Best Waka Poems

welcoming the sun                      ...

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[Two waka in memory of those who
    escaped California wildfires and 
    those who didn't make it out.
 ...

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In Chibok,
An IED finds it way 
Into the mind of a savage sect
And made good use of the emptiness.

In helplessness,
Some school girls are bundled up
From...

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These are translations of some of the oldest Japanese waka, which evolved into tanka, renga and haiku. 

While you decline to cry,
high on the mountainside
a...

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To a Daughter More Precious than Gems
by Otomo no Sakanoue no Iratsume
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Heaven's cold dew has fallen—
and thus another season arrives.
Oh,...

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waka,tanka,yugen
elegant poem-songs to pen

haiga,wenren,haiku
multi-talents to read or view

renga,haikai,haibun
light or long,poetry-prose can be fun

senryu,kigo kireji
the cutting word..is the key...

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Place of refuge.
The asylum in my head,
Transports each sadness
Into my safe place –
There, imagination rules.

© Dane Smith-Johnsen
9/25/2010


Research References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waka_(poetry)#Tanka  5,7,5,7,7
http://tankaonline.com/From%20the%20Man'yoshu%20essay.htm  “…contemporary tanka are much...

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There was a dear who had a ridge that she perched from
It was where she felt welcome 
Below there was a road 
Where cars must...

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Ngwaga e be ele e se me ka geke ipona tlhakatlhakanong
Kgwedi txe mmalwa fela gore ke fetse atla tse pedi
Maahlo a be a bona fela...

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Whats wrong with the world today?
its like they have nothing else to say.
Their words are destroying creative minds
children know adult things by the age of...

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As I slept in isolation
my desired beloved appeared to me; 
therefore, dreams have become my reality
and consolation. 
—Ono no Komachi, translation by Michael R. Burch

Submit...

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Musical love

Our love forged on the Mount Fuji
Dining, wining and dancing to the beats of Garbage Fuji
Many times shot were we with the film Fuji…

We...

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Tainui, that great waka in the sky -
  the flight of the Koru carrying me
into the far orbits seven miles high
  at altitude...

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Ono no Komachi Translations

These are my modern English translations of the ancient Japanese poems of Ono no Komachi…

"It's over!"
Your words drizzle like dismal rains,
bringing tears,
as...

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waka*






*japanese poem...

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