Tired of haikus? Then it might be time for tanka. Older than haikus, tanka is 31 syllables divided into lines of 5-7-5-7-7. There's been a World Tanka Competition (mostly in Japanese, but the poems are translated into English) and a modern tanka poet, Machi Tawara, has had her work turned into movies, television shows, and a musical revue. All that's needed now is to make it popular in the English-speaking world...
posted by Katemonkey on Dec 31, 2002 - 5 comments