What to Submit?
1. One new tanka poem on the theme of the end of summer or beginnging of fall and the emotions that go along with the changes.
2. 5 7 5 7 7 syllable counts only and in that order. Please use howmanysyllables to check them.
3. All lower case letters in your poems.
4. One to three word title, please include the word summer or fall in it.
5. Please see below about tanka poems:
A Japanese poem of five lines, the first and third composed of five syllables and the others seven. In Japanese, tanka is often written in one straight line, but in English and other languages, we usually divide the lines into the five syllabic units: 5-7-5-7-7.
Each tanka is divided into two segments. The first three lines are the upper phrase, and the last two lines are the lower phrase. The upper phrase typically contains an image, and the lower phrase exposes the poet's ideas about that image.
Tanka poems are similar to a haiku but have two additional lines and usually feature as its subject very strong emotion or love.
Prizes
There will be multiple placements.
Poems written before 8/13/26 will not be considered for placement.
No names on poems.
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.