TANKA TAKE HOME — 24th June, 2026 Featuring poet: Tracy Davidson

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

Introducing a new perspective to our Wednesday Feature!

24 June, 2026

poet of the month: Tracy Davidson

X-ray Vision 

I stare at the pictures on the wall. My eyes follow the cracks in a little girl’s bones, some half-healed and some fresh, a lifetime of abuse. The atmosphere in that cold room crackles with my colleagues silence. I leave the x-rays on display, for when the police and social services arrive. They will help when words fail me.

she sits awkwardly 

on the edge of a chair 

bruised and bandaged 

a nice lady with a doll 

asks her to point where it hurts 

Mandy's Pages, Where Tanka Prose Grows 2018

Anniversary

My husband bakes me a cake, surprises me with a gathering of family and friends. He says three years sober and clean is a big deal. He is proud of me. We celebrate with sparkling apple juice and sherbet fountains. I smile, so much it hurts. My sister follows me to the bathroom. I accept her proffered breath mints and disappointment.

I slide

through the fog

regretting

all the steps I missed

the times I made him cry 

Mandy's Pages, Where Tanka Prose Grows 2017 

It has been a lovely month of wonderful poems. We thank Tracy warmly for sharing her poems and for her thoughtful responses to our questions.

More about the poet:

Tracy Davidson lives in Warwickshire, England, and writes poetry and flash fiction. Her work has appeared in various publications and anthologies, including: Poet's Market, Mslexia, Modern Haiku, Femku, A Hundred Gourds, The Binnacle, Black Hare Press, Shooter, Journey to Crone, The Great Gatsby Anthology, WAR, and In Protest: 150 Poems for Human Rights. 

Your Challenge this Week:

These tanka-prose are masterfully crafted. The first one is devastating in its entirety. The second a more quiet portrayal of human nature and failure. Tracy's writing is precise and concrete, nothing flowery. Each word is well chosen and belongs there. This is the quality of a great writer; no wastage of words, nothing to distract. It's like you're there with her. Let these tanka-prose inspire you to write about anything that has touched you deeply or in passing or something you keep going back to.

Have fun!

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 of these themes as well.

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.