I fell out

got eaten by a lion

or worse yet

kidnapped by a baboon)

snap! snap! snap!

As we slowly pass

Mr Right warms up to the idea

of posing for the camera

gives me his best side

(can you see his smile?)

Picture caption: kori bustard posing for the camera

Thursday Doors

My blogging friend, Brian, featured a photograph of the gargoyles of Notre Dame pre the fire. You can read his post here: https://equinoxio21.wordpress.com/2026/07/07/random-travels-umpteen/. I am sharing a few pictures I took of Notre Dame and its gargoyles so Brian can rest assured they are thriving. My shots aren’t as good as his!

The doors are for Dan’s Thursday Doors challenge which you can join in here: https://nofacilities.com/2026/07/09/old-sturbridge-village-6-26/

First Notre Dame and its doors:

  • Notre Dame from the front with its ornate front door and two towers
    Notre Dame from the front with its ornate front door and two towers
  • The ornately carved entrance and doors of Notre Dame (front doors)
    The ornately carved entrance and doors of Notre Dame (front doors)
  • Another door into Notre Dame. This entrance was closed so the shot didn't have people in it.
    Another door into Notre Dame. This entrance was closed so the shot didn’t have people in it.

These are the gargoyles. My friend, Chris, also likes gargoyles. You can find Chris’ blog here: https://lunas-online.com/2026/07/10/a-spaceship/

  • A row of gargoyles on the roof of Notre Dame. The front one has horns.
    A row of gargoyles on the roof of Notre Dame. The front one has horns.
  • The silhouette of a gargoyle on the roof of Notre Dame. He has wings but no horns.
    The silhouette of a gargoyle on the roof of Notre Dame. He has wings but no horns.
  • A long row of gargoyles along the side of Notre Dame. There is scaffolding in the background.
    A long row of gargoyles along the side of Notre Dame. There is scaffolding in the background.
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Published by robertawrites235681907

I am a writer of young adult fiction and poetry

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125 thoughts on “Roberta Writes – Tanka Tuesday, W3, Bird of the Week & Thursday Doors”

  1. Those are fun and beautiful poems. I did not know about Kori birds. They are beautiful birds. I am sure Sam Altman is a very smart man but I think his quote is naive. As I think I mentioned Notre Dame is a gorgeous cathedral.

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    1. Hi Thomas, im looking on AI with more favour after a week of learning what it’s all about and how to use it as a tool. In fact. Im going to try and implement it in some of my mundane labour intense processes. I actually thought Notre Dame was quite ugly compared to Canterbury Cathedral and other cathedrals ive seen in Europe πŸ™ƒ.

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      1. Yes I think the current forms of AI including the LLMs that everyone is using can be very useful if used honestly. I use the LLMs all the time and in the past I’ve used many very helpful AI algorithms all the way back since 1987. My concern is where AI is heading, which is something many of AI’s leading inventors have warned us about, for example, Geoffrey Hinton, Nobel Prize winner and the only surviving inventor of the algorithm that is used by modern AI (Rumelhart backpropagation). I know that Geoffrey Hinton understands AI, LLMs and where it is heading much better than Sam Altman does, and he has no business interest. I think that AI could one day replace every job and replace every human, and even spell the end of humanity. It is a realistic concern. That’s what, for example, Stephen Hawking said. I have to admit I have never seen the Canterbury Cathedral other than in photos.

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        1. perhaps you are right, Thomas, but if AI replaces all human workers, humans will have no money to consume and AI doesn’t need to consume so the wealthy won’t get richer and that won’t suit them. Currently AI is not that helpful but developers have invested massive amounts in R&D. They need to recover their money. Mind you, I also see that the illustrations for books produced by AI (for children’s books and films) are good. Perhaps humans will have to up their standards which have dropped significantly in the creative arenas.

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          1. Yes, if you have robot slaves doing everything you don’t need to do anything and you don’t need a salary. The robots will give you the money, provide the food, the healthcare, education, therapy, the research, they will do the math, do the art, write the books, do all the driving, building, plumbing, firefighting, policing, and they will make the movies, fight the wars, be the politicians, they will do everything. Well, education and creativity will no longer be needed. We can all just lay on the beach.

            This is the future I envisioned in my introduction in my PhD dissertation in 1994, but this upset a professor, so I had to delete it. To me it sounded like a possible utopia. To him it sounded like a nightmare. He thought it was weird and scary speculation that did not belong in a dissertation anywhere, not even in a lighthearted introduction. However, I still see what I wrote as a possibility. The dark side of that is, even if this happen, what if the robots decide they don’t need us. The neural networks in the 1990’s had at most a few hundred neurons and parameters. Now they have hundreds of billions and trillions and they will get trillion times more. Today’s LLMs are certainly very primitive compared to tomorrows neural networks.

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  2. Ah excellent, all of those things. Great stuff! Loved the poems, and those daft birds (plus those guinea fowls too). Thanks for putting me out there for that, although spam is still a prob, but hey-ho. Finally, those super photos, especially those two gargoyles!

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  3. I’m a great fan of gargoyles; enjoyed these poems a bot avian sexual play; instructive and a little human like; those doors are impressive; there is something going on that I may be missing; hugs from me, Robbie πŸ™‚

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    1. Hi John, thank you, I’m pleased you enjoyed this variety. I recently changed jobs and took a position as partner in a Big Four auditing firm. I’m on a reduced hours contract and hoping I can keep the reduced hours. Time will tell. Hugs πŸ’š

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  4. All three fun poems, Robbie. Looks like you’re enjoying the new job😊. I had no idea Kori Bustards were world’s dumbest bird.
    I think I got a glimpse of your painting on Fb. Is it the one of the waterfall?
    The Notre Dame cathedral is awe-inspiring.

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    1. Hi Smitha, I’m pleased you enjoyed the poems. When tasks are given during conferences I always finish first and have time to write poems. It passes the waiting time. The waterfall is from March this year. Since I’ve painted a vervet monkey, an African wild dog which isn’t yet finished. The new project is an African darter or snake bird. I’ve started the drawing.

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  6. Wonderful post, Robbie. I laughed because I had the same thought about the male kori bustards. Some habits are universal. I appreciate your determination in getting those photos (but I would hate to read about you being eaten by a lion).

    Beautiful doors! I hope you’re having a nice easy weekend (and I hope it’s a long one).

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      1. I can’t imagine a big bird running scared. Our wild turkey cross the streets in front of vehicles. On purpose. After all, they own the road. Not us.

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  15. So much to see here!! I love your chosen quote for the puente! I had never heard it- but it rings true!
    Your W3 entry is perfection- nature- never lies, does she? and I say please do not feed the wild beasts! hehehehe

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  18. Excellent post, Robbie.

    Thanks for the link and mention.

    (Bustards are not that bright, but I suspect they just have learnt that humans or cars are not a danger inside the Parks?)

    And the gargoyles look very near…

    πŸ‘πŸ»

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  23. Good luck with your new job Robbie.

    Those gargoyles are a bit scary!

    Are those birds flightless? It is strange the variety of parenting styles amongst creatures. Some male birds take on all the responsibility.

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  25. Wonderful gallery of photos and ideas, Robbie. I love how your poems tell stories and allude to deeper sentiments of our times, of nature interactions, and more. Brilliant photos! I love all your images; Notre-Dame looks fantastic.

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  28. I love your poems, Robbie. That bird looks like he was showing off. Typical male! πŸ˜‚ Your photos are so fun. I have a million things to do this week. Sunflower Tanka opens this Wednesday! πŸ₯³πŸ’œ

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  30. It was fun riding along with you, hearing your thoughts and comments out the window. as you photographed the birds. I could almost feel the little bumps in the road. πŸ™‚

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  31. So much to feed on here Robbie. I especially like the gargoyles in the photo. Is the male a right proper bustard!? πŸ˜€ Some Days – love it! I think the TP is the big issue right now, the excitement has died a little and its future is changing so the second tanka makes sense to me.

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    1. You are funny 😁. The world is certainly changing and I am wondering what’s going to happen when my generation (gen X) retire and leave work force. We aren’t perfect but we are ambitious and very hard working and I don’t see these qualities in younger generations who want to rely on unproven shortcuts like AI. I don’t mean to be critical but I just don’t know how companies are going to function in 15 to 20 years time unless AI becomes a lot better and can actually step in.

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    1. Hi Merril, I was trying to capture the amusement in the Kori bustard encounter so I’m glad it made you laugh. The new environment is better in many ways. The reduced hours are already under pressure so I’m trying to set firm boundaries.

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  34. hhhha thanks Robbie: these poems and the pics are so much fun ; those Kori bustards ripe for mischief πŸ™‚ o, and I like gargoyles too: what clever people we humans are πŸ™‚ glad your new job is taking off πŸ™‚

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  35. Oh my, it does sound like you had a busy week last week. I hope this one is a little less so. πŸ™‚ The Kori bustards look very cool. I enjoyed your poems and photos. I do love Notre Dame and so happy it’s been rebuilt!

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  39. The world’s dumbest birds… hahahaha! OMG I love that.

    Fab post, and the poem with the birds is perfect.

    Not sure about Altman’s quote. I already know some who have been replaced by AI, and they can use AI just fine. ꧁ 𝖝𝖔𝖝𝖔𝖝𝖔꧂

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  41. I love the walkof the Kori bustard. They are so big, and maybe they are stupid, but they have lots of personality. I enjoyed all your poems – talk about full of personality. I love your poem about the young people – eager to step up and make an impact on the world.

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      1. And sometimes that takes us a while to realize. Then we finally start to change – or do we still chaff. I’m afraid, I’m still chaffing from time to time. πŸ™‚ xxx

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        1. I think it depends on the person and the circumstances. I realised fairly early in my career that my work would not fulfill all my emotional and mental needs so I’ve always had hobbies including art, reading, writing, exercising, baking and cooking. Oh and blogging.

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