Tanka and haiku are forms of Japanese of poetic art that have spread far and wide and found a home in many distant places. Although haiku is better known, Westerners are now discovering tanka. Like the island nation itself, and its other native arts, calligraphy, flower arrangement (ikebana), miniature trees (Bonsai), and paper folding(origami), these poetic forms are spare and compressed to lure beauty out of density. To encourage these qualities, these forms have been given a strict structure; for haiku, three lines of 5, 7, 5 syllables, and for tanka five lines of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables. A total of 17 syllables for haiku and 31 for tanka. These poem forms follow the principle, less is more. The poet is forced by the form to remove everything not absolutely necessary to the success of the poem. Every word, every syllable must make a contribution. These poems carry no fat, only muscle and bone. Everything works. Nothing goes along for the ride.
As for subject matter, there are no strict rules, only traditions. Haiku attempts to evoke the power and beauty of a moment in time, often set in nature. A famous one by Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) celebrates such a moment:
Old pond
frog jump in
Plop!
Tanka, 2 lines and 14 syllables longer, is often a brief narrative. This one was written by Toki Zenmaro(1885-1980):
On the road
I’ve picked up stones
too furious
I don’t know
what to throw them at.
The syllable count is lost in translation but the sharp image and emotional power remains in both poems.
Writing haiku and tanka is a good practice for writing any poem. Inspired by these Japanese forms, the poet strives to condense image and action into a structure which promotes clarity and intensity. The reader allows the poetic event to seize him or her as experience before understanding the poem’s implicit meaning.
Tanka and haiku poems are written with a delicate brush, not a paint roller. See what qualities they bring to mind when you encounter them, either by reading or writing. Here are two I wrote. Enjoy writing your own.
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Haiku
poverty of night
no coins to buy reading light
golden shining moon
Tanka
clouds of gray soaked rain
ice wind gusts against the house
rose bush roots in mud
my bones are chilled deep from damp
I outwit the storm with poems
2016