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Tanka Metaphor Poems | Tanka Poems About Metaphor

These Tanka Metaphor poems are examples of Tanka poems about Metaphor. These are the best examples of Tanka Metaphor poems written by international PoetrySoup poets


Details | Tanka | |

'Being bipolar is like a rose'

Being bipolar
is like a rose born missing
some of its petals,--
its color is more vibrant
than all the other roses'!

It may never be
part of a "perfect" bouquet,--
but its rich pigment
can be a precious paint for
Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa."

Alas, it may not
attract the most "honeybees"
in the wilds of life,--
but its petals can be crushed
to make the finest perfumes.

Being bipolar
is like a rose born missing
some of its petals,--
its bouquet is more fragrant
than all the other roses'!

Copyright © Ngoc Nguyen | Year Posted 2014

Details | Tanka | |

Mantra in Mantle

They don’t walk to them
To beseech their shows of hands
They as a rule stay
On a raised dais and talk down
At their feet on crusade grounds

Copyright © Abdulhafeez Oyewole | Year Posted 2013

Details | Tanka | |

Castles of the Sea

Castles of the Sea

Children so carefree
Laugh while castles made of sand
Topple in the sea…
How soon shattered dreams may bring
Teardrops of maturity.

Sandra M. Haight

Contest: Open Sea - Sailing, Creatures, Treasures
Sponsor: Chase Trevi
Judged: 10/22/2015

Copyright © Sandra Haight | Year Posted 2015

Details | Tanka | |

Natures Umbrella


  a weeping willow

    never really shedding tears

      nature's umbrella

        branches trailing to the ground

          green leaves sparkling in the wind

Copyright © Sharon Ruebel | Year Posted 2013

Details | Tanka | |


My light will guide you
Though obstacles crowd your way
Your future shines bright
You will make it through unscathed
Here I stand to keep you strong

Copyright © Sean Tracy | Year Posted 2014

Details | Tanka | |

Garden's Beauty

Its charm, its bloom
A gift of spring breeze
Disappears fast
Something not oozing from heart
Something borrowed doesn’t last

Copyright © Mohammad Yamin | Year Posted 2013

Details | Tanka | |

Blazing Heat

The blazing sun
     scorches lonely daydreams—
He saunters like a penguin
    lemonades in hand. 
We two laughed until moonlight.

Copyright March 18, 2015

Written for Poetry Soup Member Contest:  TANKA 2 – 
Sponsor Andrea Dietrich

Read more at:

Copyright © Dane Ann Smith-Johnsen | Year Posted 2015

Details | Tanka | |



A superb virtue—
Use for good, and not evil!
Smart is always good . . . 
           Man’s differentiation . . . 
To be nurtured at all times!

Gary Bateman, Copyright © All Rights Reserved,
May 15, 2015 (Tanka)

Copyright © Gary Bateman | Year Posted 2015

Details | Tanka | |

Tainted memory Tanka

Sound of broken twigs
turned the ears of a lone wolf
Memoir of his ex
tainted his way to true love
sound of broken twigs -- She left

Copyright © Lily Twinkle | Year Posted 2014

Details | Tanka | |

Like a Bee in a Bottle


Copyright © Moon Flower | Year Posted 2016

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Full Moon Fever

The lagoon water ripples silver under the skimming breeze and the moonbeam blazes a hot trail on their quivering bare bodies.

Copyright © Abdul Malik | Year Posted 2015

Details | Tanka | |




Very green flushed carpets
Sky blue azure topped ceilings
Tree branched sofa chairs
Mirror sea rippling four walls 
Windows and doors shut!


Infant birthing new 
Into mankind-likened modes
Start fresh from homed sights
Cultured to suckle blind
On natures ‘tested’ recollected notes
Left ‘one on one’ in thought sense!

Earth’s Time Shares  © TANKA

Earth imploding ‘noted’
Fished from science scales to date
Attention everyone
Demise for man’s brutal act
Shrinks to pin-head size! 


Caterwauling winds
Float the once settled landfills
Forming 'blocks' of sand
Balanced on set place-mats
Dwindle down to nothings. 


Salt beds remain ‘still’
Air-dried salt mines reap
Sea tides, air-dried onto land
Leave the needed salt shares
Flavour  'salted' dressings over time
Enhance life’s food plate!


Too many thoughts stockpile
Hanging words staged 'left'
Rehashed until spent
Sending 'mood-eating’ topics 
To announce ‘inner’ moon ‘tides’! 

Unity bids man
Into work managed mindsets 
Oiling the forces ‘toil’
Producing metal and brawn
Empires bleed open! 


Brain building 'strides' learnt
Leg and body builds in time
All in a heady breath count
Balanced events mate
Affecting lifespan!

Copyright © Diane M Quinlan | Year Posted 2015

Details | Tanka | |

Halloween Eve's Double Tanka

Halloween Eve’s Double Tanka

Halloween Eve’s here—
Departed souls cross over
The Veil is open . . . 
The living are always scared . . . 
Of things they understand not!

Halloween Eve’s here—
A Jack O’Lantern smiles now
His grin’s inviting . . .
Kids find him so exciting . . .
Question: Where’s the candy at?  

Gary Bateman, Copyright © All Rights Reserved,
October 9, 2015 (Tanka)

Copyright © Gary Bateman | Year Posted 2015

Details | Tanka | |

Life Is A Puzzle

Life Is A Puzzle Life is a puzzle; mixed shapes of loss or reward. Haven of flowers or dry fields of trying times, we try to place our pieces. One day all will fit. Through our trial and error, curve fits into curve; varied shapes are interlocked... our life masterpiece, complete. Sandra M. Haight ~1st Place~ Contest: Life Is A Puzzle Sponsor: Nayda Ivette Negron Judged: 12/29/2015 Required words used: Life, Puzzle, Flowers, Haven, Travel, Reward

Copyright © Sandra Haight | Year Posted 2015

Details | Tanka | |


The blood of nature
seeps from branches as it falls
carried by wind’s laugh
in a journey through time’s bid
onto man-trodden concrete.

Thunder bellows rage
while clouds shroud themselves in tears
and lightning shreds night
carving glimpses of shadows
into dusk’s timeless glory.

Grey skies petrified
look over earthen colors
encompassing cold
winds of change in the seasons
as was done in years of old.

Copyright © Robyn Thomas | Year Posted 2014

Details | Tanka | |

New Jersey

Lenni-Lenape smokes
still climb Appalachians
To dream the Passaic`s Great Falls, 
the banks Delaware,Hudson,
and Long Island Sound`s echo.

Copyright © Ovidiu Bocsa | Year Posted 2012

Details | Tanka | |

Black Balloons

black balloons
reach the balcony
where children
watch quietly
black and alone

Copyright © Thomas Martin | Year Posted 2015

Details | Tanka | |


the rose petals lie scattered on flagstones the reredos removed it has been a long time since you have last called
Please see the about section for details.

Copyright © Suzette Richards | Year Posted 2013

Details | Tanka | |

pathtic geese: fallen leaves: full moon

Three Tanka, 1--3  

     1.     pathetic geese though   
       flew over the moonless sky   
       it’s a bone-chilling   
       ah, unbearably cold night   
       for a homeless wanderer    

     2.	    as he walks over   
       the fallen leaves crickets chirp   
       and as crickets chirp   
       gust of west-wind rises to   
       cut the heart of wanderer    
     3.	     December full moon   
       hanging high in western sky  
       stay up all night long  
       facing at east horizon       
       beckoning glimmer of dawn     

Copyright © Su Ben | Year Posted 2015

Details | Tanka | |

Pearls and Swine

Snuffling for truffles
Scenting morsels of delight
Delirious swine

Drowning in the oyster beds
Drunk on mysterious wine

by Gail

Copyright © Gail Foster | Year Posted 2015

Details | Tanka | |

Jasmine forever

Your scent is still there -
In the petals of Jasmine -
I have bottled it,
In my heart's secret chamber
It will keep me inspired

(C) Anindya Mohan Tagore (Bobby)

Copyright © Anindya Mohan Tagore | Year Posted 2015

Details | Tanka | |


A jealous sea once
Had swallowed my own pride whole,
Leaving me to drown
In darkest depths of my soul:
The place in which I transformed.

Copyright © Marissa Faries | Year Posted 2015

Details | Tanka | |


Poké Balls flying
Many trainers are trying
To catch Pikachu,
But one is humbly saying
Of the whole world, I'd pick you

Copyright © Davor Miljkovic | Year Posted 2016