Poetic Musings: Hermit Thrush Tanka by Carol Purington

The days I did not sing
         the nights I did not dance
             their joy
                 spiraling out of the throat
                     of a hermit thrush

Words as Wings, 2007

Carol Purington

Commentary: ...The parallel construction of the opening two lines is that of a song. The strong accents on the final words in each line move the poem forward with a sense of “lifting.” The poem’s progression from the general “The days I did not sing” to the specific and beautiful “throat of a hermit thrush” is lilting—almost like a bird in flight. The staggered line arrangement visually assists this sense of movement. If its lines were all aligned left, how different this poem would read!  

-- excerpted from Introduction to The Tanka Anthology by Michael McClintock

Note: You can read the full text here, "To the Lighthouse: Introduction to The Tanka Anthology by Michael McClintock" (Reprinted by kind permission of the author, from The Tanka Anthology, edited by Michael McClintock, Pamela Miller Ness and Jim Kacian, published by Red Moon Press)