Laurels

Laurels: Tanka Society of America Online Journal

Laurels is the twice-yearly online publication of the Tanka Society of America, launched in 2024, for members only (nonmembers and members are welcome to submit to our print publication, Ribbons). Each issue of Laurels focuses on an announced theme, with members serving as guest editors. Layout and design is by Michael Dylan Welch, with images sourced from Unsplash. Laurels invites individual tanka only, and does not include sequences, tanka prose, essays, or reviews, and will accept no more than one poem per member per issue. We invite members to submit up to three unpublished tanka for each issue. Please, no simultaneous or multiple submissions (submit only once).

Submission Deadlines

Laurels submission deadlines are in-hand no later than the following dates:

• January 31

• June 30

Each Laurels guest editor will typically respond to all submissions within one month of each submission deadline.

Laurels #4 Submission Guidelines for members only

• Guest editor: Jackie Chou

• Theme: Time

Time is a concept that guides our lives every day. It can be measured by clocks, hourglasses, or as T. S. Eliot put it, “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.” I can just envision the canister emptying as the days go by. How do you spend your time? Do you have a lot or a little of it? Write some tanka about what time means to you or how it inspires you in your daily life. Here is a sample poem of mine:

an empty jar

my only reminder

of time's passing

does one year matter

when it will turn to ten?

Submissions (TSA members only): Please submit by June 30, 2025 using our online submission form. The form should work correctly for nearly everyone, but if it does not work for you, please try accessing it using a different device. If it still does not work correctly for you, please inquire with Jackie Chou at jchou332@gmail.com or submit by postal mail to Jackie Chou, 6525 Rosemead Blvd., Pico Rivera, CA, 90660 USA.

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