{"id":1274,"date":"2015-09-04T17:23:06","date_gmt":"2015-09-04T22:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lyndalambert.com\/?p=1274"},"modified":"2023-12-16T12:34:14","modified_gmt":"2023-12-16T17:34:14","slug":"walking-by-inner-vision-a-personal-journal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lyndalambert.com\/wordpress\/walking-by-inner-vision-a-personal-journal\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tanka Poem – Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

___________________<\/strong><\/p>\n

Walking by Inner Vision – A Personal Journal<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The Tanka Poem, Part 2<\/p>\n

Writing Assignment #27<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Zen Meditation Garden, designed by Bob and Lynda Lambert, Wurtemburg, PA<\/p><\/div>\n

Five months ago I wanted to work on a special project in honor of National Poetry Month.<\/p>\n

I chose \u00a0to learn about the Tanka Poem<\/strong> and began to write some tanka in response to what I was learning. This was a surprising \u00a0journey into the Tanka Poem<\/strong> and it has led me into some interesting revelations.\u00a0 In order to learn even more, I joined the Tanka Society of America.<\/p>\n

Yes, I have made some additional discoveries since I wrote Part 1 on this blog \u2013 April 10, 2015.\u00a0 It was Writing Assignment #12. For clarity, go back and read Part I.<\/p>\n

Click here to read Tanka Poetry Part 1:<\/p>\n

Tanka Poetry Part 1 – Lesson 1<\/a><\/p>\n

**<\/p>\n

I began to receive the literary journal, \u201cRibbons,” published by\u00a0 The\u00a0 Tanka Society of America.\u00a0 The magazine is another way of learning more about the Tanka form. The more I learn, the deeper I walk into this exquisite poetry form. One revelation after another has come to me as I studied.<\/p>\n

Eventually, I realized that Tanka is so much like Japanese dance forms that I enjoy. In particular, I can relate it to the Butoh dance – human emotions, stories, minimalist space that feels like walking in a dream, finely orchestrated movement from the beginning of the poem to the end of it. \u00a0And, then, the final line is so important in the poem, as the final movements and imagery \u00a0is in the dance performances. \u00a0This new idea came to me today as I worked on this essay.<\/p>\n

I wondered, “How has it taken me 5 months to recognize the parallels between Japanese dance and Japanese poetry?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Blog15_WBIV_Tanka2_3JapWomen\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo of Japanese Butoh Dance performance..<\/u><\/p>\n

**<\/p>\n

A TANKA POEM is like \u00a0a Japanese DANCE<\/p>\n

expressive, human emotion, movement, a dreamscape<\/p>\n

**<\/p>\n

My first encounter with \u201cRibbons\u201d opened my eyes to the fact that the Tanka need not have a syllable count of 5-7-5-7-7 at all! In fact, almost none of the poems published have this restriction. All have 5 lines, but those 5 lines vary greatly from the initial form I first learned was \u201cTanka Form.\u201d\u00a0 Did my head spin? Oh, yes, indeed!<\/p>\n

\"Blog15_WBIV_Tanka2_JapMapleLeaf\"<\/a>\u00a0“Dancing Japanese Maple” by Rona Black<\/em><\/p>\n

Photo used with permission of photographer, Rona Black. Copyright 2015. <\/em><\/p>\n

Click here to\u00a0 \u00a0See MORE photos by Rona Black<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

**<\/p>\n

What is TANKA?\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The TANKA poem originated in Japan over 1200 years ago<\/p>\n

Traditionally,\u00a0 Tanka themes are:<\/p>\n

Nature \u00a0 \u00a0 Seasons<\/p>\n

Romance \u00a0 \u00a0 Sadness<\/p>\n

Love \u00a0 \u00a0 Strong Human Emotions<\/p>\n

A Tanka Poem usually \u00a0reflects a single MOMENT<\/p>\n

Tanka poems do not have titles or numbers<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Use personification, metaphor, and other allusions<\/p>\n

The lyrical intensity gives a sense of a personal, intimate world.<\/p>\n

Capitalization and punctuation is not necessary. In fact, it can be a distraction to take the reader out of the moment in the poem.\u00a0 I saw this in the poems I read.<\/p>\n

Tanka is a lyrical poem and it\u2019s important for it to have a feeling of human emotions, awareness of being in a dream, or the author discussing personal \u00a0relationships or desires.<\/p>\n

Fragmentation \u00a0is highly desirable.<\/p>\n

Once you understand the structure of the Tanka Poem, you do not need to count the syllables and words \u2013 it is not necessary to have the 5-7-5-7-7 format and in fact, this poem is \u00a0much smoother if you do not restrain yourself and force your words into a particular \u00a0syllable count.\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"GE<\/a>

Zen Meditation Garden, -created by Bob and Lynda Lambert<\/p><\/div>\n

The\u00a0overall \u00a0observation, is that your Tanka will be a 5-line poem. \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As you begin to consult literary magazines that focus on Tanka, or Haiku poetry forms, you soon see the poems published do \u00a0not the traditional \u00a0generic description. Here is where we see the master class.<\/p>\n

**<\/p>\n

I consulted with an editor of a Haiku Journal with my questions. He responded to me immediately with some answers.<\/p>\n

He said,<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some western poets who do write in the traditional syllabic style, but they are few and far between, and not usually well represented in many of the more established journals
\nor showcased in the numerous anthologies that are produced each year.<\/p>\n

Traditional Japanese poets still write in the syllabic style and use official kigo from a officially recognized sajiki, but there are plenty of Japanese poets who are not traditional
\nand write haiku which are reminiscent of what is being produced by poets in the west. I suggest you check out someone like Kaneko Tohta or Ban’ya Natsuishi to get an idea of just how adventurous some Japanese poets are.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

____________________<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Walking by Inner Vision Journal \u2013 Writing Assignment #27<\/p>\n

Using the additional information I have given you, \u00a0create your own Tanka poem!<\/p>\n

I would love to read your poem \u2013 send it to me or post it in the comments below. If you \u00a0scroll to the bottom of the page, sign up for my newest posts that will arrive quietly in your email as soon as I post them.<\/p>\n

Lynda McKinney Lambert. Copyright 2015. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n

Special THANKS to Rona Black for allowing me to use her photo,<\/p>\n

“Dancing Japanese Maple” on this post.<\/p>\n

__________________<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are some western poets who do write in the traditional syllabic style, but they are few and far between, and not usually well represented in many of the more established journals<\/p>\n Continue reading →<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The Tanka Poem - Part 2","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trusting-god"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lyndalambert.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Blog15_WBIV_Tanka2_JapMapleLeaf.jpg?fit=251%2C201&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4gbwn-ky","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lyndalambert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lyndalambert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lyndalambert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lyndalambert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lyndalambert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1274"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.lyndalambert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14972,"href":"https:\/\/www.lyndalambert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1274\/revisions\/14972"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lyndalambert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lyndalambert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lyndalambert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lyndalambert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}