How Pleasant It Is

Product Description
The title of this book, like its opening tanka sequence, was inspired by the Japanese poet and classical scholar at the end of the Edo period, Tachibana Akemi (1812 - 1868), who wrote 52 poems that begin with the phrase, tanoshimi wa, "how pleasant it is."
About the Author
Neal Whitman has been reading and writing tanka since 2011. He is a member of the Tanka Society of America and in 2018 co-judged its Sanford Goldstein International Tanka Contest. Neal is also Vice President of the United Haiku and Tanka Society. Neal and his wife Elaine live on California's Monterey Peninsula in Pacific Grove aka "America's Last Home Town." On the fireplace mantle of their cottage-home is a jelly jar with seven vintage tea spoons to remind them to stir sweetness into each day of the week. When they step out their front door, if the wind is right, they can taste sea salt on their lips and hear the barks of harbor seals. From there, Neal and Elaine can walk to Lovers Point in the morning to view the sunrise over Monterey Bay and in the evening to see the sun setting at Asilomar Beach. What a way to bookend any given day when a poem just might follow Neal home, including some of the tanka in this collection.