Acrostic-Tanka Poetry

Click here to check out my first book on poetry

I had a dream, and in my dream I was writing a new form of poetry based on tanka. When I woke up, I had this poem, TRUST written in my brain. It was odd for I didn't know what a tanka was, let alone acrostic. What I didn't know then, I have been writing acrostic form of poetry in my high school days, I just didn't know what it was called until it was brought to my attention by JAZZMANOR, a co-poet in Deep Underground Poetry. I was introduced to tanka and haiku by another co-poet, Mr. Bruce Burkard. I'm extending my sincerest gratitude to both of them who in one way or another influenced me in writing tanka poems which eventually led me to writing in my own style: acrostic-tanka.

Welcome to the home of modern tanka...

Acrostic-tanka (that's how I called my modern version of tanka) is a hybrid of acrostic and tanka poetry in which you use a 5-letter word (traditional tanka consists of 5 lines) to compose a verse which connotes the meaning of the word without using the word itself in any of each lines. Adding an image to it adds a visual impact, but may not be necessary.

The main objective of this site is to showcase my collection of acrostic-tanka poems as well as the contributions of my fellow poets. By so doing, I'm expecting to encourage others, most specially the elementary grade students to challenge themselves at an early age to start writing poetry.

Click on above image to see my first book on poetry.

An acrostic is a composition usually in verse in which sets of letters (as the initial or final letters of the lines) taken in order form a word or phrase or a regular sequence of letters of the alphabet. Originally, a short verse composition, constructed so that one or more sets of letters (such as the initial, middle, or final letters of the lines), taken consecutively, form words.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary

The Japanese tanka (traditional tanka) is a thirty-one-syllable poem, traditionally written in a single unbroken line in which the first and third lines consist of 5 syllables and the others consist of 7 sylabbles each, known in its five-line, 5/7/5/7/7 syllable count form.

One of the oldest Japanese forms, tanka originated in the seventh century, and quickly became the preferred verse form not only in the Japanese Imperial Court, where nobles competed in tanka contests, but for women and men engaged in courtship. Tanka’s economy and suitability for emotional expression made it ideal for intimate communication; lovers would often, after an evening spent together (often clandestinely), dash off a tanka to give to the other the next morning as a gift of gratitude.

Poets.org