S9E39 Tanka & Kyōka Japanese Short Form Poetry

Looking for tanka and kyōka inspiration? In this episode of Poetry Peacast, Patricia shares a selection of English-language tanka and kyōka to inspire your own Japanese short-form poetry writing. We explore how tanka can capture memory, childhood, grief, renewal, humour and everyday life – and how kyōka can use wit, satire and the conventions of traditional Japanese poetry in unexpected ways. Among the poems we hear are Yomono Akara’s satirical kyōka set in Yoshiwara, along with tanka by Reid Hepworth, Marion Clarke, Vandana Parashar, Colette Kern, Jenny Shepherd, Tim Cremin, Eve Castle, Ann Curran, Agus Maulana Sunjaya, Mona Bedi, Neena Singh, Joshua St Claire and Sara Winteridge. Patricia looks at what makes these poems work, including concrete imagery, the movement between external observation and emotional response, juxtaposition, sensory detail and the all-important turn in a tanka. If you’re writing tanka, kyōka, haiku or other Japanese short-form poetry, there are plenty of ideas here to get you reaching for your pen. The Poetry Pea tanka and kyōka submission deadline is 15 October, but if you’ve missed this call-out, don’t worry – there will be more opportunities to submit your work to Poetry Pea. The episode also points listeners towards other journals accepting English-language tanka and kyōka, check out the show notes . Listen, read, write – and keep writing. #tanka #kyoka #haiku #JapanesePoetry #shortformpoetry #poetrywriting #PoetryPea