2009 World Tanka Contest

Dear Friends,

I wanted to let you know that I have been awarded first and second place in the 2009 World Tanka Competition. It is an absolute joy for me and also very humbling. This comes at the end of a year in which I was awarded a Tanka Spendor Award for a sequence that Pamela A. Babusci and I wrote together and during which I also received a Certificate Of Merit from the Nihon Kajin Club (Japanese Tanka Poets Society).

Also, I want to thank you all for the support and companionship you have offered throughout 2009 and to wish you all a peace-filled Christmas and a very happy New Year.

I am taking a break for a week or so but will be back in early January.

You can see the winning poems by clicking on the title above.

With very best wishes

Paul

fearing
the truth in my heart
may be seen
I turn
from your gaze

day moon -
the distance between us
full of silence

by the window
watching the willow
bending in the wind
wondering what freedom
I really have

Modern English Tanka V2 N1 Autumn 2007