The SILOH Tanka Contest: RESULTS

Firstly, my thanks to all who participated in The SILOH Tanka Contest. What an honour to have read and collected these tanka from across the world to celebrate my birthday and the Winter Dream theme. The process of running this contest throughout July has definitely been an enjoyable one as I've connected and reconnected with poets near and far, some new to me, as well as those I call friends. I always feel there is a generosity of spirit in sharing poetry in this manner. We put our hearts into these pieces and then give them away, let them out into the world without us. It has lifted my spirits to have so many of you choose to share your tanka on Swimming in Lines of Haiku. My heartfelt gratitude goes out to each and every one of you.

There were so many good, healthy tanka submitted that it was very hard to choose a winner. I received many more submissions than I could have imagined. A total of more than the age I'll be turning this birthday! Entries came from the USA (18), UK (6), New Zealand (3), Canada (2), Philippines (2), Australia (2), Singapore, Serbia, France and Japan, totalling 37. After finally making a short list, and then over repeated readings, there was one that kept springing from the page, one that pulled an emotional and musical chord within me that wouldn't quit. But before I reveal the winning tanka, I want to share some of my favourite lines from the poems entered, in no particular order:

I grasp the edge of my dream Chen-ou Liu (Canada)

the choices I didn’t make Asni Amin (Singapore)

to the last beat of my heart Claire Everett (UK)

the full thunder moon Andrea Grillo (US)

Cicadas scream love songs Charles T. Whipple (Japan)

Thank you for sharing these wonderful words with me, dear poets. Of course, you can read each of these tanka in full on the entries page. 

In the winning tanka, I was looking to be deeply moved. Tanka is a very emotional experience for me: the reading and the writing of it. So much so that I find I can't read too many in one sitting, and that I most often write them myself when I'm feeling low physically, emotionally and/or spiritually. The power of the poem has a strength that I know can carry me away, beyond my immediate surroundings and current mood, into a place that's often easier to keep hidden. Tanka perhaps stay with me longer than haiku as more of my self is needed to fully be present with the poem. The shift I feel with a stunning tanka is immense, and the winner here had to take me on a journey.

But I'm greedy: I also wanted lyricism. Tanka is, after all, poetry. I wanted words and phrases that flowed, that fitted to perfection, no flaws or missteps present. No punctuation or line breaks that stuck out as not sitting right with me. I wanted words that sat together comfortably and exquisitely as a whole, as well as individual lines and images. And I found it...

my dream is one
of winter long ago...
my cold father
whom first I met late in life
helps me build a snowman

André Surridge (New Zealand)

Author's statement: I love the versatility of tanka. It allows you to write about anything, real or imagined. As with haiku, every word counts but tanka allows a little more breathing space. I always feel that writing tanka is an opportunity to get closer to the essence.

André's tanka has me right from its beginning two lines “my dream is one/ of winter long ago...”. I love how it is phrased and sets the mood so well, as if in a child's storybook, “Once upon a time, long, long ago...”. Dreams are by nature elusive, but to believe that their symbolism (and the symbolism of fairy tales, for that matter) has no meaning for our everyday lives is to dismiss the cries of the soul. This tanka says, 'come here, sit and listen, I welcome you to my world, see what you make of it'. The phrase “cold father” is again perfectly worded, succinct and strong. The economy of language throughout this tanka is superb, so much has been said in so little, without any loss of flow or musicality. Then with the last two lines – the twist – I'm left wondering, is this a dream during sleep? Or is this a daydream, an imagining, a wish? Is this true, and if so, what are the implications to him emotionally, mentally, spiritually? What are the implications of it as a dream image? The symbolism of the “cold father” and the “snowman”? To end on such a simple, childlike image, “helps me build a snowman”, is part of this tanka's magic. I'm completely moved, taken over by the words, and sent on a journey to any number of places depending on where I begin personally with each rereading. It has such depth without losing its lightness of touch. A stunning tanka and I'm so pleased to award it as the winner. Richard von Sturmer's DVD 26 Tanka Films will be coming to you soon!

Runner up:

winter dreams
how they always show me
the same thing...
you waking from your sleep
in the graveyard

Tracy Davidson (UK)

A close second. I love the melody of the first three lines, which really draws me in. And the imagery of the final two lines had me captured – so simple and yet so powerful. Great work, Tracy! A copy of the latest Eucalypt: a tanka journal will be heading your way.

Special mentions:

the transparent weave
of this vintage tea-cloth
my fragile dreams
still hand-dried and polished
by the faded green linen

Julie Thorndyke (Australia)

This one took longer to fall for, but once I realised its beauty, I couldn't let it go. Fine tuned lines, attention to detail and strong images. Thank you, Julie!

by the fireplace
the crackle of our laughter
melting into a dream
only the winter moon knows
how long is forever

Christine L. Villa (USA)

This reminds me so much of hubby and I these winter evenings sitting by the fire that I loved it from its first reading. “only the winter moon knows/ how long is forever” - extremely poignant, and excellent imagery. You have a great tanka future, Chrissi!

‘brass monkeys’
don’t care about origins—
the wind
coming off the North Sea
pulls tight on my scrotum

Colin Stewart Jones (Scotland)

I really enjoyed Colin's take on my theme. There were a few tanka that made me smile and this is the one that stood up to repeated readings. A strong voice along with the strong winds. Keep it up, Colin!

Congratulations to you all! I'll probably do this again come July 2013, maybe a haiku contest next time. For anyone that wants to purchase 26 Tanka Films please get in touch with Richard von Sturmer, who can be contacted through his Haiku NZ Showcase page or you can look him up on Facebook. To find out more about the beautiful tanka journal Eucalypt (AUS) edited by Beverley George head to the website. And lastly, a big THANK YOU to everyone who helped promote this contest, either through your blog, Facebook, Twitter, website, or just letting your friends know about it!

I am also gearing up to run a poem(haiku)-a-day (PAD) challenge here at Swimming in Lines of Haiku, which I hope you'll all get involved in. I'm looking towards September 2012, so stay tuned for updates about this fun project, which I think will be the first of its kind! :)

Kirsten Cliff

31 July 2012 

Take Five Tanka

I'm so very excited to have three of my tanka chosen for the latest (and last) volume of Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka. M. Kei and a team of editors from around the world (two of which were New Zealanders! Patricia Prime and Owen Bullock) read over 18,000 tanka published over the course of 2011 and chose the best to come together in this fine anthology.

Although a tanka may be as small as a pebble, it creates expanding ripples in the mind of a receptive reader, ripples that touch far shores, with the polished perfection of the poem as the still center of meaning and experience. ~M. Kei

I'm honoured to be there alongside so many of my friends within the on-line haiku community, and especially two that we've lost to cancer - Svetlana Marisova and Hortensia Anderson. My three tanka to be included are all from my leukaemia journey and I'm grateful that they can now be read by many more people so that they might reach the very souls that need to read them.

browsing

the second-hand books

from my wheelchair

today I decide

not to feel ashamed

Eucalypt 10 (May 2011)

                    planning our wedding

                    in the hospital chapel

                    while I have chemo

                    I am not dying

                    but a part of me is

                    Presence #44 (June 2011)

                                        re-negotiating

                                        my drug regime

                                        with the doctors

                                        I tell them that today

                                        they may see me cry

                                        paper wasp 17:3 (October 2011)


My thanks to M. Kei and his editing team, and to the editors that first published my tanka. You can by your copy of Take Five from Createspace or from Amazon.com.

Editing

          editing
          in my mind's eye
          this new tanka...
          the tinker tinker tinker
          of teaspoon against mug

Eucalypt: a tanka journal, issue 11, 2011



June Round-Up - Visual Arts In Abundance

June has been a big and busy month. At week 26 of 2011, I'm half-way through my goal of submitting poetry to a publication or competition every week. You can read my post about that here. And thanks to fellow Facebookers, I got to see my haiku on the HSA Haiku Wall in Bend, Oregon. You can see some pics of mine and New Zealander's Pat Prime and Svetlana Marisova here.

Here's how I'm doing on my 2011 goal of submitting poetry to a publication or competition every week:

• week twenty-two - submitted two senryu to Excellent Writing, both accepted for July issue (with accompanying image)
• AND submitted two haiku to the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival 2011 Haiku Invitational (first time submitting here)
• week twenty-three - submitted two haiga to Notes from the Gean (first time submitting here & first time submitting haiga!), one accepted for September issue
• AND submitted seven haiku to The Heron's Nest (first time submitting here), awaiting outcome
• week twenty-four - submitted three haiku to The 6th Kokako Haiku and Senryu Competition, closes October 31st 
• AND submitted a further two haiga to Notes from the Gean, awaiting outcome
• week twenty-five - submitted one haiku to Wednesday Haiku @ Issa's Untidy Hut
• week twenty-six - submitted six tanka to Eucalypt, awaiting outcome

June was absolutely a month of visual art making and creating. I began putting together a vision board early in the month, which you can read about and see photos of here, with an update here. I did no other collage making this month; one collage haiga is still on hold waiting for some IV tubing that I hope to get next week.

Photography - I went autumn leaf spotting with a side of graveyard visiting several times in June and got some wonderful shots. One quickly became the image to sit alongside my two senryu accepted for the June issue Excellent Writing: my first time putting a border around an image and changing it to sepia. Love the look! Will put it up on my Photography page once it's published.

I created some more photo haiga this month and submitted them to a publication for the first time (and had one accepted! Notes from the Gean). Then I embarked on a haiga calendar for my family for Christmas. This was great fun to do and a lot easier than I expected (using Vistaprint). It was fun choosing images from my own well-stocked (though terribly catalogued) photo library and thinking about what my family would enjoying seeing, and how that could fit with my haiku, instead of having literary merit in mind. A very freeing experience.

And addictive for some time as well! I would get up each day and work on it a little more; even found myself thinking about it at night before sleep: composing new haiku to fit seasonal images or fiddling with placement of words. I soon realised that I had little in the way of spring images so will have to wait until I can get a few early spring shots before I can finish this project off. I know my family will love it, and I look forward to holding a copy in my hands very soon :)

July sees me once again taking part in the River of Stones challenge, plus completing my vision board and that poor little collage haiga that's been waiting all month to be finished. Otherwise, I'm concentrating on my treatment: many blood tests, a haematology appointment and a bone marrow biopsy to get through in July. I'll see you in the river! (And don't forget that I'm giving away a book here during July: details here.)

Half-Way Through My 2011 Challenge

In the first week of January, buoyed by the excitement of writing a small stone a day during A River of Stones, I decided to set myself the challenge of submitting to a poetry publication or competition every week in 2011.

It was my way of getting back out into the world through poetry, after a year of writing taking a backseat to four cycles of chemotherapy and over four months of hospital stays. While I did resume writing regularly in the later part of 2010 (when I could finally say I was home! and felt the need to process the whirlwind of events that began with my diagnosis of leukaemia on March 2nd) I wasn't submitting my work, instead using it purely to process my journey.

It's now week 26 of 2011 and I've faithfully kept to my goal; sometimes submitting to more than one outlet a week. I've never before been waiting on so many editors' verdicts and competition results: currently awaiting replies from seven publications (on-line and in print), two anthologies and five competitions. Phew!

It's opened me up to submitting to several publications/competitions I had never submitted/entered before, and a few places that I'd been meaning to send haiku too for a couple of years, but had chickened out! So, lots of firsts coming out, including:

• my first time submitting tanka to and appearing in Eucalypt
• my first time submitting to, and first ever haiga submission, appearing in Notes from the Gean
• my first time submitting senryu to and appearing in Prune Juice

Hopefully many more to come!

I've also really enjoyed sharing my poetry on Swimming in Lines of Haiku and through Facebook by participating in A River of Stones, NaHaiWriMo and NaPoWriMo. These month-long poetry challenges have lead to me connecting up with several writers/poets/haijins on Facebook, blogs and the Writing Our Way Home community. It's great to be introduced to new publications, be exposed to new ideas, and be encouraged by this thriving and supportive online community. I'm reading, writing and sharing more poetry than ever before and it feels good! Thanks for being part of it :)

Browsing the Tanka in Eucalypt

browsing
the second-hand books
from my wheelchair
today I decide
not to feel ashamed


Copyright Kirsten Cliff 2011
Published in Eucalypt (Issue 10, 2011)

January Round-Up - What a Month!

A warm welcome to my new readers and all those that have popped in over the course of January - international small stones writing month. I greatly appreciate your comments, and ticking of the 'like' and 'cool' boxes at the bottom of my posts :)

I've loved writing a small stone a day and adding it to the river, and have benefited greatly both mentally and spiritually from doing so. At the same time, I wrote up my small stones in my Mslexia Writer's Diary: a diary I bought for the first time this year and am so glad I did; highly recommend!

I've also enjoyed stopping into other stoners' blogs who I may not have found if it wasn't for this challenge, and I thank you all for sharing your stones. I look forward to submitting my ten best stones this month, and eventually reading many others' in the book to be put together by Fiona Robyn.

January saw me make a goal of submitting poetry to a publication or competition every week for 2011. Here's how I'm doing:

• week one - submitted six tanka to Eucalpyt (first time submitting here) won't hear outcome until after March 31st submission deadline for Issue 10
• week two - submitted one senryu to Haiku News (second time submitting here) was accepted, you can read it here
• week three - submitted five haiku and three tanka to Kokako; had two haiku and one tanka accepted for Issue 14, April 2011
• week four - submitted to Snapshot Press Haiku Calendar Competition (first time submitting here) results will be announced March 31st

I also created a 'My Photography' page here at Swimming in Lines of Haiku, and submitted images to (all for the first time):

• Four and Twenty (online short form poetry journal) - my image was chosen as the cover art for the January issue
• The Bay News 'Weather Photo' Page
• The Bay News 'Holiday Photo Competition' - closes Feb 4th
• And I'm very excited to have been asked to provide cover art for the next issue of Kokako (Issue 15, September 2011) Many thanks, Pat :)

I've continued making collage-style haiga for my collection: four this month, to make a total of twenty-three. I have written two new tanka so far this year for the collection, and still have several haiku and tanka already written to turn into haiga.

I had the opportunity to show them to my local fellow haiku writers at a small gathering in Tauranga on the 29th, which resulted in some good feedback. I'll carry on with this project while it still has meaning for me and the creative process brings me great joy.

January is extra special too because I made it to my first 100 blog posts! Thanks again to all those who have come along for the ride :)

So as you can see, there has been lots of great things happening for me, alongside my continuing treatment for leukaemia. Roll on February!

Submitting to Eucalypt: a Tanka Journal

Eucalypt is an Australian tanka journal edited by it's founder Beverley George who I first met in 2008 at Haiku Aotearoa (a haiku conference in Christchurch, New Zealand).

Submissions are now open for Eucalypt Issue 10 (out May 2011). Deadline is March 31st, 2011. Go here for full submission guidelines. On Friday, I submitted for the first time, and that is my poetry submission for the first week of this year.

Check out the website while you are there. It has tanka articles, and the winners of the Scribbling Awards recognising two outstanding tanka from each issue. A great idea! And some beautiful poetry. Enjoy :)