hosts: Firdaus Parvez, Kala Ramesh, Priti Aisola & Suraja Menon Roychowdhury
Introducing a new perspective to our Wednesday Feature!
poet of the month: Xenia Tran
The Walled Garden – a Tanka Sequence
can I slow down
what time we’re given
to greet mouse-tail moss
the speckled wood who warms
her wings after the rain
a shaft of light
through long shadows
you trace a line
where ghosts of me
still hug the elder tree
mist curtains
one side of the shed
free from light
redshank sleeps whose gold
only the dead can see
an inner sun rises
where cherry blossom blooms
before the moon gate
roots are lined
with tamarisk moss
we weep
to be reminded
of such beauty
and sing of butterflies
no longer here
Under the Basho, 24 June 2024
We had the pleasure of asking Xenia a few questions, and she graciously took the time to answer them.
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?
Xenia Tran: When I was part of a women’s writing group, we emailed our works-in-progress to each other a few days before each meeting. This gave us time to provide constructive feedback during our meet-ups and was very helpful in the early days.
Over time, too many opinions and voices could cloud over what we were trying to say and these days I rarely share my works in progress, except when I am collaborating on a sequence or as part of a poetry meet-up or mentoring group.
Prompt for this week: ‘Slow down’, pause, reflect, enjoy the beauty, the music, the depth of observation and thought in Xenia Tran’s tanka sequence.
We invite you to write tanka on any theme of your choice. Let the reader feel the freshness and music in your poem.
Give this idea 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 this theme too.
PLEASE NOTE:
1. Post only one poem at a time.
2. Only two tanka and two tanka-prose per poet per prompt.
Tanka art of course if you want to. No tanka sequences.
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We are delighted to open the comment thread for you to share your unpublished tanka and tanka-prose (within 300 words) to be considered for inclusion in haikuKATHA monthly magazine.
#1, 4/2/25
sitting alone
at my favourite cafe
i put my book aside
and people-watch
instead
Baisali Chatterjee Dutt
Kolkata, India
#2
04-Feb-2025
Off prompt, feedback welcome
so much to say
so much not to say
on the clothesline
your white shirts intermingled
with my vibrant sarees
#1 2-3-25
I can
see forever
in all directions
your voice whispering
through the wind
Jennifer Gurney, US
Post #2
4.2.25
moonlit night
the forests sway
the winds sing
c
I do a little d n e
a
to welcome my lover
Mona Bedi
India
Feedback appreciated:)
A beauty Joanna ❤️ 🌺