Tanka You Very Much; OR How To Write A Tanka

Greetings, reader!

I hope you brought your party pants because today we're learning about TANKAS! Yes, yes, I know this is unbearably exciting. Who doesn't love a glorious 5 line Japanese poem? If haikus are the nuggets of poetry (see my post / explanation / justification over here on this post about haikus), then tankas are clearly nuggets with two lines of dipping sauce. (Has this metaphor been over-extended? Probably. Will I stop? ....No.)

(via whendinosaursruledthemind.wordpress.com)

Important: if you don't like Dino Nuggets, I don't like you.
Kidding. (Kind of.)

So, although I'm being flip when I call them nuggets with dipping sauce, Tankas are pretty similar to a haiku in structure. (They're also similar to the verse structure of Rengas, which you can find out all about by clicking here.)

5 Quick Facts About The Tanka:

1. It originated in 7th Century Japan. 

2. It translates to mean roughly "short song". 

3. Thematically they tend to focus on nature, seasons, love, and emotional expression. (In my online research I read that couples would return home after spending an evening together to write Tankas to exchange in the morning. To express their gratitude. CAN WE PLEASE BRING THAT BACK?!)

4. They're the Japanese version of Sonnets. How? They, too, employ the idea of "the turn". It's in the third line, though, in a Tanka. Generally Tankas move from the examination of an image and then turn to examine the poet's response. 

5. Many of the great Tanka poets were women.

How To Write A Tanka:

Tankas are syllabic poems, meaning we don't really need to focus on rhyming. Although, you totally can if you want to. In total, there are 31 syllables in a Tanka. Here's the syllable count line by line:

5-7-5-7-7

Like I said, pretty similar to Haikus and Rengas, except those last two lines of 7 syllables each are connected to the previous three lines. Also, as previously said, Line 3 is where the pivotal turn happens. I think it's safe to say that the quality of a Tanka poem hinges on that turn from examination to personal response. 

Otherwise, the world is your oyster. Write a series of tankas. Write one tanka. Write rough and tumble tankas that break all the rules. It's all you, man. It's all you.

There is really no other reason for this bunny than OMG, LOOK, A BUNNY.
Write a tanka about the bunny if you need a better reason.
(via blog.hartz.com)

Examples of the Tanka:

Here are two from Philip Appleman:

FOR SATORI

In the spring of joy, 

when even the mud chuckles,   

my soul runs rabid, 

snaps at its own bleeding heels,   

and barks: “What is happiness?” 

SOMBER GIRL

She never saw fire 

from heaven or hotly fought   

with God; but her eyes 

smolder for Hiroshima 

and the cold death of Buddha.

A pair of Tanka by Harryette Mullen: 

Tanka Diary [Awakened too early on Saturday morning]

Awakened too early on a Saturday morning

by the song of a mockingbird

imitating my clock radio alarm.

                      *

Walking along the green path with buds

in my ears, too engrossed in the morning news

to listen to the stillness of the garden.

2 more from Tada Chimako:

A Spray of Water: Tanka [one narcissus]

one narcissus
draws close to another
like the only
two adolescent boys
in the universe

A Spray of Water: Tanka [the hot water in]

the hot water in
the abandoned kettle
slowly cools
still carrying the resentment
of colder water

To Conclude:

TANKA YOU VERY MUCH FOR READING MY POETRY POST.

You gotta know I have been holding that pun in for the entire post. The whole darn thing. So now that that's out of the way.....let's go write some tankas! If you write something awesome, feel free to share it with us on social media or via email. We'd love to hear what you're up to!