We don’t laugh anymore.
My second family, gone.
The budgets are too tight.
Schedule and future are bleak.
Maybe the fun is elsewhere?

Photo by Elisa Ventur on Unsplash

A tanka is a traditional unrhymed Japanese tanka definition poetry form consisting of 31 syllables split across five lines in a 5-7-5-7-7 pattern. Originating over 1,300 years ago, it expands on the shorter haiku format by adding two extra 7-syllable lines, shifting from objective imagery into deep personal emotion.