I’ve had a few questions on how to join in on the Tanka Tuesday challenges each week, including a form to begin. Here are a few suggestions.

• Follow TankaTuesday.com so you can find the challenges each Tuesday.

Use the #TankaTuesday on your post. Follow the instructions on the challenge post. Please do not write free-style poetry without adding a syllabic form to the post.

• We use the syllable counter: https://syllablecounter.net/

• Create your post on your blog, Substack, Bluesky, or Facebook. Add the link from your poem to Mr. Linky on the challenge post.

If this is your first time creating syllabic poetry, start with an easy form like the Japanese tanka.

Compose your poem in the syllable counter so you can count your syllables as you write. If you need help, reach out to me at tankatuesdaypoetry@gmail.com. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

This challenge is for practice. If your poem isn’t perfect, that’s okay. Just remember, this is a syllabic poetry challenge. If you write a freestyle poem, please add a syllabic form to your post.

• First, find a good syllable counter. I like this one: https://syllablecounter.net/

• Next, I like to have poets start with the tanka in English form. It’s written in a 5-7-5-7-7 syllable count or a s-l-s-l-l (short, long, short, long, long) syllable count. Tanka do not rhyme, and the poems don’t have titles. Avoid ending your lines with articles or prepositions. The writer composes the tanka in the first-person point of view from the perspective of the poet.

Some themes for tanka are love, passion, courtship, natural beauty, life, death, and the regular affairs of men and women. Tanka can be written about any theme, so it’s a great form to start with.

Tanka uses figurative language, including metaphors, similes, and personification. Use words you’re comfortable with and that you use in everyday language. When composing a tanka poem, use personal experiences.

➡ A tanka should share a moment of awareness with the reader. This is the concept of Mono no Aware. This concept asks the poet to examine the bittersweet realization of the transient nature of all things. It’s the understanding that everything is temporary. When we realize this concept, we recognize the beauty of the moment. This is also called the “A-ha” moment.

➡ Usually, in the third line of a tanka, we use a pivot. This signifies a transition from examining the mental image from the first two lines of the poem to examining the poet’s personal response to the image.

➡ Here’s an example of a tanka:

When you take the first three lines, you receive the first image.

my dreams are bridges
across the edges of my thoughts
a creative spark

Next, you take lines three, four, and five together. Now you get the poet’s response to the image.

a creative spark
fuels my imagination
when I awaken, I write

➡ The pivot or A-ha moment is the third line: a creative spark. This line acts as the bridge between the image and the poet’s response to the image.

You can learn more about syllabic poetry in my book: Word Craft: Prose & Poetry, the Art of Crafting Syllabic Poetry https://www.amazon.com/Word-Craft-Poetry-Crafting-Syllabic-ebook/dp/B094P1XSYG.