Most people are familiar with haiku, the three line, seventeen syllable Japanese poem that captures a seasonal nature image so sharply it pierces the heart. But another form of Japanese poetry, the tanka, is intriguing me. It is essentially a three line haiku with two more seven syllable lines at the end, making it a five line poem. What I love about it is that those last two lines allow me to add a personal thought connected to the nature image. It expands the heartbeat I can write inside of. And it lends itself so well to illustration and art making it a great form for this new experiment of mine.

National Poetry Month

Okay, so I know it isn't the end of summer, but this is one of my favorite paintings and one of the first I created as a way to join my art and my writing. April is National Poetry Month and I am committed to writing at least a poem a day for this month. I am also challenging myself to finally start submitting poems again for publication. I challenge you to choose a poetry anthology and read a poem a day for this month. Maybe it will become a habit. For those of you who do write poetry, make this the month you amp up your writing output and send out some of your favorites.

I continue to work at weaving my poems into art and am moving toward making the lines of poetry a part of the art piece as opposed to just an attachment to a background or description of an image. The play of paint and poetry intrigues me as I wander deeper into my new creative world.

I'd love to see your comments and perhaps some examples of your own art and poetry.

Happy writing!