Tanka anyone?
long winter night . . .
my mind wanders back
to a northern stream
that once answered
my every question
— Jeanne Emrich
The tanka has me rapt.
For days now, my every experience searches for a short form verse that will compress, nuance and make it mean more.
Do you tanka? Cousin to the haiku, tanka is a 5 line lyric poem with Japanese roots. Like haiku, a tanka poem offers concrete images, understatement and control. A tanka has a specific form but — here’s the good part — the rules are a bit elastic.
Traditional tanka requires a 31 syllable count with lines of 5-7-5-7-7. But the modern American tanka allows for fudging.
Tanka Online tells it best: The contemporary tanka in English may be described as typically an untitled free-verse short poem having anywhere from about twelve to thirty-one syllables arranged in words and phrases over five lines, crafted to stand alone as a unitary, aesthetic whole—a complete poem. Excepting those written in a minimalist style, a tanka is about two breaths in length when read aloud.
“The tanka aesthetic is broad and all-encompassing,” encourages poet/instructor Jeanne Emrich.
With an anyone-can-do-it spirit, the site offers a Quick Start Guide to Writing Tanka. It’s a manual, an art form, a get-up-and-go guide!
I like the attitude. And then I found Jack Cantey. He’s writing a rush of tankas, posting five to six poems on his blog each week.
That Erodes
I’m done with it all,
he says, drunk on wine and paint.
Winter is a force
that erodes like wind and waves.
It eats us in creeping bites.
— Jack Cantey
Inspired by Jeanne and Jack, I thought I was ready to tanka. I wrote and counted. Rewrote, recounted. Turns out the seemingly simple short form is deceptively — and wonderfully — complicated. I like the challenge.
How about you? Have you tried a tanka? Send me your work. I’ll post them here, and we’ll toast to tanka — the new, old, short form poem.


Reader Comments (4)
Drew -- Once again you've managed to expand my breath with your find of Jack Cantey.
I'm now a fool for Tanka. Given time, a quiet room and whatever poets drink to juice their muse, I might give it a whirl.
Auburn,
So glad you're taken with tanka, too.
(Gotta love that alliteration).
Fool for tanka -- I like that. So send me your tankas. I'd love to see what you create!
thanks, as always, for reading & writing.
-drew
Drew,
When you're ready, please post some of your tanka experiments. I'm always excited to see what others are able to conjure within 31 syllables. Thanks, also, for using my poem here. It's much appreciated.
Jack.
Thanks Jack,
Tanka experiments -- mine & others -- coming soon!
- drew