TANKA TAKE HOME: 24th April, 2024 Andrew Riutta - poet of the month

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

Introducing a new perspective to our Wednesday Feature!

April 24, 2024

poet of the month: Andrew Riutta

Andrew Riutta was born and raised in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, USA. He is a father, chef, and Catholic school custodian. His essay, "The Myths of Manhood," from the collection, This I Believe: On Fatherhood (Jossey-Bass) was featured on Public Radio International's Bob Edwards Show in 2012. His latest book, Blessed: Modern Haibun on Almost Every Despair (Red Moon Press, 2022), was shortlisted for the Touchstone Distinguished Book Award and won the Haiku Society of America’s Merit Book Award for best haibun collection. 

6.

TTH: Do you show your work in progress to anyone, or is it a solitary art that you keep close to your chest before letting it go for publishing? 

AR: I do quite frequently share my work with at least one or two folks before I submit. Sometimes they offer feedback and, more often than not, I listen. But not always. Again, taking risks is vital. 

How quickly

a lifetime of adventures

narrows

to a can of pork and beans

and the hum of the furnace.

Cigarette Butts and Lilacs

That we should

need maps of cemeteries

to find those so loved . . .

I pause and breathe deeply

the scent of new earth.

Simply Haiku

How on earth

did you pick me

out of the crowd?

Bright stars

and drunken sailors.

Fire Pearls

Some thoughts on Andrew’s poems:

Having read Andrew's work over this month (and his incredible book of haibun titled Blessed) I'm left with the sensations of poetry depicting lives that have been lived on the edge - of sorrow, anger, frustration, poverty, hope, joy, contentment. Of wars, war veterans, death. They are a gateway to worlds that aren't routinely encountered in classical tanka poetry. I will let you decide what these tanka mean for yourselves.

I'd like to thank Andrew for being with us this month and sharing his works, both old and new, as well as his feedback on the poems posted.

Prompt for the week: This is a no-prompt week. Tell us your stories - we'd love to hear :). And mostly, have fun!

Important: Since we're swamped with submissions, and our editors are only human, mistakes can happen. Please, please, remember to put your name, followed by your country, below each poem, even after revisions. It really helps our editors; they won't have to type it in, saving them from potential typos. Thanks a ton!

                                           <><>

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

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 these themes too.

An essay on how to write tanka: Tanka Flights here --

https://www.trivenihaikai.in/post/tanka-flights

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.

7. haikuKATHA will only consider haiga that showcase original artwork or photos. Post details re: the source of the visual image. If you team up with an artist or photographer, make sure that it’s their original work and that they are not restricted by other publications to share it. We won't be responsible for any copyright issues.

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.

  <> <>