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In the ship’s wake - an anthology of tanka, edited by Brian Tasker, IRON Press, ISBN 0 906228 81 6 £5.99

When IRON Press published The Haiku Hundred in 1992 it was a landmark of its kind. Certainly, for me, it was an introduction to that poetry form. Since then there has been a satisfying growth in the number and quality of haiku being written and an increase in our understanding of the form. Tanka, on the other hand, is still relatively unknown. One question has to be whether, with the publication of this new anthology, we will see a similar increase in popularity and development of the tanka.

IRON Press is the country’s leading independent publisher of haiku and a publication by them, I felt, must be taken seriously. I was also pretty sure too, that an anthology edited by Brian Tasker would deliver quality and freshness. Of course, editors are always limited by the quality of the material they receive. In this regard, it is interesting to note that although Brian wanted 100 poems he was only able to select 60 from those submitted to him. This then increased to 75 when he selected second poems from some of the poets submitting. While this probably reflects the small number of quality practitioners, it does not, in my reading of the anthology, reflect at all badly on the anthology itself. Indeed, in my view, a smaller number of well written poems will do more to promote the form than a larger book with too many ‘so what’ inclusions.

The poems in this anthology were written in the ‘West at the end of the 20th Century’. It includes poems from Romania, New Zealand, Japan, Ireland, Canada, Belgium and Holland, though generally only one from each. The majority of the tanka included, however, come from the UK and the USA.

Tanka originated in Japan more than 1200 years ago. However, it went into decline as a poetic form in the 15th century as haiku became popular. Originally it was a form of Court poetry but lost its way as it became too rule- bound and mechanical. Today there are a number of different tanka schools in Japan, ranging from those that believe that they should be the embodiment of emotion to those who believe that they should be pure nature poems. John Barlow in his introduction to the first edition of tangled hair, an international journal of contemporary tanka, published in 1999, says,

I believe that if English tanka are to be relevant, both in the West and in Japan, then they will develop their own identity and characteristics, just as Japanese tanka have done in periods throughout their long history.

In the West we have already seen a great diversity in the tanka that have been written. Indeed, this anthology for all of its slimness, is a showcase for this diversity, a diversity seen in both style and subject matter. To develop, I believe, tanka needs such a starting place, a emerging body of work to set the standards and point the way forward. Of course, new writers of tanka also need the historical context, the origins of the form, an understanding of its development. So is ‘Ships’ a good starting place for this basic information? I think it is. Brian Tasker provides a potted history and some discussion of current trends. In his introduction he says,

One argument that could be levelled against Western tanka is that they are little more than imitations or a pastiche of old Japanese poems. I believe that this anthology goes quite some way to prove the relevance and validity of tanka to Western writers as a vehicle that enables communication.

For me, the anthology lives up to this promise. Brian’s editorial input has ensured a diverse and high quality introduction to the world of tanka, with poems that communicate on many levels. I found it enjoyable and informative and I believe that it may well do for tanka what The Haiku Hundred did for haiku.

I will leave you with a taster, a couple of poems. Read them. Then buy the book.