This Tanka World of Strings

This Tanka World of Strings by Sanford Goldstein and Kenneth Tanemura. 1995, 24 pages, paperback, 5½ by 8½ inches, $6.00 postpaid from Kenneth at 10 Wayne Court, Redwood City, California 94063 [address no longer correct]. Cover art by Suezan Aikins. After an introduction by Sanford offering a differentiation between the tanka “sequence” (rensaku in Japanese) and the tanka “string” (his own term), this book offers 12 strings—five by each poet individually, then two by both poets together, for a total of 82 poems. A sample poem by Sanford and then Kenneth:

the world’s akarui

akarui

what textured image

will next radiate

her afternoon face?

a different

catalogue of griefs

and no dishes

to wash

this Saturday night