H. Gene Murtha - Three Questions (Tanka)

H. Gene Murtha, a naturalist and poet, was born on October 19, 1955 under the sign of Libra in Philadelphia, Pa. He has won or placed high in a number of haikai contest around the world. Gene sponsored and judged the first haiku contest for the inner city children of Camden, NJ., for the Virgilio Group, of which he is an lifetime member. With renku partners Bill (Wm. J.) Higginson and Paul MacNeil, he is co-inventor of the single-words shisan renku entitled, Cobweb. His memberships include the Pennsylvania Poetry Society, Mad Poets Society, The Haiku Society of America, and the Nick Virgilio Haiku Association.

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1) Why do you write tanka?

Good question Curtis.  I have no idea.  Once I sit down and the ball of my pen hits a piece of paper until the moment my right hand stops, I have know idea what form or genre that I have written.  Normally, I wait for a poem to come to me, then, it is up to the poet gods what form my words unfold.

2) What other poetic forms do you enjoy?

Spoken word, free form and every Japanese genre.

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

I do not have three favorite poems, every poem that I written is important to me for one reason or another.  I've enclosed more than 3 poems, so you can select whatever poems you wish.


in my pickup
I look thru the rearview
snagged by a pin oak
the same garbage that
Hilary Tann writes about

Hermitage 3:1


brushing off sand
I walk what's left of
the pine dunes
my time here passes by
like the birds overhead

Ribbons 5:2


people change
like the color of
a bunting
I feel at peace
when I'm alone

Rusty Tea Kettle 1:1


Sunday morning
reading the obituaries
calling daddy
the same name
Sylvia Plath does

Rusty Tea Kettle 1:1


I sold everything
except my navajo cross
so precious
this god I hold dear
the same god I gave up

Ribbons 6:1

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