I am delighted to share four of my tankas, Hope, Change, Strength, and Eclipse, are published at The Short of It!
The Short of It is curated by Susi Bocks at I Write Her, a poetic place for crisp writing that Susi describes as “my humanity in written form”.
The Short of It is Susi’s way of welcoming writers into her world. She searches for writers “who can touch someone’s heart in a meaningful way by leaving the reader saying wow, feeling an epiphany or just loudly internally screaming YES! . . .”
This is the second time my work has been published at The Short of It. I extend my thanks to Susi for sharing my writing and for nurturing a community for writers.
Tankas are a form of traditional Japanese writing. They are five lines total, with the first line being five syllables, the second line seven, the third line five again and the last two lines both seven syllables a piece, for a total of thirty-one syllables.
Thirty-one syllables is a tiny little piece in a big story where each word counts. Writing tankas helps teach me to be intentional.
Today in isolation our minds can darken. When we are alone and dusk is all that is on the horizon, how easy it is to lose our visions and dreams and motivation. How easy it is to embrace despair and secretly revel in the moping we want to be rid of.
These are the feelings I worked through while writing Hope, Change, Strength, and Eclipse to reach what is past the endless dusk: dawn. My dawn. These four poems are a journey from one thought to the next.
We must take risks to reach the sunshine. We must walk through the shade and briefly experience the chill. Sunshine is what we hold inside ourselves through our delight in the things we enjoy and are grateful for.
My sunshine is in words. My heart may be raging, the world an uncertain place and my life before me, but I can put all this down in words.
That makes it faceable. That makes me brave.
I invite you to enjoy Hope, Change, Strength, and Eclipse and hope you encounter your courage.
Here is the beginning of my first tanka, Hope.
Though reality
Is often stark there is a
Place where the Queen wears . . . please continue reading here and feel free to share your beautiful thoughts!
Also consider entering the 9th Experiments In Fiction Poetry Challenge. I am judging!
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
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Hello Jaya🙋♀️ U r doing well on ur journey of getting published all over the place. Proud of u girl🌻
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Congratulations on getting four of your pieces published!! Pretty cool that your work is getting out there more and more every week! I like that these cover the different phases, kinda like stages of grief but better LOL. I like that the tanka starts with hope. That is how you get the train moving!!
Nancy ✨ mdrnminimalists.com
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Congratulations. I can see why your poems have been included because they always capture my attention and I find I really connect with them.
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Your words always make me smile, Kelly! Thank you.
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Congratulations on another piece published, this is such a beautifully articulated description of the state of the world right now. Incredible work! x
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Thank you! It is refreshing to be able to put down current thoughts in words.
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Though pain may rack our lands we refuse to be silent.❤️
Lovely words, thank you for sharing your thoughts and congratulation on the publication Jaya.
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Thank you for your kind words!
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Congratulations on having your work published! That’s so exciting! Beautifully written as always! 🙂
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Congratulations on your publications! Lovely words as usual!
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Ooo congrats on your publication! That’s amazing!
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Such lovely words, thank you for sharing and congrats on the publication!
Tash
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Congratulations on your publication. Very well written as usual! Thank you for sharing your writing!
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Congratulations!
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Absolutely fantastic Jaya and many congratulations to you. You just keep on going which is brilliant to see 😁
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The Place where the Queen wears creativity is everywhere your words are.
❤
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You words sweeten my day! Thank you.
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Congratulations Jaya!! You are so awesome! Beautiful words
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Congratulations Jaya 👏👏👏
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Thank you!
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Congratulations!
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Congratulations! These are so beautifully written and I really enjoyed reading them!
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Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts!
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Congratulations. Java. You rock.
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Congrats!
Your words so soul touching!
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It has been a pleasure working with you, Jaya! Your work is beautiful! ❤
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Thank you, Susi! The feeling is mutual. 🙂
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❤
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Such beautiful and wise words, Jaya! Congratulations on your publication. I loved all the poems, but my favourite of all is ‘Change.’ Also your words:
‘We must take risks to reach the sunshine. We must walk through the shade and briefly experience the chill. Sunshine is what we hold inside ourselves through our delight in the things we enjoy and are grateful for.’ So true!
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Thank you, Ingrid! Change is one of the biggest steps we take when we leave behind fear. 🙂
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