Issue 4 - March 2026 - Editor’s Choice

dry grass

fading wildflowers

when you came

into this world

you didn't come to stay

Jim Chessing, USA

 - Inspired by the traditional blues song, Hard, Oh Lord, "Odetta and the Blues," Riverside, 1962. 

This is a tanka that I don’t believe AI, however advanced, would ever be able to imitate beyond the most superficial level. The tanka that resonate most, for me, are those that show a depth of feeling, not by declaring it but by quiet observation plus a very human quality: engagement and involvement in the world. The best tanka show that the author is not just an observer, not just skilled with words and images, they also have skin in the game, they care.

previous page                    next page