Colleen’s Weekly #Tanka #Poetry Prompt Challenge #1 Harvest & Moon

Posted byColleen M. ChesebroPosted inTanka Tuesday Poetry ChallengesTags:

Happy Tuesday everyone! Are you ready to get your poetry groove on? Then, you’re in the right place! Pull up a chair, order some coffee or tea and let’s talk TANKA poetry.

WHY TANKA POETRY?

I love to write Tanka poetry because it is a Japanese poem consisting of five lines, the first and third of which have five syllables and the other seven, making 31 syllables in all and giving a complete picture of an event or mood. 5/7/5/7/7 is the exact breakdown of syllables. Even though I love Haiku for its brevity, I have found that writing a Tanka gives you more of a story. Since we’re all writers and storyteller’s here, I thought it would be perfect to inspire your creativity to new heights. Get ready to share your true feelings!

Here’s WHY I want to sponsor this challenge:

To inspire creativity from a different poetry form

To have fun and enjoy Tanka

To share and for the chance to get to know each other

To inspire and create a community of Tanka lovers

Here are some great sites that will help you write your Tanka.

thesaurus.com

For Synonyms and Antonyms. When your word has too many syllables, find one that works.

howmanysyllables.com

Find out how many syllables each word has.

Click on the “Poetry Workshop” tab to create your Tanka. Here are the rules for the Tanka form: howmanysyllables.com

Poets.org gives the definition and the rules for the writing of a Tanka. Please note the following from the site:

“In many ways, the tanka resembles the sonnet, certainly in terms of treatment of the subject. Like the sonnet, the tanka employs a turn, known as a pivotal image, which marks the transition from the examination of an image to the examination of the personal response. This turn is located within the third line, connecting thekami-no-ku, or upper poem, with the shimo-no-ku, or lower poem.”

I will publish the Tanka Tuesday prompt at 12: 03 A.M. Mountain Standard Time (Denver
time). That should give everyone time to see the prompt from around the world.

How Long Do You Have and Your Deadline: You have a week to complete the Challenge with a deadline of Monday at 12:00 P.M (noon). This will give me a chance to add the links from everyone’s Tanka post from the previous week, on the new prompt I send out on Tuesday. I encourage everyone to visit the blogs and comment on everyone’s Tanka poem.

The rules are simple.

I will give you two words that should be used (in some form) in the writing of your Tanka.

The two words can be used in any way you would like to use them. Words have different definitions and you can use the definitions you like. Feel free to use synonyms for the words.

To do a Ping Back: Copy the URL (the http:// address of my post) for the current week’s Challenge and paste it into your post. You may also place a copy of your URL of your Tanka Post in the comments of the current week’s Challenge post.

People from the challenge may visit you and comment or click like. I also need at least a Ping Back or a link in the comments section in order to know you participated and to include you in the Weekly Review section of the new prompt on Tuesday.

I want you to be CREATIVE. Use your own photos and create “Visual Tankas” if you wish, although it is not necessary. You can use Fotoflexer, Picmonkey, or Canva.com, or any other program that you wish to make your own images. Click the links to go to the programs.


I will visit your blog, comment, and TWEET your TANKA.

You may copy the badge I have created to go with the Tanka Tuesday Challenge Post and place it in your own post:

Many thanks to Ronovan’s Writes and his Haiku Challenge which inspired this event. I used his “Rules” for this challenge.

That’s it! Are you ready to write a Tanka?

Here are our two words for this week’s challenge:

“Harvest & Moon”


In my solitude

deepest felt in the autumn,

leaves of red and gold

begin shedding summer’s clothes,

reflecting the harvest moon.

Writing a Tanka is like writing a Haiku (5/7/5) and adding two more lines. See how much more of a “visual image” you get in your mind’s eye?

Did you recognize the pivot in the third line? We start out talking about my solitude, and then we switch to talking about the leaves of red and gold. The words are all interconnected and are talking about my response to autumn. It is important to try to incorporate your feelings into your Tanka.

Visit Jean Emrich at tankaonline.com. She gives excellent instructions on how to incorporate your feelings into this poetry form.

See you next week! Don’t forget to link your post to this one! I can’t wait to read your Tanka poetry. Hugs.

Published by Colleen M. Chesebro

An avid reader, Colleen M. Chesebro rekindled her love of writing poetry after years spent working in the accounting industry. These days, she loves crafting syllabic poetry, flash fiction, and creative fiction and nonfiction. In addition to poetry books, Chesebro’s publishing career includes participation in various anthologies featuring short stories, flash fiction, and poetry. She’s an avid supporter of her writing community on Word Craft Poetry.com by organizing and sponsoring a weekly syllabic poetry challenge, called #TankaTuesday, where participants experiment with traditional and current forms of Japanese and American syllabic poetry. Chesebro is an assistant editor of The Congress of the Rough Writers Flash Fiction Anthology & Gitty Up Press, a micro-press founded by Charli Mills and Carrot Ranch. In January 2022, Colleen founded Unicorn Cats Publishing Services to assist poets and authors in creating eBooks and print books for publication. In addition, she creates affordable book covers for Kindle and print books. Chesebro lives in the house of her dreams in mid-Michigan surrounded by the Great Lakes with her husband and two (unicorn) cats, Chloe & Sophie.

40 thoughts on “Colleen’s Weekly #Tanka #Poetry Prompt Challenge #1 Harvest & Moon”

  1. Pingback: Silver’s Weekly #Tanka #Poetry Prompt Challenge #1 Harvest & Moon – ladyleemanila
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    1. Oh NO! I want this to be fun. Stretching our wings is good and just what we need to inspire new creativity. I am loving everyone’s Tanka so far. This is so fun. I can’t wait to see what you come up with. ❤

      Liked by 1 person

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  17. I’m a little late arriving so I ‘ve had the pleasure of reading your tanka here and later in the week — inspiring poems! I’d like to find out more about tankas so I hope to join in soon 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Welcome! I loved your words and how expressive they were. I love these darn Tanka. They are a bit different than Haiku because we can concentrate on our feelings in them. Glad to have you! ❤

      Liked by 1 person

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