Brown Bear Dreamscape

Tanka, Dutch for Poetry Week at The Writer's Cramp

Yearling bear cub
cuddled snug in her den
a portrait of
hibernation.
Do you dream?

Yes, of bee buzz,
live salmon luncheon fare,
the sun warmed fur
of mid-summer.
Who just spoke?

Me, in Tanka
one late December eve
when stars, aligned,
shook and shivered.
Understand?


note ▶︎

15 lines

Tanka, Dutch

Instead of the normal Tanka this one has 21 syllables, divided over five lines. It ends with a question in the fifth stanza.

It is built up this way:
xxxx
xxxxxx
xxxx
xxxx
xxx

An example:

old green haired man
guarding the area
birds making nests
in your branches
do you care?


The Dutch Tanka can be a "stand alone" poem, or written in a chain. When written in a chain, you have to make sure that the question in the previous stanza is answered in the first line of the next stanza.

An example of a Dutch Tanka Chain:
old green haired man
guarding the area
birds making nests
in your branches
do you care?

yes, I do care
treasuring life in me
I’m their shelter
I nurture them.
what’s your point?

I’m so ashamed
that I have bothered you
you’re important
to the birds, please
forgive me?

© Bianca 2004


Poetry Forms:
http://home.planet.nl/~boons468/Poetry_Forms.html
Some of my art:
http://home.planet.nl/~boons468/Bianca.htm