February 11, '26 Featuring poet: Neal Whitman

hosts: Firdaus Parvez, Kala Ramesh, Priti Aisola & Suraja Menon Roychowdhury

Introducing a new perspective to our  Wednesday Feature!

11th February, 2026

poet of the month: Neal Whitman

dogs on the beach

happy to be with other dogs —

at the airport

how much I despise

all those other people

Kernels, Summer 2013

one summer morning

the circus came to town

by nightfall

my best friend and I made plans

how we could join the troupe

Diogen pro Kultura Magazin (Sarajevo) first prize, summer 2013

Neal, we thank you warmly for sharing your poems and your thoughtful responses to our questions.

More about the poet:

Neal Whitman was born in Boston, Massachsetts (1948) and attended the University of Massachusetts-Amherst (Class of 1969), where he acquired a love of the poetry of Emily Dickinson portrayed in later years as “The Belle of Amherst”. Neal then headed to graduate school at the University of Michigan to study Higher Education (1969 - 1971). He found his niche in medical education and in 1978 completed a doctor of education degree at Columbia University where he met his future wife Elaine. One focus of his medical school work was to add poetry, performing arts , and visual arts to supplement the science of medicine. Upon retirement from the University of Utah School of Medicine in 2008 as Professor Emeritus, Neal picked up the pace of writing general poetry which he had initiated in 2005 as a transition into life after medical education. In 2008 he added haiku to his repertoire and joined the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society where in 2023  he was designated a dojin. In 2011 he had resolved to read and write tanka which prompted him to join the Tanka Society of America and the International Tanka Socety. In the past, Neal served as Vice President of the United Haiku and Tanka Society. Neal and Elaine reside in Pacific Grove, California. Elaine  also is a haiku poet. Living close to Monterey Bay inspires their poetry.

3.

TTH: How do you develop a tanka? Please guide us through the stages of a poem. 

Haiku poets, but not all, begin with an encounter outside with Nature … notably the season … with the weather, landscape, animals, plants, human activity. As a tanka poet, but perhaps not alI, I begin with an encounter with my own inside… notably my psyche … with past, present, or anticipated future. Is there my own  personal experience that has potential to have a universal connection? We begin with one line. Then, with a second or third line, can it contain a single image? If it leads to a three line image, can the third line link to two line image? Or, if it is a two-line image, can its second line inspire a three-line retort? Three plus two or two plus three, for me those are the building blocks of tanka. Not easy, and now am asking that the last line nail it shut. Oh, one more thing. As much as possible, I aim for a syllable count of short / long / short / long / long to be respectful of the Japanese waka tradition dating back to 1300 years. To move from draft to ready for prime time I read my work out loud and allow the sound to shape the balance. 

4.

TTH: Who are your favourite tanka poets? In addition to tanka what other genres of poetry do you write or read? Tell us about some of the books you've enjoyed. 

Favourite tanka poets. Grrrr! How to make a list and not later feel regret for a  name left out! Some wonderful tanka poets have never personally crossed my path and would be surprised by my admiration; others greet my wake-up with an email. So, will cop out by naming the Empress of Tanka in the English language because she is rooted in the Japanese waka / tanka tradition due to her bi-lingual language skills AND her own liberation to write tanka cultivated in contemporary life: Amelia Fielden. She lives Down Under in Australia, but is not confined by time zones and lives on top of the world.  She has lived in and traveled the world leaving her footprints multi-continental. 

I read and write all forms of poetry. Half my poetry life is the Japanese-inspired tradition of haiku and tanka: the other half is what could be called general poetry from ancient to modern times — English language and translations of world-wide verse. Two forms I often use are villanelles  and fibonacci sequences.

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I re-read the poetry and prose of Donald Hall and wife, Jane Kenyon, and likewise  May Sarton. Any book by them is recommended. Readers not in USA might be surprised by universality of Robinson Jeffers whose poetry was informed by living in a stone cottage he built overlooking Carmel Bay on California’s central coast, though am recommending only his short poetry. Elizabeth Bishop also holds a place beyond geographical boundaries. She is a racoon who respects no map lines.

Your Challenge This Week:

I know Valentine’s Day is coming up at the end of the week, and you're hoping to find inspiration here to write a sappy poem for your loved one :). The tanka that I've selected for this week from Neal's delightful shares aren't precisely about the romantic kind of love. Rather, they're more about a universal desire for company, places and people where they feel like they belong. Both of them have interesting juxtapositions. Dogs love other dogs, but the poet can't stand being in a crowded airport. 'My best friend and I' want to join the circus group, implying they want to get away from their current life.

Write about groups you want to be with, that you love being with. Family, old friends, colleagues, the zoo, a den of lions, little green Martians... you get it :). Let's spread some love- there seems to be a lack of it in the world these days.

Give these ideas some thought and share your tanka and tanka-prose with us here. Keep your senses open, observe things that happen around you and write. You can post tanka and tanka-prose outside of these themes as well.

And remember – tanka, because of those two extra lines, lends itself most beautifully when revealing a story. And tanka prose is storytelling. Most importantly, have fun!

PLEASE NOTE

1. Post only one poem at a time, only one per day.

2. Only 2 tanka and two tanka-prose per poet per prompt.

Tanka art, of course, if you want to.

3. Share your best-polished pieces.

4. Please do not post something in a hurry or something you have just written. Let it simmer for a while.

5. Post your final edited version on top of your original verse.

6. Don't forget to give feedback on others' poems.

We are delighted to open the comment thread for you to share your unpublished tanka and tanka-prose (within 250 words) to be considered for inclusion in the haikuKATHA monthly magazine.