Tanka Society of America


Welcome to the Tanka Society of America website. Here you can learn more about the society, its activities, and membership benefits. You can also learn more about our journal, Ribbons, our annual tanka contest, and our membership anthologies. If you’re not already a member, please read the Top-Five Benefits of TSA Membership and JOIN OR RENEW TODAY.
 

Tanka poetry has a history of more than 1,300 years in Japan and 100 years in English. Originally written in the Japanese Imperial court, when it was known as waka, tanka has grown to be a worldwide genre of poetry written in English on a variety of topics, usually in five lines. Join fellow members of the Tanka Society of America, founded in 2000, in discovering, sharing, studying, preserving, and appreciating this vibrant genre of English-language poetry.

 

Please also visit our Facebook page.

TSA News

  • TSA 20th Anniversary Taiga Showcase To help celebrate the Tanka Society of America’s twentieth anniversary in 2020, Susan Burch solicited and compiled “taiga” (haiga featuring tanka) to display on the society’s Facebook page ...
    Posted Sep 23, 2020, 4:12 PM by Michael Dylan Welch
  • 2020 Sanford Goldstein International Tanka Contest Results Congratulations to the winners of the 2020 Sanford Goldstein International Tanka Contest, judged by Margaret Dornaus and Claire Everett. Results and commentary are now live, with the top three poems ...
    Posted Aug 11, 2020, 12:34 AM by Michael Dylan Welch
  • 2020 TSA Membership Anthology Members, we need your tanka! The Tanka Society of America is pleased to announce that its 20th anniversary members’ anthology will be edited by TSA founder and president, Michael Dylan ...
    Posted Jul 5, 2020, 1:19 PM by Michael Dylan Welch
  • Announcing the 2020 Goldstein Tanka Contest The Tanka Society of America is pleased to announce the 2020 Sanford Goldstein International Tanka Contest. In honor of the society’s 20th anniversary, the contest is FREE to enter ...
    Posted Mar 28, 2020, 12:01 AM by Michael Dylan Welch
  • Tanka Haiga Invitation In celebration of the Tanka Society of America’s 20th anniversary and in honor of National Poetry Month, we have decided to run a special “Tanka Haiga” feature across the ...
    Posted Jul 5, 2020, 1:51 PM by Michael Dylan Welch
  • Happy New Year, Tanka Society of America! 明けましておめでとう。 To kick off the new year, which is also the Tanka Society of America’s 20th anniversary year, the society is pleased to share a short new video featuring ...
    Posted Jan 1, 2020, 12:08 AM by Michael Dylan Welch
  • TSA Election Results The Tanka Society of America is pleased to report that the following people have been elected or reelected as officers for the 2020–2021 term: President: Michael Dylan Welch Vice ...
    Posted Nov 24, 2019, 5:02 PM by Michael Dylan Welch
  • New Ribbons Editor The Tanka Society of America thanks David Rice for his eight years of service as editor of the society's journal, Ribbons. He has announced that he now wishes to ...
    Posted Sep 12, 2019, 10:05 AM by Michael Dylan Welch
  • 2019 Sanford Goldstein International Tanka Contest Results Congratulations to the winners of the 2019 Sanford Goldstein International Tanka Contest, judged by Michelle Brock and Hazel Hall. We were delighted to announce the winners at Tanka Sunday on ...
    Posted Aug 23, 2019, 1:00 PM by Michael Dylan Welch
  • Tanka Monday Final Schedule Tanka Monday is just one week away. Check out the final schedule, featuring a pleasing variety of readings, presentations, writing exercises, an anonymous workshop, group discussion, and more. Hope to ...
    Posted Aug 4, 2019, 1:28 AM by Michael Dylan Welch
Showing posts 1 - 10 of 76. View more »

 

2020 Contest Winners

          Judged by Margaret Dornaus and Claire Everett

 

 

          First Place
 
           plague-year parsnips
           browned in butter—
           the flavor
           of my mother’s victory garden
           in another sort of war

               Jenny Ward Angyal
 
 
          Second Place

 

           another indigo evening

           with windows wide open

           to smell the rain

           what is the color

           of loneliness?


               Pamela A. Babusci

 

 

          Honorable Mention

 

           watercolor poppies

           blowing across the field . . .

           why

           is it so hard

           to learn from history


               Rebecca Drouilhet



          Read more TSA Contest winners.