🌻 Sunflower Tanka Resources & Forms 🌻

About

Sunflower Tanka is a new journal of contemporary tanka and tanka prose.

Founded by Robbie Cheadle & Colleen Chesebro, Sunflower Tanka is published once a year, in December.

Submission periods for 2025 are August 9 - September 9, 2025. The theme for the anthology will be revealed on August 9, 2025. Submissions received outside those dates will not be considered.

Submissions

Sunflower Tanka submissions August 9 - September 9, 2025. Please understand that poems received outside of the submission period will not be read. Thank you.

Please submit 3 to 5 tanka and/or tanka prose written in the English language on the current theme in an email:

The theme for the second Sunflower Tanka Journal will be revealed in August 2025.

Read the submissions page ⬇️


Sunflower Tanka only receives submissions by email. Thank you.

Submit between 3–5 unpublished tanka/tanka prose. We’d like to publish tanka and tanka prose, from the traditional to the experimental. All poems must be your own original work. Please submit only once per submission period.

Please do not submit previously published tanka/tanka prose. Every journal has different definitions of what “published,” means. This is our definition:

If a poem has been published in another journal or on a blog, we consider the poem as published, so please don’t send it to Sunflower Tanka. In addition, if a poem appeared in a self-published poetry book, don’t send it to Sunflower Tanka. If you have any questions, please contact us at tankatuesdaypoetry@gmail.com.

As co-editors, we establish the guidelines for submissions, and we hope to be the first to showcase your talented tanka and tanka prose with the rest of the world in our first edition of the Sunflower Tanka Journal.

Poets will retain the copyright to their poems. If you use your poem elsewhere, please add the line: “This poem was first published in the 2025 Sunflower Tanka Anthology.”

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Meet the Co-Editors

Award-winning, bestselling author Robbie Cheadle has published sixteen children’s books and three poetry books. Her work also features in several poetry and short story anthologies.

Robbie also has two novels published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.

The eleven Sir Chocolate children’s picture books, co-authored by Robbie and Michael Cheadle, are written in sweet, short rhymes which are easy for young children to follow and are illustrated with pictures of delicious cakes and cake decorations. Each book also includes simple recipes or biscuit art directions which children can make under adult supervision.

Robbie and Michael Cheadle have recently launched a new series of children’s books called Southern African Safari Adventures. The first book, Neema the Misfit Giraffe is now available from Amazon.

You can find Robbie Cheadle’s poetry, artwork, fondant and cake artwork, and all her books on her website here: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/. She is also a poetry challenge host on TankaTuesday.com.

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Colleen M. Chesebro grew up in a large city in the Midwest. Keen on making her own way in the world, she joined the United States Air Force after graduation to tour the world and find herself. To this day, that search continues.

Besides poetry books, Chesebro’s publishing career includes participation in various anthologies featuring short stories, flash fiction, and poetry.

In 2016, Colleen created Tanka Tuesday as a platform for poets to learn the fundamentals of Japanese and American syllabic poetry. Each week, the community comes together for #TankaTuesday to write syllabic poetry each week. Consider Word Craft: Prose & Poetry as the first step on your journey to learning the basics of how to craft syllabic poetry.

She offers book publishing services through Unicorn Cats Publishing Services, designed to help authors & poets create ePubs & e-books for publication.

Chesebro lives in the house of her dreams in mid-Michigan, surrounded by the Great Lakes, with her husband and two (unicorn) cats, Chloe & Sophie. Most days, you will find her writing poetry or helping authors create their books for publication on colleenchesebro.org.

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Resources

  • If you’re using the 5-7-5-7-7 syllable count, please count your syllables and the number of lines for the form you’re writing. Use a qualified syllable counter to check your syllable count. We use: https://syllablecounter.net/. If you’re writing in the s-l-s-l-l format, please check your syllable count.
  • Double-check your poem. Look at the spelling and grammar.

🌻 Here’s a refresher on how to write tanka and tanka prose. ⬇️

tanka

5-7-5-7-7 syllable structure, or s-l-s-l-l. Tanka consists of 5 lines written in the first-person point of view from the perspective of the poet. 

The third line is considered your “pivot,” but let it happen anywhere, or exclude it. If you use a pivot, the meaning should apply to the first two lines, as well as the last two lines of your tanka. Tanka are untitled and do not rhyme.

tanka Example

soft hues wash the eye
these heady honeymoon days
on the horizon
sail boats softly drift away
carrying worn dreams with them

© AJ Wilson

tanka Prose Example



Tanka prose is written in the 5-7-5-7-7 or short-long-short-long-long five line syllable structure.

  • Tanka prose always contains a title.
  • Tanka and tanka prose do not rhyme.
  • Tanka prose combines two modes of writing: verse and prose. There are two forms of tanka prose: preface/headnote, or poem tale episode (literary diary, travel account, etc.)

The prose must stand on its own and not become purple prose. When the prose passage is overly poetical itself, the line between the prose and the verse is compromised.

At the heart of tanka prose is the crucial juxtaposition (to place close together for a contrasting effect) between the prose and the tanka verse.

Jeffrey Woodward, “…uses the term segue to underscore the fact that transitions in tanka prose lean toward compositional harmony, not dissonance. This trait runs counter to the character of a closely related discipline, haibun, where the borders between prose and verse are frequently disjunctive and oblique.”

Repetition of a Key Word or Phrase

Jeffrey Woodward suggests two common methods of segue are repetition and complement. The prose, therefore, repeats or completes in some fashion what is offered by the tanka and vice versa. (The Segue in Tanka Prose)

Jeffrey Woodward says:

“A simple and common technique involves repetition of a key word or phrase. In “Neighbors,” a short composition that compared the stubborn human spirit to a barren landscape, I achieved unity between the two modes by introducing in the closing tanka that word and image most prominent in the preceding prose: “stone.”

In “Needles by Night,” a work that describes a trip through the Mojave Desert, I repeated a phrase: coming into Needles Gateway to California:

Coming into Needles on the sly and under the cover of darkness, drunk still on the vacancy of that vivid glare some hours earlier tracked through
coming into Needles by way of the main street, 10:30 p.m. a digital bank clock remarks for the record, 112 Fahrenheit it reports soberly

coming into Needles 
only to pass through 
and quickly
into the wide desert 
of the night again

© Jeffrey Woodward

“Prose and tanka are closely joined here by anaphora, the repetition of a phrase at the beginning of each paragraph and tanka. Iteration of a single word may serve as emphasis or otherwise affect meaning, while the insistent and recurring phrase influences rhythm also.”

In tanka prose, there is only one basic requirement: one paragraph and one tanka.

The paragraph becomes the preface, and the tanka poem then reflects on the prose. You can reverse this with the tanka as the preface and then your prose reflects on the tanka.

There are many ways to create tanka prose:

Prose/tanka or tanka/prose
Prose/tanka/prose
Tanka/prose/tanka, etc.

Preface: an explanation
When we write tanka prose using the preface method, we give a factual summary, like the time and place, the name of the person we’re writing about, or the occasion we’re writing about in the prose potion of our poem.

The tanka portion gives a retrospective turn, or sheds new light on the proceeding prose.

Preface Example:

Taco (Tanka) Tuesday


Summer rainstorms battered the two pepper plants we planted this spring. Against all odds, the plants stand tall. The peppers remind me of Yule, one red, the other green. Peppers off the stalk—the gift that keeps giving.

It's Taco Tuesday
spicy bite of green peppers
a taste sensation
of late springtime memories
planting under the hot sun

© Colleen Chesebro

(This is a preface poem because it sheds new light on the prose. Memories are a great way to connect your prose and tanka. The details are minimal, but enough to set the scene).

Poem Tale: episodic narration

The second type is the poem-tale or episode written as a literary diary or as a diary of your travels or experiences.

In the episodic poem tale, the tanka is the center from where the narrative episode arises.

Poem Tale or Episode Example

Jeffrey Woodward, in his essay, Element of Tanka Prose, shares the following:

“A second example – this from Karma Tenzing Wangchuk – assumes a midway point between the simple preface and the nascent narrative of the poem-tale:

Traveler’s Moon

Last night I left my room in central Tucson and began a residence
at the Dakshang Kagyu dharma center on the east side of town.
In fall of next year, four members of our sangha are scheduled to
enter a three-year meditation retreat in northern California. I moved
to the dharma center in order to make preparations.

Leaving one
temporary home
for another,
a waxing gibbous moon
my companion and guide.

[Wangchuk, 2004]

“Greater detail is afforded the reader by this poet who describes a relocation and a reason for it, yet no other real action is described, and so the tanka prose leans back toward the basic prefatory style, despite traces and hints of narrative.”

Jeffrey Woodward, in his essay, Element of Tanka Prose, shares the following example of the elementary poem-tale or episode:

“The elementary poem-tale or episode is amply demonstrated by the following work of Gary LeBel.”

Rereading Tsurayuki

It‘s almost midnight—tomorrow‘s Christmas. As I turn the pages of
the Tosa Diary I smell the sea and feel my cold soles‘ impress on
the shingle; I hear those ancient pines whose roots are splashed
by waves‘. The rowers pull hard as a woman intones verses for the
dead amid the long, elegant robes…I peek in on my sleeping
daughter, and then shut the door.

Like the long sloping lines
in Hiroshige‘s woodcuts, the rain glistens
under streetlights—
what strange coasts
our bows have touched.

[LeBel, 2008]

“Though this episode falls short of one hundred words, the reader is introduced to a Christmas Eve setting where a vivid renewal of an acquaintance with the Tosa Diary and that work‘s closing lamentation for a dead child awakens in the poet a concern for his own sleeping daughter. The actual theme is never explicitly addressed but is evoked indirectly in the allusions to the work of Ki no Tsurayuki.”

Other Examples

A tanka prose called simply “Sign,” was originally published in the first issue of Jeffrey Woodward’s Modern Haibun and Tanka Prose in 2009.

Sign

on wooden stilts
next to Father
I’m delicately balanced
and follow in his steps
picking peaches

The sign that bears my father’s name now dangles from the weathered arm of the post at the front gate. I take the shingle down, because I am his only child, and carefully wrap it in the blanket brought from home.

new line posts
and barbed wire
razor sharp
the buyer renames
our family’s farm

Toward a Theory and Practice of Tanka-Prose by Charles D. Tarlton: https://contemporaryhaibunonline.com/cho-17-3-table-of-contents/toward-a-theory-and-practice-of-tanka-prose-by-charles-tarlton/

Charles D. Tarlton (link above) shares his interpretation of the poem:

“Notice how the first tanka and prose gives us a warm feeling from the author’s memory of his life on his father’s farm. The last tanka changes the tone the entire poem! It’s a blending of the past and the present. It is the juxtaposition between the last tanka and the first tanka/prose that make this tanka poem example memorable.”

More Examples

Complement: Prose and Tanka as One Sentence

Jeffrey Woodward explains:

“In “Souvenir,” I arranged the opening tanka and the prose that follows it in such a way as to allow the reader to read the whole as one complete sentence. The prose, in other words, complements or completes that statement initiated by the verse."

Souvenir

light falls from her hair 
onto a gold necklace 
and lapis lazuli
a carafe’s close shadow 
of cerulean hue 

reminding me in autumn in this popular pub of you in high summer here at my side your eastern city far behind

Jeffrey Woodward, https://contemporaryhaibunonline.com/cho-17-2-table-of-contents/the-seque-in-tanka-prose/

In Conclusion

Writing tanka and tanka prose can be a deeply personal experience. There’s a lot of creative room in this form, especially when you use the s-l-s-l-l syllable count for the tanka portion. Have fun & experiment!

Reference Links

Tanka Society of America – Beyond Five End-Stopped Lines: https://www.tankasocietyofamerica.org/essays/beyond-five-end-stopped-lines




Tanka Sequence & Introduction to Tanka Prose: https://www.raysweb.net/haibunresources/reprints_pdf/Zimmer_Article_IntroductiontoTanka.pdf




Read the post on Tanka Tuesday.com:

https://tankatuesday.com/2024/08/15/tanka-tanka-prose/

Experimental Tanka

Experimental tanka are syllabic forms made using the basic structure of a tanka using the 5/7/5/7/7 or s/l/s/l/l syllable counts.

For example, the garland tanka below consists of six tanka in which the last stanza is formed from the preceding five tanka. Typically, line one from stanza one, line two from stanza two, etc. Like tanka, they should always have a title. These forms do not rhyme. They are always written in the first person viewpoint—just like the tanka.

Garland Tanka Example

Waiting for Autumn

through the morning mist
I see early signs of autumn
red tints on green leaves
baffled by the warm weather
leaves stuck in chlorophyll’s hold

Lake Michigan’s gloom
birthing drizzle on wet streets
the end of my walk
yet, summer hangs on—waiting
for temperatures to drop

first autumn rainfall
the other side of silence
I dance with raindrops
a puddle reflects the sky
dew point reads in the millions

autumn’s solitude
oak branches creak in the wind
my wild dreams of storms
who speak to me in echoes
geese flying in formation

temperatures plunge
dead sunflowers still face the sun
I rake piles of leaves
remembering summer days
Autumn gifts me the goods

through the morning mist
birthing drizzle on dark streets
I dance with raindrops
who speak to me in echoes
Autumn gifts me the goods

© Colleen Chesebro

(From: Poetry Forms – tanka)

Tanka Puente

1st stanza: separate thought, equal number of lines (5/7/5/7/7)

2nd stanza: one line enclosed in tildes (~) to distinguish itself from the last line of the first stanza and the first line of the third stanza. No syllable count, but keep it brief.

3rd stanza: separate thought, equal number of lines (5/7/5/7/7)

Tanka Puente Example

Marital surprises

Magical wedding
Golden sun gives its blessing
Two lives joined forever
Youthful, innocent couple
Only happiness ahead

~ The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all ~ *

Challenges present
Chronic illness gobbles joy
Life’s path is pitted
Some days devoid of sunshine
A burden to be endured

© Robbie Cheadle

*This quote comes from the Walt Disney Company’s animated movie, Mulan. The meaning behind this quote originally comes from the earliest blooming flower in China — the Plum Blossom. The plum blossom, known as the meihua, is a symbol for resilience and perseverance in the face of adversity, because plum blossoms often bloom most vibrantly even amidst the harsh winter snow.

Taiga

The taiga is a form that Robbie and I created for Tanka Tuesday and the Sunflower Tanka Anthology. The taiga is a tanka poem placed on a black and white photograph owned by the poet. (Please do not use images from other sources because of copyright issues).

The photograph must be 300 d.p.i. The photograph will have to be sized in Canva.com with the following dimensions: 1566 x 2541 px. The text should be placed on the photograph so that it is readable. See below ⬇️

Taiga Example

This image is 1566 x 2541 px on Canva. We will all use the same font: Etna Sans Serif. Questions? Email us at tankatuesdaypoetry@gmail.com.

Contact Us:

If you have any questions, please contact us at tankatuesdaypoetry@gmail.com.


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The 2025 Sunflower Tanka Submissions are Closed

Hello everyone! Robbie and I would like to thank everyone who submitted tanka, tanka prose, & experimental tanka to the 2025 anthology. ...