Tanka Kukai 06 Favorites
Tanka Writing Roundtable • Millikin University • Spring 2024
1 baking McKenna Beals (3) |
2 frame of pressed flowers Sophie Nicholson (2) |
3 orange bottles Sophie Nicholson (6) |
4 pink circus glass McKenna Beals (3) |
5 fresh green grass McKenna Beals (8) I really liked this tanka and a lot of other people did too! It gave me a new perspective and a more lighthearted way to talk about death if that’s the way you’re looking at this poem. The way I read it, the poet is visiting a loved one's grave and, once a mound of dirt, it is now grown over with green grass. I love that the passage of time is highlighted by the grass growing as well. In class I talked about how people generally talk about the sky being above us, but that I enjoy the thought of the green grass growing above the diseased person, because they’re buried underground. Just a very intriguing poem and one that I was immediately drawn to! Leah Flint, Spring 2024 I was immediately drawn to this tanka, loving every line break. We discussed two possible interpretations of it: a child at a park growing alongside a wheat field or an overgrown grave head in a cemetery. Both are heartbreaking in their own ways, and I love tanka with multiple interpretations. Eden Niebrugge, Spring 2024 |
6 my favorite snow globe Sophie Nicholson (3) I really like this tanka because it reminds me of a snow globe that I have. The water has evaporated from it and there's only a little bit left in it. I've had it since I was around 9 years old, and my grandma gave it to me. I still like to set it out around Christmas because it reminds me of her even though we weren't that close. I appreciated that she thought of a gift that would last. I don't think I much appreciated it when I was a child, but now I can see the sentiment of it. McKenna Beals, Spring 2024 |
7 diffusing lavender Eden Niebrugge (2) |
8 life of a poet Randy Brooks (5) This one was one of my favorites from this bunch. I really liked the way that there is a deliberate choice to separate each of the lines as they are now, breaking them and making the “few choice words” line breaks feel like someone is speaking in that clipped I’m-trying-to-hide-how-annoyed-I-am-but-I-am-ready-to-explode-at-any-moment tone that you get when you’re trying to be calm but are so upset for one reason or another. This is very playful, too, in the way that the poet is raising choice words, as though finely tuning out which words they use like a gardener deliberates on which flowers to keep and which plants he needs to cut out or pull (like weeds). I found that very clever, and really like that this tanka can tell so many stories. Skylyr Choe, Spring 2024 This tanka is very visually appealing, which I believe is the first thing someone notices when they read poetry. I enjoy the sentiment of a poet spending their whole life raising a garden of a few choice words, but also the interpretation that they're in a garden using a few choice words as they garden. Many meanings! Eden Niebrugge, Spring 2024 This tanka is also one that I think could have multiple meanings, and I took it a different way than some of my classmates. I am very critical of myself and my work, so I felt I could relate heavily to my interpretation of the poem. In my mind, this poet has taken some time outside to write and they are feeling frustrated or are dealing with writer's block. They get frustrated and spit a few curse words out over the garden to get their anger out! I do sometimes curse when I get especially angry at something, so I love how humanizing and relatable this poem is. Maybe I will have to start writing poetry and cursing outside too! Leah Flint, Spring 2024 |
9 fidgeting with Skylyr Choe (3) |
10 breakfast Eden Niebrugge (2) |
11 early riser Eden Niebrugge (5) |
12 the beginning Randy Brooks (5) I like this tanka because it feels like an old sort of proverb you hear from someone who is wiser than you that, in your youth, might not quite make sense when you’re little, but you can only discover its true meaning as you get older and ruminate on what they were trying to tell you when you were a kid. I like the imagery that the saying “at the end of my rope” conjures, and how this tanka sort of flips that on its head by making you ponder what the start of your rope looks like, and how your frustrations can begin to build or tear before you even notice. A frayed knot or rope is also a great metaphorical tool for being under stress, and I like what that says about people’s dispositions when assessing how to proceed. Skylyr Choe, Spring 2024 |
13 he stood above the clouds Josh Lowe (2) |
14 I save Sophie Nicholson (8) This tanka really shows how much the simple things truly mean to people. I save every card people give me as well, and my parents saved all their cards too. I have a wealth of cards that show how much people care for one another. All these words throughout life can all be placed into a small box. I think it also shows that actions speak louder than words. Giving a card is a simple gesture but can mean so much more than just saying the same words aloud. They can be forgotten, but when they're written down you can have them forever. I really like the longevity of this tanka. The keepsake that the card represents but also tying in with the 'love of my life'. These two things coincide and will both last. McKenna Beals, Spring 2024 |
15 in a line Randy Brooks (3) |
16 watching you on repeat Josh Lowe (2) |
17 wiping the lens Skylyr Choe (4) |
18 college “show and tell” Leah Flint (3) |
19 cake topper Leah Flint (3) I love the sentimentality of this one. I’m a sentimental person and while I don’t have a lot of artifacts like this directly from childhood, I’m protective of the few that have made it with me through the years. I appreciate the clear visual imagery of the cake topper and how the last two lines are structured. Including “and I” on the fourth line is very effective, as the line flows so quickly into the fifth line. Breaking the line there also helps to visually emphasize the word “refuse” more, and that word choice is apt and really makes the last line. Sophie Nicholson, Spring 2024 |
20 small baggie of Leah Flint (3) |
21 hanging Skylyr Choe (6) This tanka is so sweet. I love that it describes a particular but still fairly universal experience of love. On a mechanical level, I really appreciate the thoughtfulness of the line breaks and the way this tanka follows the traditional pattern of short-long-short-long-long. I’ve tried to do some of this in my own tanka and I find it challenging to include, so I’m really impressed with the way this one incorporates the pattern so seamlessly. I also love the dual sense of ownership here. The sweater is the speaker’s favorite, but it also belongs to someone else. This tanka wonderfully captures the experience of falling in love and sharing your life with another person—even if that sharing begins with simply sharing a sweater. Sophie Nicholson, Spring 2024 |
© 2024, Randy Brooks • Millikin University
All rights returned to authors upon publication.