Christine L. Villa

Former Ribbons Editor

5040 Jackson St., #86

North Highlands, CA 95660 USA

Christine “Chrissi” L. Villa was instantly smitten with tanka in 2011 upon thumbing through a children’s poetry journal. She soon found her voice by regularly posting on Tanka Poets on Site, a Facebook group that she joined in 2013. Her passion for haiku and tanka writing has resulted in the publication of her work in many online and print journals worldwide and garnered her several awards. In 2016 she published her debut full-length collection of Japanese short-form poetry, The Bluebird’s Cry. Chrissi is the founding editor of Frameless Sky, the very first haiku and tanka journal that offers collaborations of art, poetry, and music, available on DVD. She is also the founding editor of Velvet Dusk Publishing, a small printing press that publishes Japanese short-form poetry, cherita, and mixed-genre full-length books, chapbooks, and ebooks. Visit Chrissi online at her Blossom Rain blog, the Frameless Sky website, and the Velvet Dusk Publishing website.

only remembering

how he loved me . . .

in a clear brook

white clouds gather

in my hands

Honorable Mention, 2014 Tanka Society of America Sanford Goldstein International Tanka Contest

his stand

on chemotherapy . . .

a bluebird’s cry

nestles in the palm

of sunrise

First Place, Mandy’s Pages 2015 Annual Tanka Contest

polishing

the apple on my jeans . . .

I know

my mother-in-law

still has something to say

Honorable Mention, 2017 Tanka Society of America Sanford Goldstein International Tanka Contest