I Can’t Believe It’s Not Tanka!

Since first launching this online journal it has come to our attention that the form of verse we are publishing is not generally considered to be tanka in the true sense of the word. Although in Japanese tanka consist of 31 Japanese sounds ("on"), this does not translate directly into 31 syllables in English; as Founder and President of the Tanka Society of America Michael Dylan Welch points out, English syllables and Japanese "on" are not the same thing, and most writers of tanka in the English language usually aim for closer to 21 syllables or fewer.* Bearing this in mind, as well as the fact that even the five-line structure is not authentic to the form (Japanese tanka consisting of one or two lines written vertically), it would seem that what we publish here are not tanka at all, but a bastardized Western version of the genre.

Having adhered to the 5-7-5-7-7 structure for so many years, we were a tad dismayed to be informed of this - the more so for having cleverly incorporated (or so we thought) the number 31 into the name of our journal. However, although we intend to find out more and try and learn the genuine method for writing English language tanka, we still enjoy this erroneous format that we have practiced for so long (both the writing and the reading of it), as we're sure many of you still do who are reading this. This is why we have decided to continue to accept them in this journal, only henceforth we shall refer to the poems we publish as "tankers", in order to differentiate them from genuine tanka.

If the bona fide English language tanka journal can be likened to a real Italian margherita pizza, then 31 Gorutenda will be the deep dish ham and pineapple version - not as authentic, but still enjoyable.** And still poetry.

* If, like us, you are interested in finding out more about writing proper English language tanka and haiku etc. then there are plenty of links to resources and reading matter on the subject at Michael Dylan Welch's website:

https://www.graceguts.com/further-reading

**Before you start writing in to say that pineapple on pizza is an abomination, I don't have another post I can direct you to, so I'm afraid you're just going to have to live with it.