Tanka Poem and Quote – Echos

Photo Credit

“The temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers.”  Matsuo Basho

 Tanka Poetry using the above quote for inspiration.

laying on the ground

temple bell has stopped ringing

flowers shining bright

echo’s still floating around

intense in my ears 

Tanka Poetry – consists of five units, usually with the following pattern of  –  5-7-5-7-7 which is syllables.

The first three lines (5/7/5) are the upper phase. This upper stage is where you create an image in your reader’s mind.

The last two lines (7/7) of a Tanka poem are called the lower phase.  The final two lines should express the poet’s ideas about the image that was created in the three lines above.