Poetic Musings: Rusted Zinnias Tanka by Geraldine Clinton Little

ah, summer, summer,

how quickly you fade. I cut

        rusted zinnias,

place them on a glassed table --

top, as if time could double.

The Tanka Anthology, 2003

Geraldine Clinton Little

Commentary: Also a poem of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables, this tanka is more complicated, having three parts and given momentum by the use of enjambment: “ah summer, summer / how quickly you fade” functions as the strophe, “I cut / rusted zinnias, / place them on a table- / top,” is the antistrophe, and the poem’s sliding to a rest on “as if time could double” functions as a kind of epode. The enjambed strophes and abrupt shifts generate tension and underscore the poet’s wistful contemplation of time’s evanescence. The reflected double-image of the zinnias on the glass tabletop is an especially powerful image, again showing the use of an objective correlative to convey both idea and emotion while preserving aesthetic distance.

 -- 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" )