My Dear Friends:
The Tanka Society of America announced its own YouTube channel on July 7, and it now has 4 videos/multimedia presentations of tanka and taiga:
See NeverEnding Story's Special Feature: TSA's Pandemic Special
plague-year parsnips
browned in butter—
the flavor
of my mother’s victory garden
in another sort of war
First Place, Jenny Ward Angyal
another indigo evening
with windows wide open
to smell the rain
what is the color
of loneliness?
Second Place, Pamela A. Babusci
watercolor poppies
blowing across the field . . .
why
is it so hard
to learn from history
Honorable Mention, Rebecca Drouilhet
FYI: The original third-prize tanka was disqualified.
See NeverEnding Story's Special Feature: TSA 20th Anniversary Taiga Showcase.
muddy foxhole
and camouflaged soldiers
buried by a bomb
sunlight visits
the unmarked grave
First Place , Dorothy McLaughlin
broken oaks
waiting patiently to die
for someone
to count their rings
and tell their stories
Second Place, Michael H. Lester
an accident
whilst cleaning his rifle?
on baked earth
an unbearable softness
of flannel flowers
Third Place, David Terelinck
last slant
of the sinking sun
my dying father
gathers his Silver Queen corn,
shivering in the warm breeze
Honorable Mention, Pris Campbell
Arakawa River
angry and overflowing
from the storm
still, we float paper lanterns
to honor the drowned spirits
Honorable Mention, Michael H. Lester
the night bus arrives
my daughter disappears
behind the swish of doors
a vanishing act
I’m never prepared for
Honorable Mention, Sara Ellison
in my dreams
the black dog and I romp
through the bluebells—
there is no rain
there is no road
Honorable Mention, Kathy Lippard Cobb
sudden chill
a dragonfly skip jives
with its reflection . . .
when did you stop
finding us amazing
Honorable Mention, Marion Clarke
To conclude today's Cool Announcement post, I would like to share with you my Lynx interview excerpt, which was quoted in Angela Leuck's article, titled "Tanka and the Literary Mainstream: Are we 'there' yet?" ("Book Review Editor's Message," Ribbons, 10:1, Winter 2014, p. 74)
Chen-ou Liu believes a "top down" approach will not work; i.e., trying to change the perceptions of those in the mainstream. Rather, Liu supports a "bottom up" approach, which for him means consolidating and expanding the readership base for tanka through online publishing and social networking sites. He argues:
If there are more people who love reading/writing haiku and tanka, the mainstream poetry world will eventually open their main gate to haiku and tanka poets. This approach to reversing the asymmetric power relationship has been demonstrated in the case of the power transfer from traditional media, such as news papers, TV, and books, to online and social media.
Happy Reading
Chen-ou
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