Just a few spot remain available for Margaret Chula’s Hush of Crickets: A Tanka Workshop on September 7 at the East Bend Library. Sign up online or by calling 541/312-1032.

Tanka (meaning ‘short song’) were written thirteen hundred years ago in the Japanese courts. These five-line poems embrace human experience, often in relation to nature, through the use of metaphor, allusion, and juxtaposition.

During the workshop participants will explore a wide range of tanka both by Japanese and contemporary Western poets. Discover how each tanka ‘sings’ and then take pen to paper to create melodies composed of everyday experiences.

Chula has been writing and teaching haiku, tanka and haibun for more than thirty years. She has published seven full-length collections of poetry and a CD. Her newest book, Just This, was published by Mountains and Rivers Press.