Japanese Poem About Spanish Lady

There is more to Japanese poetry than haiku.

The most common throughout history was tanka, which is 5-7-5-7-7.

I never really understood Japanese poetry until I read Traditional Japanese Poetry: An Anthology, with commentary and translations by Steven Carter. I read it on a lark in college, and I liked it so much I got my own copy.

There are other forms besides haiku and tanka, and they all have lines of five or seven syllables. Conveniently enough, there is one of the form 5-7-5-7-7-7, called Bussokusekika.

The Spanish lady
bought a condo recently
along the red line.
Tomorrow I catch a flight
from Austin to Atlanta.
I should have stayed back up north.

Yesterday I had to turn my apartment upside down to find a winter hat and gloves. I did not think I would need them in Austin, but then I did not think I would get shipped out to Boise every week either. I later realized I did not know where I put the map of Spain she gave me a few years ago. I am sure I still have it. I just do not recall seeing it.

As the Prophets would say, it is not linear.

Image generated by Wolfram Alpha on 2013-12-08, allowed by their terms of use

Page created on 2013-12-08_11:31:03, last modified on 2022-02-17_0:18:52.

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