Haiku For You, Lantern and Tanka Too: Neurodivergent Verse

By Sarah B. Royal

Haiku for You, Lantern, Tanka, and Senryu Too is a deeply intimate collection of short poems that employs the traditional forms of haiku, lantern, and tanka to explore the nuanced inner world of a neurodivergent experience. Sarah B. Royal transforms her narrative, rooted in the bittersweet memories of an undiagnosed childhood and the eventual clarity of a late diagnosis, into a series of evocative verses that speak to pain and resilience.

Each poem serves as a concentrated moment of self-reflection, tackling themes such as identity, love, loss, healing, and the often challenging reality of living with neurodiversity. The collection's brevity and precision allow for a potent expression of emotions, enabling readers to glimpse the raw and transformative journey of embracing one's authentic self. With delicate imagery and thoughtful phrasing, Royal documents her personal milestones and creates a relatable manifesto for anyone seeking to find beauty and strength in their unique path.

Haiku traditionally focuses on nature, seasons, and the external world, often with a sense of stillness or enlightenment. Senryu, though identical in structure (3 lines, typically 5-7-5 syllables), focuses on human nature, emotions, and social quirks, often with irony, wit, or pathos. A tanka traditionally has 5 lines with a syllable pattern of 5-7-5-7-7, and often explores personal feelings, love, nature, or spiritual reflection. A lantern poem is a 5-line poem shaped like a lantern with this syllabic structure: 1-2-3-4-1. Often descriptive, light, and imagistic. In the authors Wopolian voice, the forms are sometimes loosely interpreted, and are more flexible in form than strict by classical Japanese definitions.

Through its varied forms and expansive thematic scope, this anthology transcends mere words on a page; it is both a celebration and a meditation on the power of vulnerability and the quiet triumphs of everyday existence. Whether you are personally familiar with neurodivergence or simply in search of poetry that captures the essence of human emotion in its most distilled form, this work offers a profound and moving experience.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0DXQ1V5FX
• ISBN13: 9798311187244
• Release Date: February 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 90 Pages
• Weight: 0.21 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 5.0" x 8.0"