As contest coordinator for the Fleeting Words Tanka Contest, I was delighted to receive a diverse collection of tanka from across the globe, including the following countries, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Egypt, France, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Myanmar, Poland, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Trinidad, UK, and USA. A special thank you to our friends on social media who distributed our competition results via Facebook pages and posted our competition details on their personal Web pages. It has been a pleasure to work with an’ya the contest judge. Thank you to all entrants for trusting me with their tanka.-Marilyn Humbert, Australia
FIRST PLACE
birdsong swells
as each primrose glistens
with dewdrops
a tranquil dawn after
the night’s disharmony
Farah Ali, UK
In First Place, is this fine tanka by Farah Ali from the UK. It begins with the sound of birdsong, and the visual of primroses glistening with dewdrops, which carry on to create a “tranquil dawn” in line 4. In contrast, line 5 reminds us of the past “night’s disharmony”, however, this author doesn’t “tell” us exactly what caused that disharmony. We are let to imagine this for ourselves. Thank you Farah for sharing this entry. Contest Judge, an’ya, USA
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SECOND PLACE
at midnight
I creep out with my torch
for this moment
when the orchid cactus blooms –
the brilliance of one small life
Anne Benjamin, Australia
I really liked the concept of this Second Place tanka composed by Anne Benjamin of Australia. It also gave me a chuckle as line 2 sounded like something a typical haiku or tanka poet would do to capture a moment. Anne rewards her readers with lovely cactus blooms and allows us to see their brilliance in the middle of the night. Contest Judge, an’ya, USA
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THIRD PLACE
tussocks
soften the bog's edge
my thoughts
lost in this tangle
of lemming runways
Debbie Strange, Canada
In Third Place, this interesting tanka by a consistent winner in various contests, Debbie Strange who lives in Canada. The word “tussocks” in line 1 immediately grabs the reader’s attention. The person in this tanka knows enough to stay at the edge of the bog, and is aware enough to see the “lemming runaways” (excellent word choice btw). Contest Judge, an’ya, USA
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HONORABLE MENTION
skeins of wool
unravel at my feet
in the last light
a swirl of snow geese
begins to descend
Debbie Strange, Canada
Again, to Debbie, thank you for entering this HM. An incredibly visual write that allowed me to imagine a woman in her rocking chair with skeins of wool at her feet. I sense the metaphor here and can see the woman dozing off with that swirl of descending snow geese. contest Judge, an’ya, USA