i
sun-sprinkled birdsong
cracked joke of an empty egg
a fledgling’s first leap
blown off course by spring wind’s roar
morning’s still dust-tongued with frost
ii
a purple flower
among drooping daffodils
stirring frozen hearts
skin like petals unfurling
feels the cold brush of winter
Kim M. Russell, 1st April 2026
It’s the first day of the month and NaPoWriMo begins its poem a day marathon for the month of April.
Today we have our first featured participant and daily resource, as well as the optional prompt – and we’re writing tanka, an ancient Japanese poetic form which, in contemporary English versions, often takes the shape of a five-line poem with a 5 / 7 / 5 / 7 / 7 syllable-count – which Maureen describes as “kind of like a haiku that decided to keep going”.
Our challenge is to write our own tankas – or multi-tanka poems. For tanka no, ii, I took a poem I wrote for yesterday’s Poetics at the dVerse Poets Pub and reduced it to a tanka.
writing in north norfolk 
Kim, you have some really strong imagery here. “Cracked joke of an empty egg” in particular stood out, and the contrast in the second stanza between the purple flower and the drooping daffodils is very effective.
The sense of spring not quite settling sits well with me at my desk in north-east Scotland—my day started with blue skies and sunshine, and has shifted to grey, bleak, and windy.
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Thank you so much for close reading and kind comments.
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Absolutely a beautiful piece. Love the image.
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Thank you very much.
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nicely done kim. still a tread of false spring in the nest you built here
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Thanks Eric!
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Heart-warming!
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