I am still exploring this form and trying to acquire more knowledge about it. Compared to its shorter cousin haiku, tanka lags far behind in terms of international popularity and general appreciation of it. Tanka in English also does not possess as long a history as haiku, although many haiku poets do dabble in tanka on the side and this has probably created greater awareness of its presence in the Engish language world. The Tanka Society of America, I found out, was only established in 2000; haiku is celebrating its 100th year anniversary in the West.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
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Although the Tanka Society of America began only in 2000, many poets were pursuing the form for many years before this (I published Footsteps in the Fog, a tanka anthology, in 1994; Jane Reichhold's "Tanka Splendor" contests began around 1990; and folks like Sanford Goldstein were excelling at tanka for 20 or 30 years before that). If the social and organizational needs of tanka poets weren't already being met by the Haiku Society of America (formed in 1968), I'm sure the Tanka Society of America would have formed much earlier. I founded the TSA in April 2000 by calling together numerous interested parties for a formation meeting. However, for maybe ten years prior to that I wondered why a group like the Tanka Society of America didn't already exist, yet the years went by without such an organization ever coming into being. I'm sure this was because much tanka activity was shared through the Haiku Society of America and other means. Yes, tanka history in the West isn't as long as haiku history is, but tanka has a much longer history in English than the relatively recent formation of the Tanka Society of America would seem to indicate. At any rate, tanka is worth exploring because it gives you options that haiku doesn't, both in terms of tone and content. It's another arrow you can have in your poetic quivver!
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