Poetic Musings: Diverging Lines Tanka by Jackie Chou

strolling together

on cracked sidewalk

the diverging lines

lead us to separate paths

though we say we are one

NeverEnding Story, September 14, 2021

Jackie Chou 

Commentary: Through the use of a walking metaphor (for a slower, more contemplative way of thinking about the relationship with the speaker's loved one), Jackie's tanka effectively builds, poetic phrase (ku)/ line by poetic phrase (ku)/ line, to a thematically significant and emotionally poignant ending that reveals the theme of "dialectical tensions" (exposed by these modifiers in Ls 1,3,4,5, "together, divergent, separate, and one[ness]") in a relationship.

And it might be interesting to do a comparative reading of the following tanka:

two walking sticks

lean against

the trail head sign,

so many ways to fall

in love again

Second Place, 2017 Sanford Goldstein Tanka Contest 

Tom Clausen