Tanka prose

Foetal Curl
In "Foetal Curl" I present lively images and apply painting techniques to convey moods and feelings.
Thistledown
"Thistledown" is a series of four pieces of tanka prose. It's title is taken from the first one. While all have different settings and moods, they are connected by their narrative style – and by the wind.
For a Lark
Not suprisingly, given its title, humor is an essential aspect of the series' second work.
Wings
"Wings" hints at a medieval legend about the barnacle geese.
Few and Far Between
In this last and most dramatic part of the "Thistledown" series, all tanka play on poems from the Kokin Wakashū.
Beneath the Waves
"Beneath the Waves" hints at a tale by Andersen. It is also an example of ekphrasis and clearly shows how the incorporation of several tanka, and several tanka in sequence, affects the prose.
Lose Me and You're Lost
In the autumn of 2008, a rather lopsided alder tree inspired me to write this tanka tale.
Random Noise
Another instance of prose with a tanka sequence.
Parents, Children...
This work begins with a rengay, a form of poetry perfectly fit to represent scraps of conversation.
Market Day
In its original version, "Market Day" consists of German tanka prose and an English tanka. Switching languages is natural to me in everyday life, and in this instance it fulfills a function, so I never bothered to translate the poem.
Air
A rare case of first writing a tanka and then dreaming the tanka prose.
Forget-me-nots
When flowers voice themselves in tanka, subtle rhyme comes into play.
One Step Aside
I wrote "One Step Aside" as a counterpart to "Forget-Me-Nots". It doesn't contain tanka, but it is a good exemple of short lyrical prose with free verse.
Autumn
A nostalgic piece about homesickness and a second home.
Flotsam
"Flotsam" was my first piece of tanka prose in 2002, when the genre and its ancient Japanese models were still rather unknown.

Last update 14.04.2010

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