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I wrote these poems on 21 December 2000, the Winter Solstice, as a comparative exercise in the Japanese poetic forms of the tanka and the haiku. The haiku is an unrhymed three-lined poem with a 5/7/5 syllable pattern; the tanka is an unrhymed five-lined poem with a 5/7/5/7/7 syllable pattern. Though I was aware of both forms, I was more familiar with the haiku (please see Collected Haiku: Winter/Spring 1978 and The Publisher) and had no experience with the tanka. In order to gain an understanding for both the similarities and the differences in the forms, first I wrote a tanka, then a corresponding haiku using the same initial concept. Then I reversed the order, writing the haiku first and the tanka second. I'll leave the interpretation of the results to the reader.
Japanese Exercises
by Matt Wallace
| First Exercise |
Winter Solstice comes
With air cold and sky so gray.
I receive the day
With a shiver to my core
And my vision so steely.
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Winter Solstice comes
With frigid air and sky gray
Sun's return belied.
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| Second Exercise |
My slumber ending,
I see myself once again
And know my oneness.
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My slumber ending,
I see myself once again.
In my solitude,
I revel in my power,
And I embrace my purpose.
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