Hello friends. It’s that time when we have the second post of the month on this my writing blog. I've been battling to figure out what this post is to be about though. Then one day it hit me. A poem. One of you had already figured this out. By some random coincidence I can’t even begin to understand or explain the requested a poem when had finally decided I would be posting a poem for your consideration.
Initially I was going to put up one of the poems I had finished, polished, re-read and polished some more, but that really wouldn’t be in the spirit of this blog (which is to put up the raw barely polished material for you consumption). Most of my poems have already been through this “polishing” process several times and do shine so nicely in my eye. So here is what I did instead: I did a bit of reading on the various forms of poetry and found myself intrigued by a specific form that hails from the East.
“Hails from the East?” you ask. Yes, Japan to be exact and yes, it is a form of Haiku. Some of you already know what I’m talking about. For the rest, how’s the suspense treating you? Ok, ok… It’s Tanka poetry.
Now, a Tanka poem is a five line, expressive, musical Haiku. The syllables in the poem are limited to thirty-one and arranged in a 5-7-5-7-7 format. Fairly simple right? It can be, but then I threw in restlessness as the subject matter as per a suggestion from one of my close friends. I had all of two days - juggling work, the responsibilities of life and the tasks I had set myself - to put a Tanka poem together that I felt was suitable to put on a public platform.
So, without further blah blah blah from me, here is the poem. Read. Enjoy. Give me feedback.
Restless
What is in your heart?
A storm raging eternal.
Seeking currency.
Finding everything you want.
Less than you imagined it.
And, what do you think? It has been something different. The amount of control involved in creating a successful Tanka was quite surprising to me. Unlike most of my poems where I rap inconsequential for a few lines before getting to the core of the poem the Tanka requires a more direct approach. It’s been great fun to experience it and there certainly will be other Tanka’s (I think that’s the plural) from me after this first attempt.
Thank you for taking the time to explore this interesting realm of poetry. I promise there will be more poetry in future.
Nic. Out
