Announcement: KYSO Flash HTP Contest Results

Recently, I received the surprising news of winning first place in the HTP Contest, a joint haibun and tanka prose competition administered by Clare MacQueen, editor/publisher extraordinaire of the innovative KYSO Flash online journal. To read my piece, "Approximations," as well as the other winning entries plus the semifinalist and publisher's choice entries, follow this link.

For commentaries by Matthew Paul, judge, follow this link.

Many thanks to Clare and Matthew!

How light; futile to try

how light

can resculpt a face

… if for one day

I could be everyone

I've been loath to like




—Ribbons (runner-up, Tanka Café, "Changing the World"), Fall 2015


Thanks to poet James Chessing for his insightful comments in the Tanka Café feature of the Winter 2016 issue of Ribbons, the Tanka Society of America journal. The above poem is mine. But congratulations to Joyce S. Greene for her winning Café poem, included below with her permission. FYI, for each issue of Ribbons, members are invited to submit tanka on a specific new theme. The winner from the previous issue makes the selections.

futile to try
to change the world
I can't change myself
all my vows to worry less
and chuckle more, forgotten

~Joyce S. Greene
—Ribbons (winner, Tanka Café, "Changing the World"), Fall 2015

On my knees

on my knees 
in a forest of weeds ... 
through the night 
the chatter of small things 
I rip from my life

—Eucalypt, 20, Spring 2016 (Distinctive Scribblings award)

Many thanks to Jenny Ward Angyal for selecting my tanka but especially for her beautiful, thoughtful appraisal, a work of art in its own right. 

Announcement: June Tanka Contests

Calling All Tanka Poets: Entries are currently being accepted for the following contests:

• KYSO Flash HTP Contest (haibun/tanka prose)—deadline June 15

• Mandy's Pages Annual Contest—deadline June 30

• Tanka Society of America 2016 Sanford Goldstein Annual Tanka Contest—deadline June 30

At Biltmore Estate, Asheville, NC, June 2015

Early spring

early spring 

the soft growth of antlers ...

a chill

each time my eyes meet his

on the hunter's trophy

—Skylark (a "Skylark's Nest" runner-up), 3:2, Winter 2015

Tanka Time 2016

Calling all tanka poets: Tanka Time, an annual challenge at Mandy's Pages, is currently taking place. The theme: rose. Entry fee: none.

Announcement: KYSO Flash (Knock-Your-Socks-Off Art and Literature) Triple-F Writing Challenge

Sharpen your pencils now…the deadline is fast approaching 

Deadline: Sunday, February 7, 2016 (midnight PST)

Categories: Micro-fiction, prose poetry, poetic hybrids such as haibun stories and tanka tales, and lineated poetry (both free verse and formal). Innovative works also welcomed.

The Challenge: Entries must be no longer than 500 words each, including the title (and we count words in all poems as well, not lines). Each entry must also include seamless use of three prompt words: fierce, flicker, and fool.

Prizes (in USD):

$300 First Place

$200 Second Place

$100 Third Place

$50 Honorable Mentions (3-5 awarded)

Plus publication online and in a soft-cover anthology, with a complimentary copy for each winner and finalist

Entry Fee: $5 USD per submission, no limit. Electronic entries only, accepted via Submittable.

Summary Description: 

KYSO Flash announces a writing-prompt challenge of three words: fierce, flicker and fool. Accepted from writers worldwide: micro-fiction, prose poetry, haibun stories, tanka tales, and lineated poetry, both free and formal verse. Innovative works welcomed. Cash prizes. $5 entry fee per submission, no limit. Winners and finalists will be published online this spring and in our print anthology next fall; contributors will receive one complimentary copy each.

Full Guidelines: http://www.kysoflash.com/Classifieds.aspx

Tanka Prose

The Breezeway

rest home residents

sedate in their wheelchairs

… as I pass by,

that age-old feeling

of being the odd one out

When the weather is decent enough, patients (both short-term and long-term), as well as family members, caretakers, and miscellaneous workers on break, line both sides of the covered walkway leading to the main entrance of the facility. We often join them there. Swirls of air from the overhead fan graze our faces.

laundry's lost

as often as names

are forgotten …

today my mother

calls me her sister

A magnolia tree, its base wide and its spire reaching well above the rooftop of the adjacent building, usually captures her attention—and mine too. But right now, and for the past week or so, she appears to be particularly fascinated by a certain row of windows on the topmost story. With a voice that more than anything is gentle and hopeful, the one who decades ago carried me into the world advises, "Maybe you'll want to move here, on the third floor."

Within a few seconds, I hear the half-whisper of a woman seated across from me, as if she could read my mind. "It's the view," she offers. I simply nod. 

_______________

Pleased to tie for third place in the recent Mandy's Pages Where the Tanka Prose Grows 2015 challenge! 

Note: A slight edit made in the first tanka—"walk" replaced with "pass," the word I used in my original draft. 

Announcement: Tanka Prose Contest Reminder

Tanka Society of America Tanka Prose Contest
A 15th-Anniversary Special Event 

Deadline: October 31

Fees: None

Prize: Free 2016 TSA membership to first-place winner

Submission Guidelines: See the website

Open to members and nonmembers alike. 

The entries have been streaming in: thanks!   JLD

Announcement: Tanka Prose Challenge at Mandy's Pages

Where Tanka Prose Grows 2015—A free challenge. Going on right now!

Announcement: 2015 Sanford Goldstein International Tanka Contest Results

Please see the Tanka Society of America website for a list of the winning poems from the 2015 Sanford Goldstein International Tanka Contest! The winners were selected by judges Carole MacRury and Laura Maffei from a pool of 499 entries. Congratulations to these poets:

First Place: Ken Slaughter 

Second Place: José Angel Araguz 

Third Place: Susan Burch 

Honorable Mentions: Dawn Manning, David Terelinck, James Chessing, and Ken Slaughter (2).

The complete report with the judges' comments will be published in the fall 2015 issue of Ribbons as well as later on the website.

Announcement: Special Event Tanka Prose Contest (October)

The Tanka Society of America is pleased to announce a tanka prose contest that will take place this fall. This fifteenth-anniversary special event is open to members and nonmembers alike. There is no entry fee, and the first-place winner will receive a 2016 TSA membership. Please see the submission guidelines at the TSA website for details. The guidelines also are included in the spring/summer issue of Ribbons, the TSA journal.

Announcement: June tanka contests

Poets, submit your fine English-language tanka to these two annual contests. The deadlines for each are June 30. Refer to the websites for submission details as well as contest results from previous years.

• Annual Tanka Contest 2015 at Mandy's Pages—Theme: to be announced June 1. Cash prizes. Fee: first tanka free, subsequent tanka $2 (US) each.

• 2015 Tanka Society of America Sanford Goldstein International Contest—No theme. Cash prizes. Fee: $1 (US) per tanka.

Announcement: Tanka Society of America 2015 Contest; Tanka Time 2015

The Tanka Society of America invites you to enter the 2015 International Tanka Contest (in-hand deadline, June 30). For submission guidelines, see the TSA website or the upcoming winter issue of Ribbons, the TSA journal. We look forward to your participation again this year. On the website, you also can find winning poems and judges' reports for the 2014 contest and all previous contests. 

Plus, tanka poets, the TankaTime 2015 challenge is going on right now at Mandy's Pages. Check it out!

Refusing

refusing
to use a walker
or cane
she leans on me
for the first time in her life

Happy to win second place for English-language tanka in the 2014 San Francisco International Competition, conducted by the Haiku Poets of Northern California (HPNC). Poet/editor Michael McClintock was the tanka judge this time.

15th annual TSA contest winners

Congratulations to the recent winners of the Tanka Society of America International Tanka Contest! Fellow poet-blogger Jenny Ward Angyal won second place. We had a huge response from around the world: more than 500 tanka were entered. So, as coordinator, I've been quite busy. To read all the wonderful winning poems, see the TSA website.

Announcement: TSA and Mandy's Pages Tanka Contests this Month

All tanka poets:

Don't forget that you have until the end of this month to submit your entries for the 15th annual Tanka Society of America International Contest. Of course, the contest coordinator, yours truly, would be most appreciative if you got your poems to her sooner rather than later. Thanks for all the entries submitted thus far! Please follow the guidelines posted at the TSA website. The winners will be announced online in late summer. 

Also during this month of June, Mandy's Pages is sponsoring a tanka contest. The theme is "love." Be sure to check out all the details, including the prizes to be awarded.

Announcement: Submit now to TSA International Contest

A reminder for all English-language tanka poets: the submission window for the 15th annual Tanka Society of America International Contest is now open. Submit your finest unpublished tanka until June 30. Please carefully follow the contest instructions.

Announcement: Tanka Time 2014

Check out Tanka Time 2014, an event sponsored by Mandy's Pages. You have until the end of this month to submit a tanka on the theme of "march or March." Participants will vote on the submitted tanka, and the winning poems will be posted on the website.

Announcement: 2014 Tanka Society of America International Contest

Be sure to mark your calendars for the 15th annual Tanka Society of America International Contest! The submission window will be open May 1 through June 30. Members and nonmembers alike are eligible to participate, and the entry fee is only $1 per tanka. For submission details, see the TSA website or the new issue of Ribbons, the TSA print journal (which will be mailed to members very soon).

P.S. The coordinator this year is ... me.