Tanka by Bill

By William C. Hyland

Tanka is intended to evoke a moment, meaning a feeling, an emotion, a scene, etc., to allow the reader to experience the moment with precision. Tanka in the English language has taken on a character of its own, with most English language composers keeping the original five line form, but opting to for a freer and flowing form that pays no heed to syllable count. I have found the strict syllable count to be both a challenge and a blessing. A challenge in that I am forced to exercise considerable discipline to convey my message, describe my moment, or communicate the feeling I want the reader to feel. A blessing because I tend to be entirely too wordy. When I am writing free verse, my most common editing task involves wholesale deletions to keep to the point without belaboring it.
This collection is a simple chronological presentation of tanka I have written, starting with January 1, 2014, and going through September 15, 2014...mostly because that is the date I decided to get off my rear and make this book happen.
Fair warning, some these are nature related, some about fanciful subjects, and a few are unabashedly religious. If any of them offend you, please just pass them by and if you feel strongly enough about it, fire off an e-mail. I promise that I will read and consider what you say. Which is the only promise I will make. I strive to keep my tone uplifting, and never use profane or crude language. I compose and post my tanka on Facebook, where my daughter can and does read them. When I hear my words coming out of her mouth, I do not want to be regretting what I said!

• Language: English
• Publisher: William C. Hyland
• Release date: Nov 1, 2014

William C. Hyland

Bill Hyland currently lives in Albuquerque, NM, with his wife, daughter, dog, and cat. He is a US Navy veteran (submarine service), considers himself a patriot and has spent most of his life working as a Controls Engineer. His poetry began as a way to exercise his creativity, but soon became a passion. Recently, he has become facinated with the tanka form, combining rigid structure and the need to chose exactly the right words.

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About Tanka

Tanka, means short poem in Japanese, and is the last surviving form of classical Japanese poetry or waka, developed in Japan early in the 8th century.

Tanka in the English language is relatively new, with translations from the classic Japanese tanka becoming available somewhere around the 1860s, but the form didn’t gain real popularity until after World War II.

Structurally, tanka consist of five units, usually rendered as five lines when translated into English. Each line has a specified number of on, roughly analogous to syllables in English. Most commonly, the syllables are arranged in a 5-7-5-7-7 pattern. On rare occasions, it is permissible to add an additional 7 syllable line to the end of the poem.

Tanka is intended to evoke a moment, meaning a feeling, an emotion, a scene, etc., to allow the reader to experience the moment with precision. Tanka in the English language has taken on a character of its own, with most English language composers keeping the original five line form, but opting to for a freer and flowing form that pays no heed to syllable count. I have found the strict syllable count to be both a challenge and a blessing. A challenge in that I am forced to exercise considerable discipline to convey my message, describe my moment, or communicate the feeling I want the reader to feel. A blessing because I tend to be entirely too wordy. When I am writing free verse, my most common editing task involves wholesale deletions to keep to the point without belaboring it.

This collection is a simple chronological presentation of tanka I have written, starting with January 1, 2014, and going through September 15, 2014…mostly because that is the date I