What to submit?
Write ONE tanka prose on the topic of Woven Worlds.
Title of your tanka prose (this and nothing else): Woven Worlds
Please do not add anything to the title or indicate Tanka Prose in the poem textbox. When you choose "Other" as the poetry form, a drop-down box will explain the procedure to follow if you want to difine the poetic form. PoetrySoup has made the submission form user-friendly, therefore, do read the various instructions for your ease.
Special instructions
YOU may use any POV—ONE per tanka prose. Writing tip: In a good piece of prose the lines are of unequal lengths.
The single prose, in regular sentence case, must be 60 words or less. The single tanka, untitled, is placed before or after the prose. There is a logical flow between the two components of tanka prose. Regarding the tanka:
‘Each line should be independent phrases: the punch line at the end.’*
‘[A]re made of sentence fragments and phrases and should not read like a complete sentence.’†
POETIC DESIGN REQUIREMENTS FOR THIS CONTEST
Required Reading—My Article
TANKA PROSE and Popular Poetic Devices | PoetrySoup.com
MY EXAMPLES
Tanka Prose: To everything there is a season (poetrysoup.com)
Tanka: The Last Leaf (poetrysoup.com)
Presentation
In single-spaced lines, or a double space between the prose and the tanka. The tanka is in lowercase (except proper nouns) and little or no punctuation is used.
Judging criteria
CONTENT and FLOW are important factors. Correct grammar and spelling are desired. Judging will be based on the different components of tanka prose, with particular emphasis on the prose and tanka components, as set out in the above article TANKA PROSE and Popular Poetic Devices. I am placing more stress on the overall theme and imagery, rather than the syllable count in the tanka, but it may not be more than the suggested counts per line. The successful execution of the pivot at line three would garner bonus points.
The 6 types of imagery: hear, taste, movement, smell, touch, and see. Use only one imagery poetic device per tanka prose.
Q & A
See my blog for an overview of East Asian poetry and the definitions of the terms used in the design format of tanka prose. You may pose questions relevant to the design requirements of tanka prose on this blog.
Woven Worlds – TANKA PROSE – Overview and Definitions - Suzette Richards's Blog (poetrysoup.com)
Feedback
All judging is subjective. The judge’s decision is final and brief feedback (no critique) will be given on the top three winning entries only—directly on their poems. No correspondence will be entered into regarding the results posted.
†WIND FIVE-FOLDED School of Tanka (ahapoetry.com)
Prizes
First Prize, Glory
Second Prize, Glory
Third Prize, Glory
Seven Honorable Mentions
Preparing Your Entry
Submit one copy of your poem online. Format your poem. Please make your entry easy to read — no illustrations or fancy fonts.
English Language
Poems should be in English. Poems translated from other languages are not eligible unless you wrote both the original poem and the translation.
A Note to Poetry Contestants
You are welcome to enter this contest, whether or not you won a prize in one of my previous contests.