President’s Message: Summer Unfolding

As most haiku poets know, there’s a variation of haiku that’s often referred to as pseudo-haiku or “joke” haiku. We’ve all seen those haiku error messages, “haikus for Jews,” honku, spam-ku, and their ilk. I don’t think, though, that I’ve ever seen pseudo-tanka. Have you? Haiku seems to have a certain measure of marketability through New York publishing houses, where spurious “haiku” have been presented on a range of amusing themes. The most recent pseudo-haiku collection I’ve seen is The Sound of One Thigh Clapping: Haiku for a Thinner You on weight-loss. But there doesn’t seem to be a corresponding market for tanka turned to popular purpose. Perhaps this is one problem that tanka does not have to overcome, as does haiku, on its road to respectability. Thank goodness!

What problems does tanka have to overcome, however? Perhaps none, for there’s no law saying that anyone has to like or write tanka. But a significantly greater number of English-language poets write haiku rather than tanka. I look forward to the day when tanka might be as widely enjoyed, and I think that day will come because of the efforts of dedicated tanka poets both within and outside the Tanka Society of America organization.

So, what do you think of our newsletter’s great new look? I’m delighted by the changes to the appearance, as well as by the new and continuing content. This issue again sports the new “Poet and Poem” column, this time highlighting David Rice; Allison Williams weighs in again on world tanka; and F. Matthew Blaine has chosen his “Member’s Choice Tanka” favorites from the previous newsletter. Our “Tanka Café” column features an array of poems on the theme of bridges, and we also have Pamela Miller Ness’s essay on punctuation in tanka, originally delivered as a talk at the June 2003 TSA Tanka Day in New York City. We hope you will enjoy this issue more than ever. And perhaps the best treat of all is the first installment of Patricia Prime’s inspiring, informative, and exclusive interview with tanka pioneer Sanford Goldstein.

Actually, you’ll find a lot more in this issue than what I’ve just described! “What Differentiates a Tanka from a Haiku?” by Peggy Heinrich, the use of tanka in rehabilitating aphasics in Japan [by an’ya], plus the exquisite tanga of Merrill Ann Gonzales. Our congratulations to Pamela Miller Ness, Carol Purington, Marianne Bluger, Peggy Heinrich, Doreen King, Larry Kimmel, and other winners in this year’s Tanka Society of America tanka contest (complete results on page 23). Many thanks to Michael McClintock and Jeanne Emrich for serving as judges, and a low bow of thanks to Linda Jeannette Ward for serving as contest coordinator this year. This contest is one way TSA raises a bit of money each year, so we are grateful for your support by entering. Again, congratulations to the winners, and be sure to read the selected poems with judges’ commentary on page 23 inside this issue.

Regarding the “Tanka Café” column, I’d like to share with you for the third (and last) time the syllable count distribution of poems in the previous issue. Here’s a summary (syllable count followed by the number of poems with that count): 13:1; 15:1; 16:1; 18:1; 19:2; 20:2; 21:4; 22:3; 23:2; 24:1; 25:2; 26:2; 27:6; 28:2; 29:1; 30:2; 31:2; 32:1; 36:1. As you can see, 27 syllables is the most common count, and the range of highs and lows is greater than the previous issue—a low of 13 syllables in John Stevenson’s poem, and a high of 36 in my poem (I didn’t realize it had that many when I submitted it). Note that my poem is three times the length of John’s! From the 37 poems, the total syllable count of 899 yields an average syllable count of 24.30, slightly down from last issue’s average of 24.85, and the preceding issue’s average of 25.77. I’m not sure what can be concluded from this information, except to mention (from this small sampling) that about 24 to 26 syllables seems to be the norm for our English-language tanka, but that there’s also a great range of lengths on either side of the average.

As the summer unfolds, don’t forget to submit some poems to Cathy Drinkwater Better for the 2004 TSA members’ anthology (her in-hand deadline is July 15). And do also submit poems for the 2005 Tanka Calendar Competition, also with a deadline of July 15, sponsored by Larry Kimmel’s Winfred Press and Linda Jeannette Ward’s Clinging Vine Press. In addition, remember to write some new tanka for the popular Tanka Splendor awards, as well as for the HPNC tanka contest coming up this autumn!

As I write this, I’m about to head to Japan for two weeks, and thus this message is shorter than usual because I’m busy preparing for my trip. Just wish I could take you all with me! Here’s to a really great summer for all of you!

—Michael Dylan Welch