Tanka, as you may know, is a Japanese form slightly longer than haiku. The traditional pattern calls for five lines, a total of 31 syllables, in the pattern 5, 7, 5, 7, 7.
If you’d like to learn about tanka, I recommend Janet Davis’s blog, twigs&stones, which I’ve just added to my blogroll: http://www.twigsandstones-poems.blogspot.com/
Here are a few of my favorites among the tanka she has recently published on her blog.
One she offered for July 4: though I usually make my own potato salad, I can feel the embarrassment in the word “shriveling”.
the brimming bowl
of potato salad
she made at home
…..my tub of store-bought
…..shriveling beside it
—red lights, Vol. 9, No. 2, June 2013
A more serious moment is described in this one:
railroad arms
rise up as I approach …
on the long drive
to the hospital
I hope for an “all clear”
—American Tanka, June 2013, Issue 22
The next one struck me because I have been working on a poem on a similar subject. What she says in five lines is something I struggled to say in eighteen:
I trace them
clear back to Jamestown—
forebears
of the grandfather
I knew little about
—Simply Haiku, Winter 2009, Vol. 7, No. 4
You have no doubt noticed that none of these examples reach the number of 31 syllables. As with haiku, tanka writers in English strive for greater conciseness. As a beginner in this form, however, I am finding that the 31 syllable form is a good place to start.
Enjoy many more tanka at twigs&stones.
freethoughtandmetaphor 
Aug 12, 2013 @ 22:07:54
Hello, Ellen. I just now noticed your post here. I appreciate the write-up! 🙂
When you say, “as a beginner …,” does that mean you’ve started writing tanka too? If so, am glad to hear that! But warning: It’s a very addictive form!
Note: Yes, we tend to strive for conciseness. The 31 “syllables” actually refers to 31 Japanese sound units (long story); Japanese poets typically strictly adhere to that number. In English, that actually translates to many fewer syllables (since our syllables are very different from those sound units). Many, or some of us (including me), often aim for a short-long-short-long-long line-length pattern to give our poems more of a “tanka” feel. But, sure, anyone starting out: if working with 31 syllables is helpful for you, by all means, go for it! jld
Aug 13, 2013 @ 08:17:48
I learned about this in haiku – the syllables that are signals, rather than words, and supposed it is the same in tanka. Yet a lot of writers in English seem to stick with the 5-7-5 of haiku. Yes, I’ve been working with tanka, and I can see the dangers of addiction! Thanks for your comment.
Aug 23, 2013 @ 07:16:10
I enjoyed your comments about tanka! (And Janet is one of my favorite tanka poets.) Yes, tanka can be addictive, but in a good way. Because it is a slightly roomier form than haiku, some of us find it quite congenial. There is tons of useful information about tanka on the web–I hope you will embark on an enjoyable journey!