Charlotte Digregorio - Three Questions (Tanka)

Charlotte Digregorio is the author of four non-fiction books: “You Can Be A Columnist” and “Beginners’ Guide to Writing & Selling Quality Features,” both Writer’s Digest Book Club Featured Selections; “Everything You Need to Know About Nursing Homes;” and “Your Original Personal Ad.” She has been a faculty member at universities, teaching graduate and undergraduate writing, a writer-in-residence at colleges, and a speaker at writer’s conferences throughout the country. Since 1995, she has published Japanese-style poetry.

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1) Why do you write tanka?

I seem to think in haiku first. I sometimes turn to tanka when I can’t get a haiku that I have in mind to work. That is, I can’t condense the number of syllables, and I feel a need to be lyrical.

2) What other poetic forms do you enjoy?

I’ve been widely published and won awards in free verse and formal verse, including sestina and acrostic forms. However, I read all kinds of poetry.

3) Of the many wonderful tanka you’ve written, what do you consider to be your top three?

I think one person’s lyricism, might not be another person’s cup of tea, but three that I like are:



selling the home
of my childhood,
i walk into her closet
finding the shoes
i wobbled in

--East On Central, 2011-2012



selling the home
of my childhood,
cleaning every speck
of dust
before i disappear

--Modern English Tanka, Vol. 3, No.2, Winter 2008



moving from the coast
to the heartland
i wake in the morning
to the calm of the lake
seeking the pounding waves

--bottle rockets, Issue #20

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If you've been enjoying this series and have not contributed, please consider sharing your response - whether it be for haiku or tanka - to the three little questions that Charlotte answered. You must be a published poet to participate.