Take Five Best Contemporary Tanka Author:M. Kei Tanka, the ancient Japanese poetic form, has been an important source for modernists for more than 100 years, but never relegated itself to the position of dusty relic. It is alive and vital and producing some of the most eloquent and insightful poetry published in English today. Many thousands of tanka poems are published every year-but which o... more »nes are the most rewarding for the readers? The editorial team of Take Five : Best Contemporary Tanka set out to read the entire field of tanka publication for a single year, regardless of source, without any dogma regarding definition, form or content. Over the course of 14 months, they read over 14,000 poems. Famous names and unknown poets from around the world appear side by side in 321 single poems and several tanka sequences and tanka prose pieces. A List of Venues consulted and complete publishing credits are included, along with an introduction that covers the history of tanka and the project itself.« less