Tanka  (English, Paperback, Noel Lorenz)

This is the second book of ancient Japanese poetry by a simple zen practitioner, Noel Lorenz. Tanka is an ancient Japanese form of unrhymed poetry which is mostly popular for its small size. It consists of only five lines capturing the essence of the moment pictured in it, where crafty juxtaposition plays its role. It has 31 syllables in total, spread in 5-7-5-7-7 across five lines. The author of this book has been practicing Japanese Zen meditation for several years. He has already published Haiku (vol. 1), his first book in the Japanese poetry series, and a few more books are in the pipeline for 2020. The poems in this book and the next volume were composed in forty-six hours.