Still Swimming: Tanka Poems
by Amelia Fielden
Ginninderra Press 2005
RRP: $20.00
Reviewed by Jan Dean, 14th January 2006

Still Swimming is Amelia Fielden’s fourth collection. She also has five published books of Japanese tanka in translation, to her credit. On the back cover of this book, Michael Welsh, president of the Tanka Society of America states: ‘Amelia’s productivity and dedication to her craft makes her one of the world’s leading English-language tanka poets.’

Members of Poetry at the Pub were privileged to have Amelia as their guest poet in December 2003. The following is a modified extract taken from the Forward to Still Swimming by Amelia Fielden, which, because I think poets would be especially interested, I quote…

‘Tanka is a 1300-year old Japanese verse form, traditionally composed in five unrhymed phrases to a pattern of 5 / 7 / 5 / 7 / 7 syllables. In English, tanka are conventionally written in five lines to parallel the short / long / short / long / long components of Japanese tanka. Few contemporary non-Japanese practitioners of tanka adhere strictly to the original thirty-one-syllable count, however. It is now generally agreed that English lyrics of around twenty-one syllables in a 3 / 5 / 3 / 5 / 5, or looser, pattern most closely echo the essential concision and lightness of Japanese tanka. This has been called the ‘21 +/- theory’; it is a theory, which I endorse, and my poems can usually be counted out in twenty to twenty-six syllables. More important than a specific number of syllables, is the internal rhythm of tanka, the impact they make on the ears as well as the mind. And in content contemporary tanka are unrestricted.’

Apart from such valuable technical information, Still Swimming has much to offer the poet and general reader, since it covers two years of the author’s life, when she travelled backwards and forwards between Australia, Seattle (USA) and Japan. Often, poets complain to me that they aren’t writing because they can’t find inspiration. One message to be gleaned from this book is that there is much to be gained by paying careful attention to the present, not dismissing ordinary everyday objects and events. For instance…

moonlight stripes
through midnight blinds
I can see
your silent waiting
and turn away

and

bright leaves
fly out of the gum tree
squawking
parrot’s appreciation
for this gorgeous dawn

In fact, the reader discovers quite a lot about Amelia’s fascinating past in this collection, while accompanying her on her travels. Cultural differences and similarities are also perceived. From the Japanese section, I quote…

two doors down
even the tiger lilies
grow freer
than the labrador pup
kept in a parrot-cage

and

walkers off
into the sunbeam mists
of morning,
my heart following
faster than my feet

Even if read as a concise travel journal, but it is so much more than that, Still Swimming is well worth investigating for its cultural insights.

For further details see the Ginninderra Press website: www.ginninderrapress.com.au
or email Stephen Matthews, Ginninderra’s Director at smgp@optusnet.com.au

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