Funny how vantage shifts with a word. There’s a word for that nebulous concept. Someone makes a categorical distinction. It’s always cool when that happens. This time it was thru Rosemary Nissen-Wade mentioning Kyoka. New word that I should be familiar with and am not. It is a sort of tanka but for humour. Not so far as limerick, not so taking itself seriously either. There’s a whole discussion of it at that link.
I’m new to paying attention to tanka. I’m a member of Tanka Canada now so am aiming to get educated, to see if I can grok what rocks it. Some of the poems make my hair stand on end. Call it whatever formal word you want — there’s an alert mind behind the words. Someone is paying attention. That’s what I want to see in whatever the form, poetic or other communication.