A Tanka Diary


I can't believe it. I am keeping a tanka diary!  In my wildest dream, I never dreamed that I would write tanka, not to mention keeping a tanka diary. When I was working on my MFA, I had one thing in mind--writing plays. I did consider myself successful in playwriting--having some stage-readings inside and outside Seattle, productions in small local theatres and finalists in nationwide competitions, plus three grants, one from the Dramatists' Guild for my loss of income due to a severe knee injury. (Without a good resume, I probably wouldn't have received the Guild's monetary assistance.) I wasn't doing too bad writing for American theatre. Then, I shifted to memoir writing and then, to fiction writing. 

In August 2010, I was admitted to ICU for pneumonia and congestive heart failure that almost killed me and was hospitalized for a week. Eager to get back to writing but too weak to work on my novel, I wrote haiku that I started in 2007 but wasn't serious about. Encouraged by the publication of my haiku, I tried my hand at tanka last October and had my first tanka published in the March issue of A Hundred Gourds.  Ever since, more of my tanka have been accepted for publication, I decide to keep a tanka diary.

What a twist and turn! Such is my life! Things happen when I least expected them. Like my resettling in America, with neither gold for the boat trip, nor relative in the New World, how could I come? Here I am, chasing a writer's dream in my adopted country!

More of my published haiku:

Haiku News http://www.wayfarergallery.net/haikunews/

What Can I Say?

Life is full of unexpectedness. Writing haiku and the related forms is one of the unexpected things that has happened in my life. My 2010's hospitalization for pneumonia and congestive heart failure that almost killed me weakened me and left me little energy to write. To ease myself back into writing, I chose haiku writing which I had been doing but did not take it seriously, by that I mean I didn't think that I would spend my time and energy on this kind of poetry and had my poems published. I made that choice because haiku requires only three lines, although it is not easy to write them well, I could handle it as I could write for only ten/fifteen minutes months after I returned home.

After I got my first haiku published in an online journal, I was immensely encouraged and decided to become a haiku writer. Later, I explored the other related forms of haiku--haibun and tanka--and had them published. Now I am a published Japanese short poetry writer, something that I have never thought of being when I received my MFA.

A Hundred Gourds

A Hundred Gourds

Two Leap Years in the Same Year

The year 2012 is a leap year. The Year of the Dragon is also a leap year. For the solar calendar, there is one extra day in February in the leap year. For the lunar calendar, a leap year means an extra month. With an extra day and an extra month, what do you do with the time? For me, I am glad to have an extra day, so that I can give my blog its monthly update, one thing I didn't get to do yesterday. I am also glad to have more time to work on my writing projects.

One friend of mine has brought up a question on Facebook: How people who were born on a leap day celebrate their birthday? Well, what about those who observe the lunar calendar for their birthdays? Would they celebrate two birthdays when the day falls on a leap month? I can't remember if I ever celebrate two birthdays since I observe the lunar calendar for my birthday.

To celebrate a leap year, some friends have written haiku about today. Here is mine:

leap year
one more day to hope for . . .
sunshine after rain

Hello, the Year of the Dragon

With the arrival of 2012, my Japanese short form poetry writing is getting a good start. And, to my further excitement and encouragement, I received news on the second day of the Lunar New Year that two of my tanka have been accepted for publication in the spring edition, the inaugural issue of Multiverses Journal. This is even more encouraging news because I started exploring the art form last October, and one of my accepted tanka was written on my own; in other words, it had not been workshopped at a public forum. The acceptance pumps into me more confidence--I can write tanka.

Since trying my hand at it, I've fallen in love with this form. It has two more lines than haiku and thus offers the writer more room for expression. I love the Japanese style short poetry because I can express myself quickly; that doesn't mean it's easier to write than free verse.

Like 2012, good news also kicked off my Year of the Dragon. With eleven months ahead of me, if I continue to put into this writing project the same amount of time and efforts as I did in last year, (meanwhile, I haven't lost sight of my other project--my novel) I can expect more good news down the road.

Hello. 2012

The year 2011 has been pretty good for me as far as writing is concerned. And better yet,before the year ends, I receive an email from the editor Jim Kacian of The Red Moon Anthology congratulating me on having my previously published haiku included in the anthology. It is encouraging news and ends my year of 2011 on a high note and at the same time makes me optimistic for 2012.

My writing project for the new year is of two prongs : finishing up my own anthology of haiku, haibun, and tanka about my journey from Vietnam to America and continuing to work on my novel which I think will be completed in 2013.

Here, I wish everyone a happy, peaceful, and productive New Year!

The link to my haibun about my mother : A Hundred Gourds

A Published Haibun for My Mother

In tomorrow's inaugural issue of an online journal, A Hundred Gourds, I have one haiku and one haibun published. I will show them here after they are released. It will be my first haibun that gets published and I am very excited about it. Here I would like to thank the haibun editor Ray Rasmussen for his time and help; without his willingness to work with me together to make it publishable, I would not be able to share my haibun with the readers.

The haibun is about my mother, the most important person in my life. Without her, my life would have been totally different; I would not be writing this blog to share with you my joy, my excitement, my gratitude to having a mother who, uneducated but keenly aware of the importance of education, generously gave me an education not only in one language but in three languages.

I am looking forward to tomorrow to see my haibun written for my mother in publication.

Haiku Writing and Fiction Writing

Having had three haiku published in a journal, with one accepted for publication by another journal in December, I can add one more entry to my writer's resume : a published haiku writer in addition to an award-winning, produced playwright.

Here are the two haiku published in the October issue of Notes from the Gean:

Tientsin pears --
the sweet taste
of my mother's homeland

a reflection
across multiple rivers
my heritage

I started writing haiku in 2007. At that time, my understanding of this Japanese style short poetry was minimal--a haiku being non-conceptual and objective and short. At that time, holding a demanding day job of an interpreter plus working on a different writing project I considered primary, I spent little time reading and studying the others' haiku. However, things changed since last March. After joining the haiku forum, I've learned about its structure--a phrase and a fragment--and have had more time to read and study and write haiku, my poems have greatly improved.

What I've learned from this writing process is the importance of learning the know-how. Once I learned the techniques of effective haiku, I knew how to do it and how to do it right. Like working on any other kinds of writing, it takes time, devotion, passion, perseverance, and hard work. In the past, I had passion for haiku but not devotion.