NaPoWriMo 2026 Today: Wednesday 1 April 2026

Creative liberty tanka triptych

I 

how do I get one

is it like a driving test

poetic license

shows I can write verse safely

or kill rhymes like Fleming’s spy

II

tanka’s don’t need rhymes

just write a killer last line

juxtaposition

where one half of the poet

disagrees with the other

III

but they harmonise

in the end they are like friends

even the odd rhyme

hidden like a golden egg

maps true poetic freedom

NaPoWriMo 2026 Day 1

Today’s prompt

The tanka is an ancient Japanese poetic form. In contemporary English versions, it often takes the shape of a five-line poem with a 5 / 7 / 5 / 7 / 7 syllable-count – kind of like a haiku that decided to keep going. The challenge is to write your own tanka – or multi-tanka poem. Theme and tone are up to you, but try to maintain the five-line stanza and syllable count.

 Photograph of mirror in Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, by the poet. (Why this photograph? Well, poetic license, of course!)