amid buff sands - bare and blistering - stands a shrub, the carroty coned ephedra bush
Burning Bush [Tanka]
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Category Archives: tanka
BOOK REVIEW: Writing Haiku by Bruce Ross
Writing Haiku: A Beginner’s Guide to Composing Japanese Poetry by Bruce RossMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Amazon.in Page
Out: March 15, 2022
With this guide, Ross offers a compact guide to navigating Japanese poetic forms and the offshoots and variations that have evolved in America. The book does have a particular focus on the American and international style of haiku, and related forms, though the author always lays the groundwork by first exploring the “rules” of the traditional Japanese form. He also discusses concepts, such as wabi and sabi, that heavily inform Japanese poetry. However, most of the examples come from English language writers, and there’s extensive discussion of how American haiku differs in form and substance. This makes the book particularly useful for English-as-native-language writers who wish to capture the flavor of this spare and elegant poetic form, but who have limited acquaintance with the Japanese language and culture.
I didn’t think I’d need another guide for writing haiku after reading and re-reading William Higginson’s The Haiku Handbook, but Ross does cover a few topics in greater depth and detail, particular haiga (combining graphic arts with haiku,) renga (a partnered / team style) and several American variations, and ginko (a nature walk-based practice.)
The book has graphics as needed (i.e. in the haiga section,) and offers and extensive set of recommendations for further reading as well as resources.
While I’ve been writing haiku, tanka, and senryū for some time, I learned a lot from this book, and it got me excited to try some of the forms with which I’m inexperienced. I’d highly recommend this book for beginner, intermediate, and advanced haiku poets.
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In the Dark [Tanka]
the sun is down and the power is out [fade to black] my view becomes naught my thoughts, anything but
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The Metaphorical Path [Tanka]
the trail curves. what's around the bend? i don't know - it's a better metaphor than a route
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A Silence Felt [Tanka]
winter forest; the dead silence makes itself known as a vague feeling of untethered angst
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Autumnal Reverie [Tanka]
wet yellow leaves stuck to a rain-slick headstone, and i'm in a land not of tropical monsoons, but which knows autumn
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Samsara & Nirvana [Tanka]
samsara is seeing a snake in an acacia pod; nirvana is realizing there never was a snake
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What’s in a Name? [Kyōka]
i was brave when facing this spider, until I learned that within its name was the word, "Jumping"
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Across the Valley [Tanka]
the waterfall, thunderous and lofty, is a thin stream from across the valley, and yet i stop & stare
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A Model Tree [Tanka]
the shade tree offers not just shade, but a good example for enlightenment seekers and lazy folk, alike
