Monday 11 September 2006

Tanka

On One Deep Breath this week we are asked to write a tanka. A tanka is a Japanese poetic form often written in the form of five lines with syllable counts of 5.7.5.7.7 though as with haiku the syllable count doesn't need to be strictly followed, though short, long, short, long long is to be preferred. Tanka often link the natural world with personal emotional reflections. Here then is my first attempt at a tanka:
hot summer weather
still in mid September
Unseasonable
I enjoy the heatwave
but worry what it means.
My second ever tanka appears at my Alter Ego blog here.

9 comments:

paris parfait said...

I like your combination of the obvious enjoyment of the moment, but concern for the future. Great tanka!

Ian russell said...

excellent tanka!
but now you have me worried too.

Anonymous said...

I love the contrast between joy and worry.

Anonymous said...

I like both of your poems, but favor this one, as I am a lover of autumn.

Annie Jeffries said...

Your tanka evokes my thoughts from early in the summer when we were unseasonably hot. I worried about what that would mean for the coming winter. You have expressed a universal concern.

Kayt said...

gorgeous tanka!!

and thanks for stopping by my blog :)

Tammy Brierly said...

Wonderful tanka with more than one emotion. Cool!

Mimey said...

Heatwave??? I think I'd like one of them, but something tells me my emotions would be mixed if I had my wishes granted.

Crafty Green Poet said...

HI there everyone - thanks for all the comments. Indeed, jvs, we are having a heatwave here in Edinburgh - we had one in July, and after a relatively cooler August we're having another now. If you like hot weather, its probably quite nice but its definitely worrying in terms of what's happening to the climate.