Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Tanka Poetry

I joined a writing swap on swap-bot to try my hand at Tanka poetry. Tanka is similar to the Haiku, but in this poetry you write five lines instead of three. Whereas in the Haiku you have the syllable form of 5, 7, 5, in the Tanka you have the syllable form of 5, 7, 5, 7, 7. Here are two of my attempts at Tanka.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

An airplane flies through
the soft blue skies and fluffy
white clouds as we drive
to the hospital with the
wind blowing through my brown hair.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Oh tiger lily,
open your soft petals and
reach for the warm sun.
Embrace the tears of heaven,
sweet flower, blossom and grow.