Ken Slaughter

Former Vice President

24 Briarwood Circle

Worcester, MA 01606 USA

Ken Slaughter lives in Worcester, Massachusetts, with his wife and two cats. He recently retired from a career in information technology. Ken has been writing poetry for a long time, but in 2011 he made a decision that changed his life: he decided to concentrate on tanka. Ken’s first published tanka appeared in A Hundred Gourds in the spring of 2012. Later that year, he won second prize in the TSA annual contest, along with an honorable mention. In 2014 he received an honorable mention in the contest. In 2015 he took first prize and had two more honorable mentions. Some of his work can be found in the book Petrichor, available on Amazon. Ken maintains the All Things Tanka blog to help tanka writers keep track of submission deadlines.

a backpack

with my life story inside

the truth

I twist and bend

just to get it in

Atlas Poetica #17

an orange moon

rises over the beach

holding hands

we see our shadows

in a new light

Ribbons 8:3

will I hear it

when it’s my time to go?

my mother’s voice

when the streetlights come on

calling me home

Ribbons 11:1