Cool Announcement: Celebrate Tanka Poetry Month with NeverEnding Story

My Dear Friends/Readers:

Please join NeverEnding Story to expand the readership base for tanka by tweeting at least one tanka a day throughout the month of May. The hashtags for Tanka Poetry Month are #MayTanka and #NaTankaMo.

Please help spread the word about this celebration via your poetry blogs, websites, Facebook pages, and X accounts. And NeverEnding Story seeks the tanka that can bite and bite hard. 

shooting after shooting,                        

what's the use of poetry

in daily life?

between finger and thumb my pen

tucked snug as a gun

Ribbons, Spring/Summer 2025

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CLXXIX: "stones and bullets"

a Gazan teen

threw stones that hit no one ...

smiling out loud

the soliders respond with a spray

of US-made bullets 

 

What [tanka] can, must, and will always do for us: it complicates us, it doesn't "soothe." 

--paraphrasing  Jorie Graham

Trump Empire, Inc., XXVIII

think, feel and act

while they're still legal

chant after chant

no more DOGEy business

drop this small dick(tator)

Trump Empire, Inc., XXIX

the White House

posts the AI photo of Trump 

dressed as the Pope

the lingering odor

of this Antichrist shit

FYI: L4 refers to DOGE, which stands for the "Department of Government Efficiency," while L5 is in response to Rolling Stone, Oct. 6 2024: Trump Reiterates He Wants to Be a "Dictator" for "One Day" at Wisconsin Rally.

This is our reply to Trumpocracy: to write tanka more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before. 

Changing the world, ONE TANKA A DAY. 

-- Chen-ou Liu paraphrasing Leonard Bernstein

The accepted tanka will be translated into Chinese and posted on NeverEnding Story and Twitter (You are welcome to follow Chen-ou on X at @ericcoliu; 6 Following and 4,781 Followers). 

We read to know we're not alone. -- William Nicholson

The proper response to a poem is another poem. -- Phyllis Webb

We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect. -- Anaïs Nin

To conclude today's post, I would like share with you Emily Cullen's reflections, "Why reading and writing poems shouldn’t be considered a luxury in troubling times" (The Conversation: Academic rigour, journalistic flair, April 25, 2024)

The American poet Adrienne Rich once asked: “To say that a poet is responsive, responsible – what can that mean?” This question about poets bearing witness and being the “conscience” of their society is something I’ve pondered over the years...

In a world teeming with injustice, it is more urgent than ever to read (and write) poetry that engages with social realities and inequities. Poetry, as Audre Lorde memorably stated, “is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of light within which we can predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change”...

In our social media-driven era, where it often feels as if nuance is in jeopardy, it is timely to think about how poetry can embrace the political while not succumbing to the lure of rhetoric.

Successful poems evoke empathy in the reader and expand horizons of possibility. They make us feel, rather than preach at us. They remind us of our common humanity and our interconnectedness to the world.

Happy Reading and Writing throughout the Tanka Poetry Month

Chen-ou

FYI: For more about the reasons "why reading and writing poetry shouldn’t be considered a luxury in troubling times" and good examples of poetry , see To the Lighthouse: Poetry Is Not a Luxury 

Cool Announcement: Celebrate Tanka Poetry Month with NeverEnding Story

My Dear Friends:

Please join NeverEnding Story to expand the readership base for tanka through tweeting at least one tanka a day for the month of May.

quarantined for weeks ...
my midlife drained of all
but hungry
for these magic words
NeverEnding Story

on the windowsill

two canaries singing

to each other

I tweet and retweet

NeverEnding Story

Below is excerpted from 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):

An alternative approach is suggested by Chen-ou Liu, author of the blog, "NeverEnding Story." In his June 2012 Lynx interview with Jane Reichhold, Liu describes the current relationship between the haiku/tanka community and the literary mainstream in terms of "an asymmetric power relationship." He 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.

Liu also says that with the increasingly hectic nature of contemporary society, there will be more interest in shorter poetry, as people have less time and attention, but are still seeking to read something meaningful. He notes that both haiku and tanka have become more and more popular on Tweeter....

Please help spread the word about this celebration via your poetry blogs, websites, Facebook pages, and Twitter accounts. And NeverEnding Story seeks tanka submissions. 

Today's poetic food for thought:

We read to know we're not alone. -- William Nicholson

The proper response to a poem is another poem. -- Phyllis Webb

We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect. -- Anaïs Nin

Happy Reading and Writing throughout the month of May

Chen-ou

Cool Announcement: Celebrate Tanka Poetry Month with NeverEnding Story

My Dear Friends:

Please join NeverEnding Story to expand the readership base for tanka through tweeting at least one tanka a day for the month of May.

on the windowsill

two canaries singing

to each other

I tweet and retweet

NeverEnding Story

Below is excerpted from 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):

An alternative approach is suggested by Chen-ou Liu, author of the blog, "NeverEnding Story." In his June 2012 Lynx interview with Jane Reichhold, Liu describes the current relationship between the haiku/tanka community and the literary mainstream in terms of "an asymmetric power relationship." He 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.

Liu also says that with the increasingly hectic nature of contemporary society, there will be more interest in shorter poetry, as people have less time and attention, but are still seeking to read something meaningful. He notes that both haiku and tanka have become more and more popular on Tweeter....

Please help spread the word about this celebration via your poetry blogs, websites, Facebook pages, and Twitter accounts.

And NeverEnding Story seeks tanka submissions.

Today's poetic food for thought:

We read to know we're not alone. -- William Nicholson

The proper response to a poem is another poem. -- Phyllis Webb

We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect. -- Anaïs Nin

 Happy Reading and Writing throughout the month of May

Chen-ou

Cool Announcement: Celebrate Tanka Poetry Month with NeverEnding Story

My Dear Friends:

Please join NeverEnding Story to expand the readership base for tanka through tweeting at least one tanka a day for the month of May.

on the windowsill

two canaries singing

to each other

I tweet and retweet

NeverEnding Story

Below is excerpted from 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):

An alternative approach is suggested by Chen-ou Liu, author of the blog, "NeverEnding Story." In his June 2012 Lynx interview with Jane Reichhold, Liu describes the current relationship between the haiku/tanka community and the literary mainstream in terms of "an asymmetric power relationship." He 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.

Liu also says that with the increasingly hectic nature of contemporary society, there will be more interest in shorter poetry, as people have less time and attention, but are still seeking to read something meaningful. He notes that both haiku and tanka have become more and more popular on Tweeter....

Please help spread the word about this celebration via your poetry blogs, websites, Facebook pages, and Twitter accounts.

And NeverEnding Story seeks tanka submissions. The accepted tanka will be translated into Chinese and posted on NeverEnding Story and Twitter (You are welcome to follow Chen-ou Liu on NeverEnding Story,  http://neverendingstoryhaikutanka.blogspot.ca/, or to follow NeverEnding Story on Twitter at @storyhaikutanka). The best 66 tanka will be included in the anthology,  and the poet whose poem is chosen as the best tanka of the year will be given a 3-page space to feature the tanka of his/her choice. Each poet in the anthology  will receive a copy of the e-book edition.

 Chen-ou

Note:  Below is the full text of my Lynx interview excerpt mentioned in Angela Leuck's article:

L: What do you feel we as haiku or tanka writers need to do to get these forms more accepted by the mainstream poetry world?

CL: In terms of defining what poetry is, there is an asymmetric power relationship between the mainstream poetry world and the haiku/tanka community. It’s difficult to change their perception of haiku/tanka in a top-down manner. In my view, the most effective way of reversing this unbalanced relationship is to adopt a bottom-up approach; that is to consolidate and expand our readership base through online publishing and social networking sites. 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.

Most importantly, living in a hectic society, most people now only have a short attention span. If they are interested in reading something meaningful, I think short verse forms, such as haiku and tanka, will become more and more popular. I’ve been tweeting my published work for two years,  and found more and more Twitter users use hashtags such as #poetry, #micropoetry, #haiku, #tanka, #gogyohka, #gpoem, #5lines,..etc, to indicate their tweets are short poems (For further information, see M. Kei, “The Topsy Turvy World of Micropoetry on Twitter,” Atlas Poetica, 9, Summer 2011).

Cool Announcement: Celebrate Tanka Poetry Month with NeverEnding Story

Intrigued by the 140-character limit – and its potential for instantly reaching new audiences – writers are publishing poems on Twitter. The results are surprisingly powerful.
-- Charlotte Cripps, Twihaiku? Micropoetry? The rise of Twitter poetry

My Dear Readers:

Please join NeverEnding Story to expand the readership base for tanka through tweeting at least one tanka a day for the month of May.

on the windowsill

two canaries singing

to each other

I tweet and retweet

NeverEnding Story

Below is excerpted from 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):

An alternative approach is suggested by Chen-ou Liu, author of the blog, "NeverEnding Story." In his June 2012 Lynx interview with Jane Reichhold, Liu describes the current relationship between the haiku/tanka community and the literary mainstream in terms of "an asymmetric power relationship." He 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.

Liu also says that with the increasingly hectic nature of contemporary society, there will be more interest in shorter poetry, as people have less time and attention, but are still seeking to read something meaningful. He notes that both haiku and tanka have become more and more popular on Tweeter....

Please help spread the word about this celebration via your poetry blogs, websites, Facebook pages, and Twitter accounts.

NeverEnding Story seeks tanka submissions. The accepted tanka will be translated into Chinese and posted on NeverEnding Story and Twitter (You are welcome to follow Chen-ou Liu on NeverEnding Story,  http://neverendingstoryhaikutanka.blogspot.ca/, or to follow NeverEnding Story on Twitter at @storyhaikutanka). The best 66 tanka will be included in the anthology,  and the poet whose poem is chosen as the best tanka of the year will be given a 3-page space to feature the tanka of his/her choice. Each poet in the anthology  will receive a copy of the e-book edition.

Hang yourself, [tanka] poet, in your own words.
Otherwise, you are dead.

-- Langston Hughes, 1964

 Chen-ou

Cool Announcement: Celebrate Tanka Poetry Month with NeverEnding Story

Intrigued by the 140-character limit – and its potential for instantly reaching new audiences – writers are publishing poems on Twitter. The results are surprisingly powerful.
... Charlotte Cripps, Twihaiku? Micropoetry? The rise of Twitter poetry




My Dear Readers:

Please join NeverEnding Story to expand the readership base for tanka through tweeting at least one tanka a day for the month of May.

on the windowsill

two canaries singing

to each other

I tweet and retweet

NeverEnding Story

Below is excerpted from 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):

An alternative approach is suggested by Chen-ou Liu, author of the blog, "NeverEnding Story." In his June 2012 Lynx interview with Jane Reichhold, Liu describes the current relationship between the haiku/tanka community and the literary mainstream in terms of "an asymmetric power relationship." He 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.

Liu also says that with the increasingly hectic nature of contemporary society, there will be more interest in shorter poetry, as people have less time and attention, but are still seeking to read something meaningful. He notes that both haiku and tanka have become more and more popular on Tweeter....

Please help spread the word about this celebration via your poetry blogs, websites, Facebook pages, and Twitter accounts.

NeverEnding Story seeks tanka submissions. The accepted tanka will be translated into Chinese and posted on NeverEnding Story and Twitter (You are welcome to follow Chen-ou Liu on NeverEnding Story,  http://neverendingstoryhaikutanka.blogspot.ca/, or to follow NeverEnding Story on Twitter at @storyhaikutanka). The best 66 tanka will be included in the anthology,  and the poet whose poem is chosen as the best tanka of the year will be given a 3-page space to feature the tanka of his/her choice. Each poet in the anthology  will receive a copy of the e-book edition.

 Chen-ou

Note:  Below is the full text of my Lynx interview excerpt mentioned in Angela Leuck's article:

L: What do you feel we as haiku or tanka writers need to do to get these forms more accepted by the mainstream poetry world?

CL: In terms of defining what poetry is, there is an asymmetric power relationship between the mainstream poetry world and the haiku/tanka community. It’s difficult to change their perception of haiku/tanka in a top-down manner. In my view, the most effective way of reversing this unbalanced relationship is to adopt a bottom-up approach; that is to consolidate and expand our readership base through online publishing and social networking sites. 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.

Most importantly, living in a hectic society, most people now only have a short attention span. If they are interested in reading something meaningful, I think short verse forms, such as haiku and tanka, will become more and more popular. I’ve been tweeting my published work for two years,  and found more and more Twitter users use hashtags such as #poetry, #micropoetry, #haiku, #tanka, #gogyohka, #gpoem, #5lines,..etc, to indicate their tweets are short poems (For further information, see M. Kei, “The Topsy Turvy World of Micropoetry on Twitter,” Atlas Poetica, 9, Summer 2011).

Cool Announcement: Celebrate Tanka Poetry Month with NeverEnding Story

Twitter can also market poetry in the most unexpected ways. Someone recently bought my new collection, Then, after reading my tweet poem about the snail in my bathroom.
-- British poet Alison Brackenbury


My Dear Fellow Poets and Readers:

Please join NeverEnding Story to expand the readership base for tanka through tweeting at least one tanka a day for the month of May 1

on the windowsill

two canaries singing

to each other

I tweet and retweet

One Man's Maple Moon

Below is excerpted from 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):

An alternative approach is suggested by Chen-ou Liu, author of the blog, "NeverEnding Story." In his June 2012 Lynx interview with Jane Reichhold,2 Liu describes the current relationship between the haiku/tanka community and the literary mainstream in terms of "an asymmetric power relationship." He 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.

Liu also says that with the increasingly hectic nature of contemporary society, there will be more interest in shorter poetry, as people have less time and attention, but are still seeking to read something meaningful. He notes that both haiku and tanka have become more and more popular on Tweeter....3

Please help spread the word about this celebration via your poetry blogs, websites, Facebook pages, and Twitter accounts.

Many thanks for your time and help.

Chen-ou


Notes:

1 The haiku/tanka published on NeverEnding Story are posted on Twitter via @storyhaikutanka (NeverEnding Story's account -- following: 9; followers: 257) and retweeted by @ericcoliu (Chen-ou Liu's account -- following: 9; followers: 1267).

2 Below is the full text of my Lynx interview excerpt mentioned in Angela Leuck's article:

L: What do you feel we as haiku or tanka writers need to do to get these forms more accepted by the mainstream poetry world?

CL: In terms of defining what poetry is, there is an asymmetric power relationship between the mainstream poetry world and the haiku/tanka community. It’s difficult to change their perception of haiku/tanka in a top-down manner. In my view, the most effective way of reversing this unbalanced relationship is to adopt a bottom-up approach; that is to consolidate and expand our readership base through online publishing and social networking sites. 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.

Most importantly, living in a hectic society, most people now only have a short attention span. If they are interested in reading something meaningful, I think short verse forms, such as haiku and tanka, will become more and more popular. I’ve been tweeting my published work for two years,  and found more and more Twitter users use hashtags such as #poetry, #micropoetry, #haiku, #tanka, #gogyohka, #gpoem, #5lines,..etc, to indicate their tweets are short poems (For further information, see M. Kei, “The Topsy Turvy World of Micropoetry on Twitter,” Atlas Poetica, 9, Summer 2011.

3 Charlotte Cripps, "Twihaiku? Micropoetry? The rise of Twitter poetry," The Independent,Tuesday 16 July 2013

Intrigued by the 140-character limit – and its potential for instantly reaching new audiences – writers are publishing poems on Twitter. The results are surprisingly powerful, says Charlotte Cripps

“I think Twitter poems will become a new form, the modern-day version of the haiku,” says Chloe Garner, artistic director of the Ledbury Poetry Festival. “Poets love writing to different forms, even just as a way of exercising the poetic muscles.”