[stylist] [Tanka] stretch

Mon Aug 10 08:35:09 UTC 2015

Jackie and Barbara,
If only it was that easy - but it is not at all easy or a quick study to 
understand the Japanese forms.
tanka  is a complex form to explore.
It is far more complicated than just syllable count or even theme.
I've been discussing this with some of the experts in the haiku and tanka 
organizations.  I am a member of the Tanka Society of America which is 
pretty darn exciting to me!  They publish a beautiful literary magazine 3 x 
a year - and it blows me away it is so exquisite. I have miles to go before 
I understand this form - but I am working on it.
It is a project I am working on  since last April when I decided to explore 
tanka and write tanka for the entire month of April in celebration of 
National Poetry Month.  It was an eye-opener (pun intended).
I soon discovered some aspects of this form that are very different than the 
generic "directions" you will find posted on the search engines.  I have a 
lot more research and work to do on this subject.  Lynda

-----Original Message----- 
From: Barbara HAMMEL via stylist
Sent: Sunday, August 09, 2015 8:49 PM
To: Writers' Division Mailing List
Cc: Barbara HAMMEL
Subject: Re: [stylist] [Tanka] stretch

The examples I saw online fit yours. Your syllable count is right. Actually 
you have a double tanka.
Barbara

Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 9, 2015, at 19:36, Jackie Williams via stylist <stylist at nfbnet.org> 
> wrote:
>
> Lynda,
> Hope I did not mess up this thread name.
> I have made an effort at a Tanka. Please tell me if it is correct in terms
> of your form guide.
>
> A Tanka Sequence
>
> Hold Me Fast
>
> You are my spillway
> holding back the turbulence
> of my fears and  tears ,
> the dark essence of my flood.
> Still, the spray will sparkle high.
>
> You, alone, control
> my stormy overflow-so
> captured, just for you,
> the sun's so fleeting spectrum-
> the arc of my rare rainbow.
>
>
>
> Jackie Lee
>
> Time is the school in which we learn.
> Time is the fire in which we burn.
> Delmore Schwartz
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Lynda 
> Lambert
> via stylist
> Sent: Sunday, August 09, 2015 2:21 PM
> To: Writers' Division Mailing List
> Cc: Lynda Lambert
> Subject: Re: [stylist] sestina stretch
>
> Jackie,
> Well, Jackie, as always you have a way of nailing down all the comments so
> well.  Writing a sestina is my favorite kind of poem to write - but I am
> also in love with the "small" poems - and the Tanka is so exquisite as 
> well
> as the haiku - - but  so darn hard to write! It is so far beyond the 
> little
> syllable counting directions that we all know about - so much more than
> that, and so much unwritten aspects of the forms that I am just beginning 
> to
>
> grasp.  I am only in pre-school  at writing  these  Japanese forms. But, I
> want to learn so much more.  They are like trying to paint a very tiny,
> exquisite painting - so difficult to not get tangled  in details.
> You would not consider me very good at anything today - I have just
> meandered around, walking dogs, doing a little bit of paperwork, and that 
> is
>
> about it for my day.  We all have such days, I imagine. Every day cannot 
> be
> a "high voltage" day, but I do  thrive on high voltage days  the best. On
> the in-between days, I feel adrift and a bit unraveling. I need to write a
> poem about that - maybe.  Lynda
>
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: Jackie Williams via stylist
> Sent: Sunday, August 09, 2015 3:51 PM
> To: 'Writers' Division Mailing List'
> Cc: Jackie Williams
> Subject: Re: [stylist] sestina stretch
>
> EvaMarie,
> I have read to the end of this thread. To me, the sestina is one of the 
> most
> difficult form poems to write, and the fact that you got into it and 
> doubled
> the length is something of a miracle.
> Of course, I consider Lynda the master of this form, so how can you go 
> wrong
> with her suggestions. Also, Barbara has an interesting strategy.
> But the comment that I like the most is Lynda's when she just picks words
> and puts them down with the faith that they will come to have their own
> story and meaning when finished.
> In my poetry group, whenever the teacher wants a new and creative response
> from the group, she assigns a random word poem. Sometimes it has ten 
> words,
> sometimes, twenty. This has brought some remarkable poetry from me as well
> as the others who take this challenge.
> Like Barbara, you can write a sequence that is double in length, if this 
> is
> what turns out.
> Good luck, and my admiration.
>
> Jackie Lee
>
> Time is the school in which we learn.
> Time is the fire in which we burn.
> Delmore Schwartz
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of EvaMarie
> Sanchez via stylist
> Sent: Saturday, August 08, 2015 9:46 PM
> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
> Cc: EvaMarie Sanchez
> Subject: [stylist] sestina stretch
>
> I was just working on a sestina when I noticed that I had been carried 
> away
> with the words. I came to a stop and went to the top to start counting
> stanzas. Somehow I had completely lost count and had nearly doubled my
> required length. Oops!
> I felt the safest thing for me to do at that point was to close it out and
> return to it later when it will be less a thing of passion. In this way, I
> hope to be able to look at it critically and do what must be done. Perhaps
> I will find two sestinas there. I did not even do a read through at that
> point.
> Has this ever happened to any of you?
> Eve
>
> President, National Federation of the Blind Northern Arizona
> President, National Federation of the Blind Writers' Division
> Committee Chair, Arizona Association of Guide Dog Users
> Affiliate Member, National Fedecration of the Blind Legislative Committee
> Affiliate Member, National Federation of the Blind Membership Committee
> Member, Slate & Style Editing Team
>
> "You do not need to have vision to see the stars."
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