TANKA TUESDAY POETRY CHALLENGE STARS | #PhotoPrompt

Welcome to our weekly poetry stars celebration. This week’s challenge was to choose synonyms for the words, “loose and tight,” using one of these forms: Haiku, Senryu, Haiga, Tanka, Gogyohka, Haibun, Tanka Prose, Renga, Solo-Renga, Cinquain, and its variations, Etheree, Nonet, Shadorma, Badger Hexastich (hexastich for short), and Abhanga.

Remember… the first of the month you can write any syllabic poetry form of your choice. The rest of the time, we write our syllabic poetry in one of the forms listed, and we follow a schedule (posted below). I do this for a couple of reasons. It requires those of you who would like to enter contests or to submit your poetry to literary journals to learn how to follow their rules. This challenge gives you that practice. Besides, why enter a challenge if you don’t follow the rules? That’s the challenge part. ❤

ALSO: Make sure you are grabbing the URL of your “published” post when you link back to the challenge and in Mr. Linky. If you need extra help with these features, let me know and I will help you. ❤

Many thanks to everyone who joined in below:

1.	Reena Saxena	6.	D. L. Finn	11.	Ruth Scribbles
2.	Trent McDonald	7.	Heather	12.	Ritu Bhathal
3.	willowdot21	8.	Jules	13.	kat
4.	theindieshe	9.	anita dawes	14.	Colleen Chesebro
5.	Cheryl	10.	Jude	15.	M.J. Mallon

Wowser! D.L. Finn’s photo was filled with magic! Please take a moment to read her post about the photo HERE.

This week, I selected Anita Dawes‘ Etheree poem to feature because she picked up on the model wearing a mask which turned her poem into a poignant view of our current world status. Truthfully, I thought little about the mask, which goes to show how normal mask wearing has become. I thought there was great pathos in the photo and clearly, Anita felt many emotions as well.

The classic Etheree form should be unrhymed and focus on one subject or idea. The poem should have great rhythm and flow. Etheree should have a title, but sometimes less is more. This is a great form to experiment with.

Look at filler words when you’re writing your poetry. Not everything has to be stated in a sentence. Phrases are acceptable. We don’t have to spell out everything to our readers. Let them pick up your meaning through adjectives and breathy phrases.

Words like: the, so, that, by, which, etc. add nothing to the poem. Think in descriptive words, and use verbs to convey action. Just because you have X number of syllables to use doesn’t mean you want to waste them with words that add no meaning to your poem. This is especially true when you are writing the Japanese forms of haiku, senryu, tanka, etc.

My
Broken
Friend, I hug
The world swallowed
By the hand of greed
I can give so little
Face covering a small step
It is hoped each will do their best
To stop the tears of pain and heartbreak
So the world can spin in harmony once more…

© Anita Dawes 2021

See you tomorrow for the new challenge!