Note: Although traditional in our interpretation of English language tanka, Tanka Editor, Pamela A. Babusci, asked us to showcase Liam’s work in a separate segment, to give you a view of this poet’s skill and artistry.
Liam Wilkinson – Modern Free Verse Tanka
in the just enough
space of night
I ask myself
what I’m doing
and the sun rises
I rush into decisions
like cold empty rooms
the faint outline
of myself
in broken windows
trying to talk
to you
my voice clutched
by a need
to cry
there must be
ways of waking
my faith in things
a line of zeds
around my neck
no news
is good news
red ripples
cross the surface
of my wine
morning light
on the chaise longue day
to be fifteen again
and just a handful of books
into the world
that faint stink
of cheap cigarettes
on the pages
of an old journal
I let the words blur
white as waiting
these fields of snow
I lift
the startling lightness
of my load
nailing down
a sigh of relief
nothing
not one moment
will escape me
perhaps the awesome
is nothing but
something different
snow in the grooves
of old footprints
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Liam Wilkinson was born in South Yorkshire, England. For the last ten years his poems, including haiku, senryu and tanka, have been published widely in print and on the Internet.
He is the founding editor of 3LIGHTS: Journal of Haiku & Related Forms and the current editor of Prune Juice: Journal of Senryu & Kyoka. In 2009 he was editor-in-chief of Modern Haiga and, between 2007 and 2009, curator of the 3LIGHTS Gallery. His debut collection of tanka, The Darkening Tide, was released as an ebook in 2007.
Liam lives with his wife Diane in North Yorkshire, England. His website is at http://sites.google.com/site/liamwilkinsononline
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