Here is my Amazon review: "800 of the best tanka in English by 69 of its finest practitioners. This is an outstanding collection of Tanka poems in the English language. Easy to hold in one's hands, light, compact, good quality print and paper. Very good choices by the highly qualified editors. Most Tanka are in the minimalist style: lowercase, no punctuation, 5 lines. For a paperback, a bit expensive at $34, but worth the higher price. Includes biographies of the authors. No introduction. Good enough for many rereads!"

The Way of Tanka. By Naomi Beth Wakan. Shantee Arts LLC, 2017, 146 pages. $15.00. VSCL.

Here is my Amazon review: "Tanka are brief 5 line poems, typically using 19-33 sound units, uncapitalized, with little punctuation. This is a good brief introduction and guide to the reading and writing of Tanka style poetry. Many fine Tanka are included and briefly analyzed. She provides a few insights into the proper construction of the Pivot Point, Turning Point, the Volta, the Twist, usually in the 3rd line. (I have added more comments on the Pivot Line above.) She emphasizes the importance of a dramatic and surprising phrase in the last 5th line. She makes clear that writing English language haiku cannot follow some Japanese Tanka standards or sensitivities because these two languages have many differences in the sound elements, homonyms, more rhyming in Hiragana, culture, and poetic heritage. The Tanka form has been used since 800 CE in Japan. She includes a few of her longer Tanka sequences. She discusses tanka collage, tanka montage, Haibun, McClintock's Taika, Kyoka tanka wit and humor, minimalist tanka, response/dialogue tankas, Ekphrastic tanka, love tankas, travel/place tanka, diary tanka, tanka strings, nostalgic tanka, tan renga, confessional tanka, and tanka sequences. Japanese terms like wabi, sari, aware - mono no aware, kyojo, makoto, shibusa, and kokora are briefly explained. Ms. Wakan provides a brief bibliography and lists of online resources. She talks about the authors that influenced her. A fine companion to The Tanka Anthology (Edited by McClintlock, Ness, and Kacian, 2023) or Four Decades on My Tanka Road: The Tanka Collections of Sanford Goldstein, 2012."

Four Decades on My Tanka Road: The Tanka Collections of Sanford Goldstein. By Sanford Goldstein. Edited by Fran M. Witham. Preface by Patricia Prime. Winfred Press, 327 pages, Second Edition, 2012.

Here is my Amazon Review: Selections from 6 of Professor Goldstein's books: This Tanka World, 1977; Gaijin Aesthetics, 1983; At the Hut of the Small Mind, 1992; Records of a Well-Polished Satchel, 1995; This Tanka World, 2001; and, Encounters in this Penny World, 2005. Includes a selective bibliography, and a biography of Professor Goldstein. Some introductory notes. Over 500 Tanka in this attractive anthology. Good paper and clear crisp print. $22, Paperback. VSCL. Professor Sanford Goldstein (1925-2023) is often called the "The Grandfather of English Tanka." These Tanka are nearly all in lower case, using only a comma or dash for punctuation, 5 concise lines, mostly free verse style. He includes more gritty, earthy, and intimate aspects of living. These poems reflect many of his experiences while living in Japan for decades. Sometimes, the stark brevity of the Tanka style can lead one to the edge of insight, but they are often too thin to hold up the pants of a deeper understanding."

Book Reviews by Mike Garofalo

Monday, January 20, 2025

25 Steps and Beyond Anthology by Mike Garofalo

25 Steps and Beyond Anthology

by Mike Garofalo

Highway 101 and Hwy 1

Stepping Over Epiphanies

Haiku - North Sacramento Valley

A Fork in the Crypto Road

The Spirit of Gardening

Exhibits at the Cyber Garden Gazebo: TextArt

At the Edges of the West, Volume 1

At the Edges of the West, Volume 2

A Wreck Ahead Comes Into View

Cloud Hands Blog

Cuttings: Month by Month Snippings

Stuck in Some Concrete Poetry

US Interstate 5 and Hwy 99

The Raven Broke Open the Magical Clam

Pulling Onions: 1,000 One Liners

Four Days at Grayland Beach

Meetings with Master Chang San Feng

25 Steps and Beyond Anthology

More Poetry by Mike Garofalo

Poetry Research

Interstate 5 and Hwy 99

Five Senses

Uncle Mike's Cellphone Poetry Series

Fireplace Records Koan Collection

Brief Poems and Haiku

Tao Te Ching: Concordance, Anthology

Zen Buddhist Koans: Research, Indexes

Zen Poetry

Virtues and the Good Life

Monthly Observations and Poetry

the scissors of my decisions

more to come ...

Monday, June 27, 2022

Memories of Uncle Mike

Memories of Uncle Mike Short Poems by Michael P. Garofalo

Uncle Mike's Cellphone Poetry Series

Friday, June 24, 2022

Short Poems by Michael P. Garofalo

Short Poems

By Michael P. Garofalo

Summer Adventures

Seaside Snippets

Autumn Views

Uncommon Considerations

Winter Home

Springtime Days

Backyard Gardens

Memories of Uncle Mike

Favorite Short Poems

Short Poems by Michael P. Garofalo

Haiku, Brief Free Verse, Photos
Tercets, Concrete Poems, Quartets
Cinquains, Waka, Couplets, Senryu
Sonnets, Limericks, Quatrains
Under 30 Letters Best Per Line of Text
Uncle Mike's Cellphone Poetry Series I

Uncle Mike's Cellphone Poetry Series I

Short Poems by Michael P. Garofalo

Uncle Mike's Cellphone Poetry Series II

Uncle Mike's Favorites: Collections of Short Poems
Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo

Uncle Mike's Favorite Short Poems Collections

Poetry by Michael P. Garofalo

Concrete Poetry

Cloud Hands Blog

Memories of Uncle Mike

Thursday, June 23, 2022

Uncle Mike's Cellphone Poetry Series - News

Uncle Mike's Cellphone Poetry Series

Uncle Mike's Short Poems Collections # 1-5

Collection 1

Short poems by Emily Dickinson,
Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes,
Robert Frost, e.e.cummings,
Odgen Nash, Vikram Seth,
Joyce Kilmer, Michael Burch, etc.
Uncle Mike's Cellphone Poetry Series 2

Collection 2

Short poems by Ezra Pound,
Anais Nin, Sylvia Plath,
Rita Dove, Shakespeare,
William Carlos Williams,
Issa, Mike Garofalo
Uncle Mike's Cellphone Poetry Series 2