Customer Reviews

Wind Five Folded: An Anthology of English-Language Tanka

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When I compared this book by Jane Reichold with The Tanka Anthology, edited by Michael McClintock, Pamela Ness, and Jim Kacian, it didn't come close. I found Reichold's book dull and plodding. For excellent examples of tanka in English, read instead The Tanka Anthology, by Michael McClintock. You won't be sorry!

Tanka is an ancient form of poetry originating in Japan. There is a growing number of English-language tanka poets and this an excellent collection of their work up to about 1993. In Japanese, tanka follow a 5-7-5-7-7 syllabic pattern; in English, it's more typically a short-long-short-long-long pattern of at most 31 syllables. There are examples here ranging from strict adherence to 5-7-5-7-7 to extremely minimalistic. An example of the latter is Sheldon Young's:

food / shelter / sex / i am so / cold

Love is a frequent topic of Tanka. Pat Shelley's poem is an example:

Wind, do not tease me / do not muss my hair / my joy is too large for the house / and I cannot go in / to await his coming

This is arguably the best English-language tanka ever written. While love is a frequent focus of tanka, the only true limits are those of human experience. Jane and Werner Reichhold are to be commended for collecting and publishing this delightful anthology.