The November challenge at Parkinsons.Art involves rewriting a given poem in our own preferred form.
Here is the tanka I wrote in response:
the mist and I cold, lingering, and silent… under the park bench a handwritten missive, advice from a brave heart
3 of my tanka translated into Italian and published in Lumachine 31, December 2018
A big thank you to Euphemia Griffo and Stefano d’Andrea for including them in this wonderful Journal.
I have received the wonderful news that my tanka below has been awarded an Honorable Mention in the Mt. Fuji Tanka Grand Prix contest in 2018. What an honor!
season’s end …
by the mountain shrine
wild horses graze
wrapped in fog
and silence
This contest was created by the Fuji Taisho Committee to celebrate Japan’s most famous and revered mountain in the poetic form of tanka. They say:
As the highest mountain in Japan, Mt. Fuji has been a symbol of this country providing spiritual support to the Japanese people since ancient times. Its graceful appearance is often depicted in art, literature, photography and even in company logos. In 2013, Fujisan was added to the World Heritage List as a cultural site by UNESCO. The Fujisan Taisho prize is awarded for the best work of TANKA. It is an initiative to promote the preservation of this magnificent mountain by describing its beauty and charm through TANKA and sharing them with people all over the world. Our hope is to enhance better understanding towards the nature, tradition and culture of Fujisan through which we believe we can develop a better understanding of Japan. Our ultimate aim is to raise more interest in this country and attract more people worldwide towards our culture as well as industry and economy.
TANKA was invited on / relating to Mt. Fuji: impressions on Mt. Fuji, feelings and emotions experienced while climbing the mountain. It did not have to include the word “Mt. Fuji” as long as the subject was on the mountain or mountains in general.
Grateful thanks to the judges:
Takashi Okai, Judge-in-chief of the Mt. Fuji Tanka Grand Prix 2018
Takayuki Saegusa, Judge of the Mt. Fuji Tanka Grand Prix 2018
Hiroshi Homura, Judge of the Mt. Fuji Tanka Grand Prix 2018
Naoko Higashi, Judge of the Mt. Fuji Tanka Grand Prix 2018
The awards will be presented at the Mt. Fuji Tanka Grand Prix Ceremony on January 26, 2019 at the Nihonbashi Theater in Tokyo. I won’t be able to attend, but I will sure be dreaming about it – and looking forward to the award certificate.
Those familiar with my work will recognize the photo and tanka image as relating to the Brecon Beacons mountain range in Wales.
A tanka of mine on the theme ‘Portrait’ appears on issue 103 of Right Hand Pointing: short poetry, fiction & art since 2004 A.D.
And what an issue it is! Alive!
I will post my poem here too in a few days – but why wait, take a look (scroll down by clicking on the hand image for the next poem): http://www.righthandpointing.net/issue-103
Enjoy!
Pleased to have seven of my tanka appear in Bright Stars, vol. 3, 2014, the organic tanka anthology produced by M. Kei of Atlas Poetica. This is what this anthology is about:
“Bright Stars is devoted to five line poetry—tanka, waka, kyoka, gogyoshi, shaped tanka, tanka sequence, tanka prose, collaborative tanka—any form based on the short, lyrical, five part poem originally from Japan.”
And
“Bright Stars focuses on the Japanese aesthetic of ‘akarui’ – bright, loud, energetic, urban, exciting, and experimental.”
Here is the Press Release with more information, sample poems, and how to buy this book. I’ve ordered mine!
PAD #14 prompt: If I were
.
if I were you
I’d leave all this behind…
blossom rain
.
and
.
If I were a bird
I’d be a dove drinking
from your lips
the nectar
of words
.
she crouches under
magnolia stellata
and viburnum carlcephalum
hiding the scent
of her fear
.
and
.
spring rain…
a baby doll under
Solomon’s seal
.
how often
the avalanche of years
makes itself felt…
yet your gentle touch always
awakens my heart
.
and
.
on thin ice
the way we keep
our peace
PAD #7 Self-Portrait
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beach combing
I even collect grains
of sand
.
message in a bottle…
the shells on the beach I wrapped
in tissue paper
if only I could read
the rhythm in their stories
.
http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/2014-april-pad-challenge-day-7
PAD #6 Prompt: Night
.
spring moon
a marble angel without
wings
.
between the dates
of her birth and death
a dash…
I wonder who knows
the full story
Prompt #5: Discovery
.
dawn chorus
the sound of car engines
starting
.
ingredients
into the bread maker
then pressing start –
a recipe for life’s
little pleasures
.
This is how Day #5 is playing
Prompt: since (childhood)
.
since childhood
the taste of cherries
and you
……………………..
Prompt: since (yesterday)
.
since yesterday
a melody makes the rounds
in my head…
the trail of smoke floats
then dissipates
.
You can read all the entries here
PAD Day #3 Prompt: message
.
nets of mist…
an unopened letter
carried downstream
.
if you find this bottle
hold it close to your heart
drink from its words –
a gentle breeze will fill your sails
will lift the stone off your heart
wild roses…
all the languages crossing
the Aegean
.
she turns into books
stories granny planted
in her ear…
caique journeys crisscross
the lines on her pages
.
PAD prompt: voyage
This April I am taking part in the Writer’s Digest Poem-A-Day Challenge. Writing one poem each day of the month in addition to my other commitments is going to be tough, but hey, who likes the easy life!
April 1st prompt: beginnings/endings.
Here are my two offerings:
.
plum blossoms
the beginning of all
affairs
.
how many days
she waits by the window
to the empty street…
waiting for dusk
this unlived life
.
There are many poetic offerings on the site, and I look forward to reading them and following up on poets. Click here for the link to Day 1.
So, Robert Lee Brewer, bring them on!
cemetery pines
whispering among the needles
the gentlest of songs
Margaret Dornaus, poet, writer, and teacher, as well as haiku-doodler in her own words, has put together for the third year running a wonderfully moving collection celebrating the Day of the Dead, also known in Catholic circles as All Saints’ Day. It is a privilege and a treat to be included in it, as well as to read poems by several poet friends from all over the world who answered Margaret’s call.
Visit her post and read the poems. There is a tanka I particularly like, written by Margaret for Hortensia Anderson. I love the thought in it: now Hortensia is dead, Margaret can only know her through the scent of her blooms, her poems.
Happy Halloween!
I am thrilled to report that:
my short story/flash ‘The Silence in my Cell’ is now online in the May edition of Tuck Magazine. They say it is a MUST read! See what you think. It can be read here
my tanka ‘Tin Mug’ now appears in ‘ars poetica 2′ – newest poems of Poets Online. It can be found on their site here (This is a bit more complicated to find: go to Archive, click newest poems/ ars poetica 2)
National Poetry Month 2012 – Update. Taking part in Couplets, the multi-author poetry blog organized by Joanne Merriam of Upper Rubber Boot Books, I was honoured to be featured:
On the 1st of April 2012 at Margaret Dornaus’ wonderful blog ‘haiku-doodle’
On the 6th of April 2012, at Angie Werren’s great blog for micropoetry ‘feathers’
In the same project, Couplets, 1st of April, I hosted the exquisite poetry of Margaret Dornaus on my own blog. Margaret offered three of her excellent tanka poems.
I also had the pleasure of hosting Lisa Cihlar, whose poetry I love. Lisa wrote a fascinating article about the creation of one of her characters, ‘Swampy Woman.’
There is more to come in the second half of the month. And there are so many good poets taking part in this project! Visit the Couplets site and enjoy! And don’t forget to come back!
Delighted and honoured that my tanka was shortlisted for the Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, Vol 4.
The anthology series founded by tanka poet and editor, M. Kei, announced the short list for the fourth annual volume (2011) in March 2012. The nine editors headed by M. Kei (USA), Patricia Prime (NZ), Magdalena Dale (RO), Amelia Fielden (AUS), Claire Everett (UK), Owen Bullock (NZ), David Terelinck (AUS), Janick Belleau (CAN), and David Rice (USA), embarked on the amazing feat of reading all tanka published in English during 2011 with the goal of selecting the best individual tanka, kyoka, waka, gogyohka, gogyoshi, tanka sequences, tanka prose, and responsive tanka for inclusion in the annual anthology. The team read approximately eighteen thousand poems to choose about three hundred for inclusion in this, the fourth and final volume in the Take Five series. Well done to the editors and to the poets among us who got selected! I for one am thrilled and hugely encouraged!
The announcement can be read here
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holding the flag high
they march taller than
trees–
the heady aroma
of summer magnolias
Today I read a post about appreciating and writing tanka in Red Dragonfly’s blog. It should have carried a health warning, something like, Read it at your peril: you will be tempted to write tanka for the rest of your day(s); or, Read and risk tanka obsession! Something like that to warn its readers of adverse effects. My own first reaction was to write my daily haiku – which I write participating in the Facebook community’s NaHaiWriMo project extension – as my first ever tanka! The day’s prompt had been ‘flags.’ I got carried away, you see. Tongue in cheek, I posted it in the NaHaiWriMo facebook site for the good folks there to see! I only hope Melissa doesn’t see my first attempt!
If you like living dangerously though, do read the post about tanka. It is a tanka beginners’ dream: informative and with a number of good links. So, tanka? I’ll try to do that!
Stella Pierides 