
the blue throat chakra... a nexus to the divine blue hues of heaven serene, calm, tranquility found in a blue sky, slow down, make time to be still listen to your voice obey the stillness within blue the color of pure mind uncluttered by thoughts in silence, one can perceive blue—the purest mind open wide... the throat chakra your seat of creativeness © Colleen M. Chesebro
This week for #TankaTuesday, I asked everyone to select one of the seven chakra colors to feature in their poetry. Color is a powerful poetic tool, and when used in poetry, it helps to convey our thoughts and feelings.
I wrote a chōka followed by a hanka (tanka) according to the cheat sheet:
“The chōka (long poem) was the storytelling form of Japanese poetry from the 1st to the 13th century. It is unrhymed and written in alternating five and seven-syllable lines that end with an extra seven-syllable line. The early form consisted of a series of katuata joined together. (A katuata is 5-7-7 (19) onji, or 5-7-5 (17) onji) and is required for your poem. It is composed of any number of couplets made up of alternating 5-7 onji (sound syllables) per line. In English, we can only treat the onji as a syllable. A nine-line chōka is 5-7-5-7-5-7-5-7-7 or 5-7-7-5-7-5-7-7-7. Chōka often were followed by one or more short poems called hanka, or “envoys,” summarizing, supplementing, or elaborating on the contents of the main poem. Often, a tanka would serve as an envoy.”
Word Craft Poetry Cheat Sheet

This is beautiful.
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I love this! ❤
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I need to do a poetry book about the chakras! 😍❤️
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Love it, and thank you for introducing us to another form ❤
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You’re welcome. I like the chōka because it gives you more syllable room. Sometimes we need that. 💜
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Peaceful. (K)
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Thanks so much, Kerfe. That’s what we all need right now. 🙏🏻
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Oh yes.
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I love this, Colleen! I felt myself breathing a bit deeper while reading it. Great poem! 🙂
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Thanks so much, Yvi. I know you love this stuff, too. LOL! ❤
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Oh, Colleen, this is beautiful! I love the form and yes, a poetry book about chakras is a great idea! 💛
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Thank you so much, Franci. I’m starting a Reiki class (over) and the energy is so full of magic around me. It all comes out in poetic form. 💜
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Most welcome, Colleen! 💛
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I love how you’ve touched upon the positivity of blue color Colleen… creativity at its best! Thanks for introducing us to a new form.
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You’re so welcome, Balroop. ❤️
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Serenity and pure beauty Sis ❤
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Thanks, Sis. 💙
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❤
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Wonderful poem, Colleen. Toni x
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Thank you, Toni. I love the vibrancy of the chakra colors. 💜
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This beautiful and calming Colleen 💜
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Thanks, Willow. I love writing about the chakras. ❤️
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It shows in your writing 💜
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Thank you. 😊💜
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It’s a gift you have 💜💜
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Willow, you’re so sweet. Thank you. ❤️
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Always a pleasure
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Ah…. yes deep breaths and wonderful sighs before home repairs and then after.
I am looking forward to putting mostly everything back in its place and continue to ‘downsize’ so there is less to worry about. 😀
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We’re done! Finally! Then the cable went out for 3 days! That’s fixed now. 😊 Shhh… 🤞🏻
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I can’t imagine living in an area that has rolling blackouts… you’d have to really becareful then.
Even though we live in an area where the stuff is under the ground… there are neighborhoods with stuff above. So if a pole gets jimmied, fried or bumped into we can have an issue. Last month we were down for about three hours. But it was at night – so it wasn’t so bad.
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No rolling black outs here… the cable box was replaced, and it was defective. It took 3 days to get them to replace it. Our cable and electric are all under ground—thank goodness. We’re in the same situation. In January, a train took out a Cable tower in some high winds. We were without cable for 3 days so they could repair the tower. It’s always something, isn’t it? LOL!
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Too much of always something…
So it seems. Nice to have a worry free day -occasionally. 🙂
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Right? The hits just keep coming. August is not my month. LOL! 😀
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A least a few good things this month…
1) home repairs almost done
2) Early gym membership
3) found out a loved one will be going into full time memory care.
4) have an out of state nephew visiting
5) Old Farts Bowling starts the last week of the month.
Hope you can find some good things too!!
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I’ve got tons! I’m working on two books, two book covers, and my home Reno’s are done. I worked outside in the gardens pulling weeds today. I start a new exercise program tomorrow and the full moon! 😍❤️
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(((Hugs)))
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Colleen, this is a deliciously soothing verse 🙂
BTW, a quick question – what are the rules for the hanka?
❤
David
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The hanka is a tanka, but called a hanka when used with a chōka. I have no idea why, except in Japanese it is a distinct name because it follows the chōka.
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Amazing and beautiful, Colleen. ❤️
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Thanks so much, Gwen. 😍
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This is lovely, and has the chakra at its heart, which makes it especially apposite.
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It’s powerful, I think. I want to do a book of Chakra poetry, now. LOL! ❤
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Wow! There’s an undertaking!
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I always have a couple books going at a time. It keeps me sane. LOL! 😀
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Lovely poem, Colleen. So serene. I drew in a big blue breath while reading. I like this form, mostly because I get to use lots of syllables. Lol. The responses to the prompt have been wonderful. ❤
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I love working with colors in our poetry. 💙
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A peaceful poem. But then, that the nature of blue, isn’t it. Thanks for sharing.
Pat
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Awww, thanks, Pat. 💙
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