Issue 2 - September 2025 - Editor's choice

blossoms falling
through glass
the silent wind
the angle
of this easy chair

Mark Gilbert, UK 

A tanka may be short but there is room within it for twists, turns and surprises, especially if we take our time reading it. A tanka isn't a simple sentence and so it can do things that a sentence can't. The way the lines work together and where the stresses and pauses fall as the reader finds their way through the poem can be a journey. Sometimes, when I finish reading a tanka, I immediately want to go back and read it again, reconsidering the path I took through it. 

Some people make use of punctuation, to guide the reader, to signpost the intended route, and others leave open possible misinterpretations and off-trail rambling. 

Line 1 of this tanka, 'blossoms falling', is a simple, peaceful image, one that people with an interest in tanka will be familiar with. 

Then we come to line 2, 'through glass' and have to think about what these first two lines could mean taken together. Something 'falling through glass' could suggest an impact and breakage. But something as soft and gentle as blossoms, of course, could not do that. It's a strikingly surreal image if you read it that way, even for just a moment. We may be unsure at this point where we are going as we read on. 

Line 3 'the silent wind', on its own is a little eerie, until we make the connection back to glass. Of course, the glass is muting any sound the wind might be making. We are now aware of being indoors, watching blossoms fall but not hearing the wind that has shaken them loose. 

Line 4 Now we can settle comfortably into place, finding 'the angle', our viewpoint. 

Finally, 'of this easy chair'. That the chair is 'easy' helps confirm the sense of safely observing from our place of comfort, sheltered from the elements.

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