Bindii Meeting 12 June 2022

 Lynette Arden, Stella Damarjati, Steve Wigg and I gathered this afternoon for a Zoom meeting.

Our agenda was writing tanka. We began by discussing the definition of tanka, and Lyn pointed out that the pivot that is so often emphasised in tanka definitions doesn’t have to occur on the third or fourth line, but can happen anywhere. The only requirement is to progress from one image or thought to a different place. It is often helpful to encompass this progression in a sentence, but this is not compulsory.

Below are some links sent from Lyn that help to clarify this definition.

https://www.graceguts.com/essays/modern-tanka-in-japan

https://poetrysociety.org.nz/affiliates/haiku-nz/haiku-poems-articles/archived-articles/the-seed-of-the-human-heart-writing-tanka/

I also found some examples (2021 contest winners, on the right-hand side of the home page) on the American Tanka Society website that show the variety of pivot point locations that can be found in different tanka:

https://www.tankasocietyofamerica.org/home 

Steve Wigg and I showed the group two examples of rengay that we had attempted, after seeing a competition advertised on the Haiku society of America website. It was agreed that it was not quite so stimulating as creating a haiku sequence or conducting a renku, so we have decided to create a haiku sequence at the next meeting on the theme of ‘separation’. Everyone is invited to bring along five or more haiku on this theme to the next Zoom meeting, which will be on Saturday August 13 at 3pm.

Report by Julia Wakefield

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