Yesterday’s experiment with tanka impels me to take it further with ‘Tanka Prose’. Like a haibun but with a signature tanka instead of a haiku, this is an excellent form to stretch one’s imagination and word crafting skills even further.
Try this or any other form of micropoetry and share using comments or Mister Linky.
Without Words
For days we climbed together. Sometimes they disappeared into the mist ahead, sometimes they lingered on the edges. I could always hear their whispered voices, even as the sky slipped closer. But now the words are gone and I have been orphaned by the need to speak. In their soundless absence, the river is just one ceaseless motion, the moon in it is just a point of reflection and this moment is both big enough to fill the universe and small enough to tremble as the cold wind rushes by. What will the birds call me if I do not have a name?
on the other side
of the horizon-
the eagle’s wing
dips into
the silent dark
You make the words even more beautiful when they are gone! I think this theme is awesome. I found the form quite difficult and at last managed one 🙂
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Thank you Sumana! I think you rocked the form!!!
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Really enjoyed that, the movement, climbing, and the ruminations. I do like that kind of metaphysical approach, especially in Japanese poetry/prose. The close of the prose was…mmmmmmm!!! The tanka soul-searching, and floating just out of reach of your prose – a good thing.
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Thanks Hamish.. just read your tanka-prose on Tumblr. Beautifully narrated, a memory coming alive followed by a thoughtful tanka- the lingering scent of dewdrops. Beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
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My apologies – my comment above was meant for your tanka prose. Not sure how I mixed it up nor where my quatrain comment has gone. Thanks for the tumblr comment. Yes, a wee personal moment and at last writing fresh stuff I hope.
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