For Real Toads: the Tanaga

For this week’s poetry format challenge, Grace has presented the writers’ group Imaginary Garden with Real Toads with a style originating in the Philippines and called a Tanaga.

“It is similar in nature to the Japanese short forms of haiku or tanka. Most tanagas were passed down orally. They are claimed to be one of the oldest form of poetry in the Philippines,” says Grace. “We'll be working with a "modern" tanaga; historical ones are written in Tagalog or other Filipino dialects.

“A tanaga is a short poem of four lines, each line seven syllables with a single rhyme,” she continues. “Today, other rhyme schemes are used, including freestyle rhyme, but for the purpose of this exercise, let's try to stick with couplets.”

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XXXXXXA

XXXXXXA

XXXXXXB

XXXXXXB

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I’m glad Grace mentioned other rhyme schemes are in use today because, while I did try to stick to couplets for a few Tanagas, I broke the rhyme pattern in the last one. Even a simple format isn’t always easy!

Each of these was written to stand alone, but they can be read together without losing the theme.

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seven syllables have we

for this form of poetry

poems can be metaphors

for life’s windows, for life’s doors

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my life is many verses

the kind no one rehearses

strife happens in life, and then,

some things will happen again

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memories of days long gone

are a most seductive song

time has blurred memory’s eye

we remember, and we sigh

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in poems we look inward

we look forward, we look back

give thanks for what we’re given

yet we yearn for what we lack