The contemporary haibun 19 anthology

Cover of contemporary haibun 19

It has not been the start to 2024 I hoped for and as a result little writing or art-making has happened. However, in amongst the difficult things I had the wonderful news that my very first published tanka prose (and so first published tanka ) which was included in issue 19.2 of contemporary haibun online, had been chosen for inclusion in their latest print anthology – 19. As you can imagine I was surprised and delighted! Copies of the anthology published by Red Moon Press can be bought here: https://redmoonpress.com/product/contemporary-haibun-volume-19-edited-by-rich-youmans-and-the-ch-staff/ or via Amazon, which I confess I opted for due to the postage costs of ordering direct from the USA. It has been beautifully produced, including 32 full-colour haiga that look stunning and which I will be learning from as I hope to create haiga this year. Here’s my tanka prose below. Given how my last month or so has worked out, it couldn’t be more pertinent.

Photograph of my piece in the anthology – text below

The Call

Dad messages me the following day to apologise for talking too much on our weekly call. He got into one of those diatribes against religion. Says he’ll set the phone timer to 15 minutes in future. So I tell him it’s okay, I know you don’t have anyone to talk to most of the time. But do forgive me if my concentration waivers when it’s something I’m not really interested in. You’re 80, I don’t say, I know there may not be many more years of calls. I’d rather not listen to the same rants over and over, but I do it because it matters to you.

you apologized
for going into preacher mode
what you really wanted
was to say
something I never heard

Another Tanka Prose in Contemporary Haibun Online & a Nomination!

Citrus Veins

Screenshot from CHO (Text at bottom of post)

I‘m a bit behind in posting this one, energy for writing still seems sparse. This tanka prose was originally written for a themed submission to Mslexia on the topic of ‘Poison’. It didn’t get accepted so I decided to try a haibun & tanka prose-focused journal instead and submitted it to CHO (https://contemporaryhaibunonline.com/cho19-3-table-of-contents/alison-clayton-smith-citrus-veins/). The poison it talks of is Lyme Disease. I did not know 33 years ago I had been infected but a few years ago found out the classic bullseye rash from which I removed the tick meant I had been. And that it probably explained at least some, if not all, of my chronic health issues ever since. I’m not completely in love with using the word ‘tick’ twice in the tanka, it feels a little clunky, but I stuck with it.

I also received an email last week that my very first published tanka prose (and my first published tanka) has been nominated by CHO for an anthology. Even if it doesn’t make through the selection process I am very happy knowing that it was worthy of consideration. It’s another sign that I’ve found a home in this form.

——————-

Citrus Veins

I remember beautiful sunny days. Hacking rhododendrons, or ‘rhodies’ as we called them, from the land to halt their invasive run across the Lakes. I remember laughter and hard, physical work. Time in the pub. Playing darts and winning. Evening walks. A romance even, unexpected in a week, but filling me with adult teenage hope.

the tick
I removed from my arm
left toxic waste
another hour ticks by
resigned to lying down

And I remember rhododendrons hate lime.

——————

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A tanka & a tanka prose in cattails journal

Screenshot of tanka in cattails

I am very happy to have both a tanka and a tanka prose published in the latest edition of cattails journal. The tanka is actually the very first tanka I wrote, and it was for the first assignment on the Tanka Online course with Call of the Page.

a life too small
for your spirit
my heart aches
to bring you home
so many never-endings

(on p.106 of cattails 232)

It came to me as I was watching my hamster, Rogue, free roaming. When I set out to adopt a hamster, 30 years after my last one, I didn’t realise how much hamster care had changed. Unfortunately too small cages are still sold in pet shops, as hamsters continue to be seen as cheap pets suitable for children. This is even though the minimum ethical standard is now typically recommended as 100x50x50cm. When I watch Rogue in free roam and in her 122x50cm glass tank, I feel such sadness for my childhood hamsters and for all those hamsters I see in unsuitable cages online. Much as I would love to rescue all the hamsters in need, I have to accept that it’s not possible. The tanka also makes me think about other species, including humans, who are subjected to physical or emotional restriction that stops them from living a happy life.

Screenshot of tanka prose in cattails

The State of the Day

wildfires
rising interest rates
wasted years
desperate for donations
my heavy phone

Each day online feels like we are heading towards the Rapture. I want to look but not look, know but not know.

(on p.190 of cattails 232)

This tanka prose was one that came out of that feeling of every time I look at my phone, be it for news, social media or emails, there are awful things happening around the world. This seems even more appropriate at the moment given the situation with Israel-Gaza. For me there’s a tension between wanting to know about these things and not wanting to know. And at what point does looking at all these awful things become a kind of voyeuristic adrenaline kick. ‘The Rapture’ was the editor’s choice, which I agreed to. I had written ‘The End’. I realised afterwards I’m not entirely comfortable with the change as it’s a phrase I wouldn’t use, though it does feel more impactful. It’s been interesting to observe how I feel about this piece as a result. I’m still mentally adjusting to receiving suggested changes from editors. At what point does a change feel like it takes the piece beyond my own work? I’m guessing that this is something most writers grapple with, and not just in poetry.

I have more work due to be published elsewhere and I’m just about to do another submission. My writing has slowed down a lot due to a work project that took up a huge chunk of creative brainpower. I’m hoping that now that is largely complete, there’ll be space in my brain for more tanka writing.

Tanka (& haiku) prose in Drifting Sands Haibun Journal

Tanka prose in DSH, text at bottom of post

I am very happy to have this tanka (& haiku) prose, inspired by seeing and looking out for a missing dog this year, published in DSH here: https://drifting-sands-haibun.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Issue-23.pdf#page86 . I submitted it for the previous journal in a different form and the guest editor for that issue made a few suggestions to improve it, encouraging me to re-submit the next time. The guest editor for this edition, Marion Clarke, came back with very detailed and encouraging feedback and suggestions on my edited piece. I was really touched by the time Marion had taken in reviewing my work and the encouragement to resubmit to her if I could revise it in time. 24 hours later with a little extra to and fro it was done.

The key change Marion suggested was to change the second tanka I had to a haiku and with a different focus. I’ll admit I don’t really feel I’m a natural haiku writer so I wrote a different tanka which came out of nowhere as I was re-reading my prose. Marion liked the start of the tanka but felt the last two lines were superfluous and it became, with another small change, a haiku. So I now have my first published haiku too, though I feel I can’t claim full credit for it.

And now I am thinking how playful it might be to experiment with different poetry forms in a piece and how far you can go with this. Perhaps I should be brave and study haiku further rather than believe it’s not for me.

Text of piece is below, please note I’ve written this post on my phone and WordPress has annoyingly refused point blank to format the haiku with single-line spacing, so I’ve left it as is.

Going Back

another day
muntjacs and squirrels run past
I think of if onlys
lost in the long grass

Ruby ran away a few months ago, after a gunshot startled her. Her family searched for her everywhere. Once, I saw her on my walk by the woods. A red cocker spaniel, muddy, soaked and running at high speed. Despite all the advice not to call out to a runaway dog, I called her name. Instinct, I suppose. But once in survival mode, dogs can be hard to catch, and Ruby carried on running. Every walk I hoped to see her again.

Then one day, an update online. She’d been handed in to a vet 170 miles away.

remembering curlews

I debate returning

to my childhood home

My first published tanka prose

In April I joined the Tanka Online course run by Call of the Page, who I am lucky enough to do part-time admin work for. I will admit that though I had been working for CTP for about 18 months by then, I didn’t really know what tanka was. Before I joined CTP, the only Japanese short-form poetry I knew of was haiku. I did the Introducing…Haiku course last year but haiku and I didn’t really click, much as I enjoy reading them. Tanka on the other hand were like finding that space where you know you belong. Unlike haiku, which are focused on concrete imagery, tanka makes space for the expression of feelings. In fact tanka traditionally were mostly about love and relationships and a way of communicating between interested parties. In five lines I can express something poignant and profound or mundane or joyful sparked by something arising in the day. So often throughout my days I think, I should blog about this conversation I’m having in my head, but I don’t because I don’t have the energy or I think I’ll end up wittering on till I peter out and realise actually I don’t really have something to say. But five lines are very much doable. Not only are they doable but they also force me to get to the essence of what is inside my head because tanka are down-to-earth. There isn’t the space for long descriptions and flowery language.

Having found a love of prose poetry whilst doing the Encounters with Kin course last November (the course that started this blog), I knew I had to try writing tanka prose which combines one or more tanka with a prose piece that may be factual or fictional or somewhere in between. To my surprise, and delight, my very first one was accepted for publication by Contemporary Haibun Online and you can read it here:

Alison Clayton-Smith, The Call

I also have a tanka coming out in another publication in the Autumn. Meanwhile I am writing lots of tanka and tanka prose, editing and editing, and submitting when they feel ready. I have also been reading a lot about writing tanka and its history. I feel like I’m just at the start of what is possible with this form of creative expression and I’m excited to see where it takes me.

A little update

Update July 2023 – My daily writing practice which features in the previous posts ended up going on hiatus for a number of months. In the meantime, I did a Tanka Online course (details here) and fell in love with writing tanka and tanka prose. I’ve been learning so much about the world of tanka and had a couple of submissions accepted by journals, that I’ve decide to use this blog to explore my life with tanka. It still fits neatly with my interests below and also broadens out the writing to encompass other areas. I was actually thinking it would take over completely from my daily practice but coming back here and reading some of the previous posts I can hear that little voice calling to be heard again so it looks like this blog will be mixing the two. In fact some of the posts will also provide material for the tanka and tanka prose. I don’t imagine I’ll be posting so frequently as I did before because my writing energy is limited.

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