FYI "Tanka is Japan's oldest poetry form. Traditionally a tanka has five lines with 5-7-5-7-7 syllables. In English some count syllables and some just have short-long-short-long-long lines. If you know haiku, you know half of a tanka. Unlike haiku, tanka encourage feelings and emotions."
Altas Poetica has some great examples of Tanka including one of Julie's.
Some more tanka here
and in the Australian tanka journal Eucalyptus.
Here is a haibun by Julie called The Receptionist .
What is haibun you may ask? (Apart from being my favorite literary form) it is a kind of descriptive prose punctuated by haiku, made famous by the Japanese poet Basho. Find out more here.
Read about Julie Thorndyke's most recent tanka collection Carving Granite.
‘Each carefully crafted poem in this collection blends sensitivity with realism.Julie Thorndyke writes with an original and spirited voice that addresses contemporary themes, while paying due regard to tanka traditions.’ - Beverley George, Editor Eucalypt: a tanka journal
‘In this new collection, Julie Thorndyke demonstrates her mastery of the short form poetry we know as tanka. She has an innate sense of rhythm in her writing and, with her skilled use of figurative language, brings us moments that sometimes defy interpretation yet pierce to the bone.’ - Carole MacRury, Secretary/Treasurer, Tanka Society of America
‘Julie Thorndyke's second tanka collection more than fulfils the promise of her first, rick rack. In Carving Granite she reveals the light and shade of her world.’ - Amelia Fielden, poet and translator
My favorite book of haibun is John Brandi Water Shining Beyond Fields which I found while travelling in Cambodia. His haibun were about all the places I was travelling to and it became my perfect travelling companion.
There's much more haiku, haibun, tanka, renga online.
Thanks Julie for reminding us.
