Autumn tanka challenge

[Saionji Shonagon]

Oct 2, 2011 11:27:48 GMT -5 Lady Kimiko said:

Poetry is vital to Japanese culture.
Poetry is vital to the soul.
Poetry speaks to us and for us, so that we might be silent and reflect.

I have but one question: do you write poetry?

If so, why?

If not, why not?

The Autumn Tanka Challenge begins November 1. Watch this space for details.

[Sō Haruko]

Sumimasen ... I write haiku, but not tanka. I am interested, though. Any recommendations on good books/sites to look at for information on writing good tanka?

[Saionji Shonagon]

Repeat: Watch this space for - oh, all right. Have a look at the tanka sections at www.ahapoetry.com/

;-D

[Saionji Shonagon]

It's getting to be that time!

Here's the concept:
Write one tanka (waka)* a day for the month of November.

*Resources on tanka:
www.ahapoetry.com/TANKA.HTM
www.americantanka.com/
www.wodefordhall.com/heianpoetryjam.htm

The spirit of this poetic form being the impermanence of this dewdrop life, no other make-ups are permitted. If you miss a day, you miss a day and as in real life, you never get it back. (You're on the honor system here....)

No limits on subject matter other than any you chose to impose upon yourself. Hopefully, some moment in your day will inspire you to write about it.

If you write more than one tanka a day, fine. However, you may not carry over tanka to other days. You have to write a poem on each day.

(If you are inspired to "answer" someone else's poem, great. Personally, if I do so, I am not going to count it toward my daily assignment. The idea is to come up with something myself each day. What you do is up to you.)

Adherence to the 5-7-5-7-7 line/syllable count is required, otherwise it's not a tanka.

It's poetry, not stereo instructions. It should say something and it should make sense.

No rewrites. (I know, I'm evil, but it's part of the process of practicing this form. At least for me.)

Remember, bad poetry is just as period as good poetry.

If you want to share your poems, you may post them to this thread or to community.livejournal.com/tankachallenge/profile

This challenge originally premiered in 2008.

Good luck everyone!

[Lady Kimiko]

My muse is cruel,
most fleeting and demanding.
She does not easily yield,
to creative desires
only spontaneous whim.

-Lady Kimiko, my first entry and ever attempt at a tanka. This poem speaks the truth about my muse.

[Please Delete]

What message but joy
For she of the flaming hair
Has made it home safe
And what a way to begin
This annual endeavor.

[Saionji Shonagon]

11/1/11:

She weaves patiently
Despite comings and goings
And slamming of doors.
I get a broom with a sigh
And reach once more for her web.

(I've been doing battle with a large, brown, very crunchy spider who insists on anchoring to the porch light and attaching to the door outside my apartment. I've relocated her almost daily for a week to a nice spot under the back stairs where no one would bother her, but she keeps coming back....)

[Ishida Kentarou Mitsumasa]

Tomorrow I leave
thirteen years of history
quietly behind.
How long until I do not
feel the need to look backwards?

[Uryuu Ujishige]

Nov 1, 2011 16:44:17 GMT -5 Saionji Shonagon said:

11/1/11:

She weaves patiently
Despite comings and goings
And slamming of doors.
I get a broom with a sigh
And reach once more for her web.

(I've been doing battle with a large, brown, very crunchy spider who insists on anchoring to the porch light and attaching to the door outside my apartment. I've relocated her almost daily for a week to a nice spot under the back stairs where no one would bother her, but she keeps coming back....)

She obviously knows a good bug catching spot when she sees one.

[Sō Haruko]

I tend to write just before bed, so I'll be posting a day behind. (:

11/1/11:

early november
under some abandoned vines
one tiny melon
I can't help but wish they'd keep
these last summer memories

[Lady Kimiko]

11/2/11

Across from me he
sits and enjoys the call of
his missing family
who fill the void a unknown dad
with photos and old stories.

This year, for my husbands 40th birthday I located his long lost half family. My husbands father died when he was only 2, a troubled mess...my husband a bastard born of an affair. He never knew his father, and had only 2 photos ever of his dad growing up. i located his half sisters and started him down a bitter sweet road. His middle half sister and him have bonded over stories and photos of their dad.

She lives in Texas, we are in Ohio. They spend hours on the phone talking and laughing...and sometimes even crying.

[Saionji Shonagon]

11/2/11:

Eyes, ears and mouth clasped
With frozen brass paws, they sit
Silent on their shelf.
Hear No Evil seems puzzled
By an eternal silence.

[Ishida Kentarou Mitsumasa]

Their heads shake gravely
disapproving. sad, confused
As I walk away.
They do not see the rainbow
that I steadily approach.

[Lady Kimiko]

Earlier I was doing
some research of importance.
Then I got online
and cast aside my precious books
to read a forum challenge.

[Sō Haruko]

11/2/11

glowing translucent
in the afternoon sun
dandelion seed
escapes my hands yet again
release and catch and release