One Word, One Syllable

This next piece is intentionally longer. By using one syllable words, Jojo Ballo creates an illusion of a longer poem, that goes around the limits of the few words that can be sandwiched in a Tanaga. In a haiku, tanka or tanaga, words can can only get you so far. Syllable count had always been the harder part in writing poems with measure. However, four lines would net a writer more space for words when utilizing this device, as in this example:

The sky in its grace rained tears
The wind in its haste left years
In my mind they wear the forms
That silence the dance of storms

- Jojo Ballo, Philippines.