tanka – Janet Ruth Heller

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Tanka poem “Fourth of July” published by Enchanted Garden

Post author:Janet Ruth Heller
Post published:July 26, 2025
Post category:Children Creative Writing Family Kids Literary Magazines Literature Lyric Poetry Poetry Published Poetry Short Poetry tanka

Editor Steliana Cristina Voicu has published my tanka “Fourth of July” in Enchanted Garden, volume 12 (2025): https://enchanted-garden-haiku.blogspot.com/2025/07/enchanted-garden-issue-12-at-sky-gates.html The theme for this issue is "At the Sky Gates." My poem compares fireworks to my four-year-old niece's sparkling eyes. (My niece is now an adult.) The editor translated my poem into Romanian! This is my first publication in this bilingual journal, which is based in Romania. #tanka #fireworks #children #poetry Fireworks from FreeImages.com

The Lothlorien Poetry Journal has published ten tanka poems by Janet Ruth Heller

Post author:Janet Ruth Heller
Post published:November 9, 2024
Post category:birdwatching Creative Writing Family Literary Magazines Literature Nature Poetry Published Poetry tanka

The Lothlorien Poetry Journal edited by Strider Marcus Jones just published ten of my tanka poems. The link is https://lothlorienpoetryjournal.blogspot.com/2024/11/ten-tanka-poems-by-janet-ruth-heller.html Tanka resemble haiku, but tanka are five lines long, so there is more room to develop ideas. I have been writing tanka for about five years now. #tanka #naturepoetry #poetry #lyricpoetry Janet Ruth Heller reading her poems at the Kalamazoo Public Library; photo by Hedy Habra

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I love books by British writers P. D. James, Seamus Heaney, S. T. Coleridge, Jane Austen, William Wordsworth, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, George Eliot, W. B. Yeats;

American writers Judy Blume, Edna St. Vincent Millay, T. S. Eliot, Maxine Kumin, Jim Daniels, Mong-Lan, Robert Hayden, Langston Hughes, Naomi Shihab Nye, Alberto Ríos, Gail B. Griffin, Jerry Spinelli, Jane Yolen, Kathryn Erskine, Gary D. Schmidt, Adrienne Rich, Judith Minty, Gwendolyn Brooks, Marge Piercy, Grace Paley, Alicia Ostriker, Jaimy Gordon; South African writer Athol Fugard;

Israeli writers Chaim Nachman Bialik, Yehudah Amichai, Rachel Bluwstein, Chaim Guri, S. Y. Agnon; and Hispanic writers Sor Juana, Federico García Lorca, Ruben Darío, Antonio Machado, Jorge Guillén, Pedro Salinas, and Dámaso Alonso.

I also love Japanese haiku, especially those by Matsuo Bashō.

My writing has been influenced by many other authors, including British writers Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Jane Austen, William Wordsworth, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, George Eliot, W. B. Yeats;

American writers Edna St. Vincent Millay, T. S. Eliot, Maxine Kumin, Adrienne Rich, Judith Minty, Gwendolyn Brooks;

Israeli writers Chaim Nachman Bialik, Yehudah Amichai, Rachel Bluwstein, Chaim Guri, S. Y. Agnon, and Hispanic writers Sor Juana, Federico Garcia Lorca, Ruben Dario, Antonio Machado, Jorge Guillen, Pedro Salinas, and Damaso Alonso.