President’s Message: Peace and War

One of my favorite parts of the TSA Newsletter is Michael McClintock’s “Tanka Café” column because it showcases new poems by members and gives us all a way to participate in the newsletter with our poetry. If you’ve never submitted a poem for this column, do consider doing so for the next column, on the wide-open topic of “Things that Fly.” And if you have submitted work, this issue has a double dose of Tanka Café columns for you to read, making up for the column missing from the previous issue due to computer problems. In these troubling times of war, perhaps these poems might give us some peace and respite.

TSA Tanka Day

In addition to the newsletter’s “Tanka Café,” how nice it would be to get together in an actual “Tanka Café”—to read and share our poetry together in person with some drinks and snacks, to discuss tanka craft and technique, to hear the stories behind our poems, and to get to know each other better. Well, guess what? On Monday, June 30, 2003, in New York City, the Tanka Society of America will be having a day of tanka events that everyone is welcome to attend. We’re not yet sure whether to call it TSA’s first annual meeting, the TSA tanka day, or something else, but it promises to be an active, enjoyable, and informative day of readings, discussions, presentations, socialization, and more—a real, live, tanka café! Look elsewhere in this newsletter for more details on planned activities, presenters, location, and the registration form. The $26 fee for the day’s activities includes breakfast, coffee, a catered lunch, and a wine-and-cheese reception, so it’s a good deal on food alone! This fee for TSA members is reduced compared to the nonmember fee of $40, so consider the reduced rate a benefit of TSA membership! Speakers include William J. Higginson, Brian Tasker, Pamela Miller Ness, and Michael Dylan Welch. What’s more, you’ll have a chance to meet many tanka writers who you may not have had the chance to meet before.

Our day of tanka events, as you probably know, is scheduled to occur the day after the conclusion of the Haiku North America conference, happening June 26 to 29 at the Dalton School in New York. Do consider attending this important event also. For more information on HNA, visit www.haiku-north-america-2003.org [find this content on the Wayback Machine Internet Archive at https://web.archive.org/web/20031226084540/http://www.haiku-north-america-2003.org/] online or write to TSA’s own Pamela Miller Ness, who is chairing the 2003 HNA committee.

TSA Website

We have some good news! Thanks to Jeanne Emrich, TSA now has a website. When you visit the site at http://hometown.aol.com/TSAPoetry/TankaSocietyofAmerica-index.html [find this content on the Wayback Machine Internet Archive at https://web.archive.org/web/20050324024952/http://hometown.aol.com/TSAPoetry/TankaSocietyofAmerica-index.html], you’ll find basic information about tanka, a summarization of TSA’s activities and the benefits of joining, as well as TSA tanka contest winners. Some details still need to be added, and you are welcome to suggest site improvements, but I’m delighted we have this new resource available. Now, if you have a friend who might be interested in TSA, point them to our website! And particular thanks to Jeanne Emrich for volunteering to do this vital job. Very much appreciated!

2003 TSA Election

Now that we’re well into 2003, I’m pleased to say that TSA’s current slate of officers is humming along. Again, I’m pleased to welcome Marian Smith Sharpe, who you have voted in as a new officer, along with all returning officers, in TSA’s first election (a brief election report appears in “News and Notes”). Though 2004 may seem to be a long way off, please give some thought to possibly taking on an office in the future.

Ronan and Leatrice Lifshitz

I am saddened to report that two of our members have recently passed away. Ronan, whose real name was Helen Jameson, lived in Eugene, Oregon, and wrote both haiku and tanka, as did Leatrice Lifshitz, who lived in Pomona, New York. We will miss them both, and their poetry. (If you know of other tanka poets, whether members of TSA or not, who pass away, please let any officer know.)

Tanka Contests

Aside from publishing this newsletter, TSA’s most prominent activity is its annual international tanka contest. The deadline for our 2003 contest, as always, is April 30 (postmarked—but why wait?). Americans will have finished filing taxes by then (right?), so you’ll have no excuse not to submit some poems for this contest. Your participation helps TSA raise some money, and besides, entering is a lot more fun than paying taxes. You can find more information on the contest elsewhere in this newsletter.

Also in the newsletter, you’ll find the results of the 2002 San Francisco International Tanka Contest, sponsored by the Haiku Poets of Northern California. Congratulations to Ebba Story for her winning poem.

Poems Against the War

You can’t turn on the television these days without hearing war news about the United States and Iraq, the problems of terrorism, and the U.N. struggle with international diplomacy. These are indeed troubling times, and I hope poetry—including tanka—can be of some solace. I’ve recently been one of twenty-five volunteer editors for the Poets Against the War site, which took submissions of antiwar poetry until March 1, 2003. The website has about 13,000 poems written in opposition to U.S. war with Iraq, and has been called the largest anthology of poetry on a single theme in the history of world literature. I’m pleased to say that it includes many tanka and haiku. Some of these submissions are merely pseudo haiku or tanka, written with limited understanding, but the messages are heartfelt. The site also includes tanka by a number of TSA members and other accomplished poets, so there are much more informed tanka as well. The site, at www.poetsagainstthewar.org [this site now redirects to https://www.voicesinwartime.org/, or find the original site on the Wayback Machine Internet Archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070626013526/http://www.poetsagainstthewar.org/], has search capabilities, so you can search for “tanka” (or “haiku”) very easily.

In case you’re not familiar with it, the Poets Against the War site started after Sam Hamill, prominent poet and founder and publisher of Copper Canyon Press, declined an invitation from Laura Bush to attend a poetry symposium at the White House. In addition to declining to participate, he invited a number of fellow poets to join him in writing poems against the war. The movement quickly blossomed and has raised awareness of poetry in a relevant way in the American public eye, proving that poetry can matter, and also raised an important voice against the war in the ears of government leaders. On March 5, printouts and discs of the website’s entire collection of poems were delivered to the United States congress and to prime ministers and presidents of numerous countries around the world. Tanka writers can be proud that their poetry was among the thousands of poems of protest.

Speaking of poems against the war, Raffael de Gruttola has a written a “Favorite Tanka” piece in this vein that is of course very timely. Look for it in this newsletter.

Tanka Books

And speaking of Sam Hamill, his brand new book from BOA Editions, Dumb Luck, contains numerous poems and stanzas in 5-7-5 and 5-7-5-7-7 syllabic arrangements. Whether these poems are haiku and tanka or not I’ll leave open to your interpretation, but some measure of intent certainly seems to be evident. Hamill also introduces and made selections for a book of tanka translations by Kenneth Rexroth, entitled Love Poems from the Japanese, in a handsome new clothbound edition from Shambhala. Though the tanka have appeared in Rexroth’s earlier books of translations of Japanese poetry, the selection here is wonderfully presented, and Hamill’s brief introduction puts a contextual spin on Rexroth and the poems.

Another recent book of tanka translations is Jane Reichhold’s A String of Flowers, Untied . . . Love Poems from The Tale of Genji from Stone Bridge Press. I’m very pleased that noted tanka translator Steven D. Carter has written a review of this book for our newsletter. You can find his informative commentary later in this newsletter, along with a book review by Margaret Chula of Goldstein and Shinoda’s translations of Akiko Yosano’s Tangled Hair.

TSA Membership List

This newsletter also contains the annual listing of Tanka Society of America members. We currently have 94 members in the United States, and 18 members in other countries. Thank you to Marian Smith Sharpe and Pamela Miller Ness for preparing this valuable resource. If you spot an error or need to make a change, please notify Marian. And do scan the list for other members in your area if you wish to make contact.

Other Thoughts

How do you like the subheadings I’m trying out in this president’s message? Past messages have perhaps been unwieldy (the previous one particularly, because of length), but I trust that you like the addition of subheadings so you can find or reread sections that are of greatest interest to you. I appreciate the suggestion to add these helpful signposts, and I welcome other feedback—on the newsletter and all TSA activities—at any time.

Elsewhere in this newsletter, check out news and announcements, the editor’s choice selections (thanks, Pamela), the treasurer’s report (thanks, Larry), and all the other contributions. A particular standout is Ce Rosenow’s excellent overview of tanka written by Japanese-Americans in the Pacific Northwest (our next issue will present the second part of Ce’s contribution to the “personal choice” column). We have a rich newsletter once again, and I’m grateful for the many hands that make for lighter work in pulling it together. And do check out the two “Tanka Café” columns in this issue. While you’re enjoying the poems, make plans, too, to attend the first annual TSA tanka day in New York City on June 30. I’m confident that it will be an extraordinary event, and I look forward to meeting you there! May the world at that time be much more at peace than it seems to be today.

—Michael Dylan Welch