napowrimo day 5: “tanka 1”
tanka is an ancient japanese poetic form, popular long before haiku, that mimics the first three lines of tanka.
it’s structure is syllabic: 5,7,5,7,7, and doesn’t rhyme.  traditionally it was written as one unbroken line, however americans prefer to write in 5 lines.
the first three lines traditionally pose a question or conflict that the last two lines answer.  in this poem i’ve inverted that structure.
there, now you know more about tanka then you ever conceived you might!