Wandering in vain
Has seldom let a man be
Anything but lost;
Is it any wonder, then
That people try to draw maps?

–Doug Kendrick

Yesterday, I made an effort to memorize the Naniwa Bay tanka poem that is used to start a Japanese Karuta match. With that buzzing through my brain, I woke up at 1:20 this morning with a haiku on my mind. I wrote it down in my bedside notebook, closed my eyes for 5 minutes and thought of the final two lines, turning it into my first-ever tanka (another Japanese poetry form also known as waka with a 5-7-5-7-7 syllable format).

I’m actually quite proud of myself–hopefully I’ll be able to post these from time to time.

© 2012 Douglas P. Kendrick, all rights reserved.