Discover Tanka Poetry For The CSET

in swirling fog
white blindness
in front of me
man swearing in surprise
very close

By Ronan

Because there was a seed
A pine has grown even here
On these barren rocks:
If we really love our love
What can keep us from meeting?

By Anonymous from the Kokinshu translated by Donald Keene

According to Jane Reichhold, during the development of tanka, writers became very sensitive to the bridge –the word, or words — leading the reader from the nature image to the statement of emotion. They found in their language, as we have in ours, words which can apply or add to the description of both nature and human feelings. For example, in the tanka above the phrase “on barren rocks” refers to both the ground where a seed fell and grew while at the same it is describing the feeling of lack of love because of the couple’s not being able to meet. One test of the effectiveness of this technique is to cover the bottom two lines to see if they read as a unit with one meaning. If you cover the top two lines, reusing the third line, this unit gives the pivot phrase another meaning.

In both tanka and haiku the pivot can occur in the short third line. Thus, if you begin your tanka with a nature image using a short line (five syllables if you are counting) plus a long line (7 syllables), the pivot gains importance by standing alone.

over the heads
of the shopping crowd
a red balloon –
as elusive as you
that remained unborn

By Marianne Kiauta