Colleen’s Weekly #Tanka #Poetry Challenge # 23 – HELP & SMILE

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

Grab a cup of Joe or a cup of tea and read what’s below…

SO, LET’S TALK ABOUT HOW TO CREATE THE TANKA POETRY FORM.

It’s worth taking a moment to check the best way to create a Tanka.

Tanka poems are based on syllable structure much the same way a Haiku is written in the 5/7/5 format.

The Tanka form is easy to create: 5/7/5/7/7 and is a Haiku with two extra lines, of 7 syllables each consisting of five separate lines.

What makes a Tanka different from a Haiku is that the first three lines (5/7/5) are the upper phase. This upper stage is where you create an image in your reader’s mind.

The last two lines (7/7) of a Tanka poem are called the lower phase. Now here is where it gets interesting. The lower stage, the final two lines, should express the poet’s ideas about the image that was created in the three lines above.

Visit Jean Emrich at tankaonline.com Quick Start Guide
CLICK THE LINK TO SEE THE EXAMPLES and to learn how to write a Tanka poem

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. I use this site for all my Haiku and Tanka poems. Click on the “Poetry Workshop” tab to create your Tanka. Here are the rules for the Tanka form: howmanysyllables.com

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.

WRITE YOUR TANKA POEM ON YOUR BLOG as a post.

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) Denver time, U. S. A. 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 urge everyone to visit the blogs and comment on everyone’s Tanka poem.

The rules are simple.

I will give you two words that you need to use (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.

LINK YOUR BLOG POST TO MINE WITH A PINGBACK. To do a Pingback: 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.

Because of the time difference between where you are, and I am, you might not think your link is there. I manually approve all links. People participating in the challenge may visit you and comment or “like” your post. I also need at least a Pingback or a link in the comments section to know you took part and to include you in the Weekly Review section of the new prompt on Tuesday.

BE CREATIVE. Use your photos and create “Visual Tanka’s” if you wish, although it is not necessary. Use whatever program you want to make your images.

As time permits, I will visit your blog, comment, and TWEET your TANKA

If you add these hashtags to your post your poetry may be viewed more often:

#Tanka Tuesday, #micropoetry, #poetry, #5lines

If you haven’t set up your blog to share to Twitter, you should. It is an excellent way to meet other poets and share your work.

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

HERE’S WHO JOINED US LAST WEEK FOR OUR 22nd CHALLENGE USING THE WORDS – DOOR & FRIEND: (Please make sure to visit the other participants. We learn from each other. <3) YES… I did not participate in my own challenge this week. I was just too busy. 😀

Tanka: Door & Friend – Jane Dougherty Writes

Welcome | Sue Vincent’s Daily Echo

Colleen’s Weekly Tanka Challenge – Door & Friend/Two on a Rant

Tanka – Door and Friend | radhikasreflection

The End of an Era – Reena Saxena

Colleen’s Weekly Tanka Poetry Challenge #22 Door & Friend | Annette Rochelle Aben

Ivan Ivanovich (Tanka) – Thoughts of Words

Colleen’s Weekly #Tanka #Poetry Challenge # 22 – “Door & Friend” | K Y R O S M A G I C A

Tanka – Door & Friend – DeepikasRamblings

Tanka// friend &door// poetry challenge – சுழல்கள்/Suzhalgal

Tanka – Door & Friends: Uneasy Comfort/Crone Chronicler

The Journey: Tanka | Yesterday and today: Merril’s historical musings

Door & Friend | thoughts and entanglements

Doors (a Tanka) | Darkness of His Dreams

Waiting for old friends. | The Syllabub Sea

Colleen’s Weekly Tanka-Door & Friend – All About Writing and more

What Was Lost – Tanka Poem – The Rolling Hills

Moon of Wandering | method two madness

This week’s Poet of the Week is Ina (VivaChange) from her blog, Crone Chronicler. Her Tanka poem called “Uneasy Comfort ” conveyed some uncomfortable truths we all face as we get older. I liked how she got feelings across to us with her choice of words.

Read the third and fourth lines. The emotion is there, and it is powerful.

Friend left ICU
We arrived to play word games
Hospital or no.
Underneath unspoken words
When will I go through this door?

Here are the two words for this week’s challenge: HELP & SMILE

(any forms of the words AND don’t forget to use synonyms)

There are many different meanings to these words. Have fun and experiment. If the prompt words don’t Inspire you… write a Tanka based on the photo BELOW:

Image credit: Pixabay.com

TANKA TUESDAY! JOIN IN AND GET YOUR POETRY ON!

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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. View more posts