Waka Fest enters its last week

Welcome once again to our first annual Waka Fest, in which we focus on the 31-syllable form of Japanese poetry that plays a minor role in the practice of Reiki -- and for some, a major role.

For those just joining us, in the past few weeks we've had some articles about waka as well as dozens of contributions from our readers. This week, however, it was quiet, with not a single new waka. So I commissioned one from our regular waka writer, asking him to sum up this year's festival in 31 syllables:

Festival

As chattering birds
Sing the news of the sunrise
In glorious tones,
So our waka sing our first
Cherry blossom festival.

(By Michael Dagley)

So if you'd like to contribute a waka (or more, or even part of one) to this year's festival, get it to us by Wednesday, May 13, 2009. You can submit your waka by adding it as a comment to this post on our web site, or by emailing it to editor@thereikidigest.com.