COLLEEN’S 2020 WEEKLY #TANKA TUESDAY #POETRY CHALLENGE NO. 190 #SYNONYMSONLY
What, you don’t have problems to ameliorate?
So, bookmark this great advice for solving home warranty problems for another day. But go ahead and write some poetry anyway.
It’s Tanka Tuesday. Don’t worry if you’re running late like me and it’s already Wednesday. Colleen won’t fine you for being late!
We’re going to stretch our mental muscles and write some poetry. The struggle to write this #tanka poem is worth your effort. Use some words you seldom use. Make them fit the pattern. Learn a new pattern. The Tanka pattern is a new pattern for me.
Synonyms for the Target Words
Circled: Surrounded, enclosed, encompassed, revolve, rotate, whirl
Squared: Balanced, coincided, conformed, dovetailed, fit, harmonized, jibe, reconciled, agreed, in accord.
One Hundred Five Today, One-ten Tomorrow
No air con at home
Hot air rotated by fans
Conformed for two months
Relaxed, read, wrote, moved slowly
Enjoyed cool drinks and a swim.
Worse than No Air
Surrounded by noise
Dehydrators blast the rooms.
Drying walls, ceilings
Insulation, carpeting
Reconciled water leak
The Rest of the Story
You can power through almost anything. Like many of you, we are still somewhat sheltered in place due to COVID 19. But what do you do when your shelter turns on you?
Our air conditioner did not get replaced for nearly three months. The repair company ordered the wrong unit, not even the right type of unit. That was the easy part. What followed was much worse.
Have you ever forgotten to turn the vent off after you bake? When you turn it off everyone sighs in relief?
For the last forty-eight hours, dehydrators have blasted 90-degree air into two rooms in my house. Yes, it’s still 105 outside. The next step, tearing out all the insulation in the attic, and possibly replacing framing, drywall, and plaster in two rooms will be a relief from the noise.
Normally an air conditioner drips the entire time it works. Instead of it leaking down the roof, they pipe the water through pipes to get it safely into the ground without dripping on anything.
In our case, the air conditioner installers forgot to connect or glue the pipe that carries the condensation from the air conditioner into the attic to any other pipe. The water dripped unfettered into the attic for days, soaking through insulation, wood framing, drywall, plaster, and finally the mattress on my grandparent’s antique bed.
Actively Advocate for Yourselves
Expect the unexpected. It’s okay to be a bit of a micro-manager, even when you don’t know much about a home repair.
- Ask nosey questions! The company that does the repair, in our case, replaces your air conditioner (or any appliance) might order the wrong unit or part for the unit and delay your installation. Ask them to tell you what they ordered. Write down the number. Our air conditioning repair company didn’t want to tell us. My husband persisted.
- Document work with photos. The repair company told the insurance that they couldn’t find the air conditioner number. My husband went on the roof and took a picture of the number which was clearly visible and sent it to the insurance company. The repair company had ordered the wrong unit. (big delay) My husband researched and found several companies around the country which had the unit we needed in stock and gave everyone the names of the companies. Otherwise, we still might not have air conditioning.
- Get to be good friends with your home warranty and your homeowner’s insurance companies. Keep them informed with pictures and a timeline of events if anything starts to go wrong.
- Read your insurance policy. Our home warranty policy states that they are not responsible for damages done by the repairing party.
- Don’t assume. I thought someone had spilled something on the bed. I stripped it to let it dry out. Two days later it was still wet, as was the floor and the ceiling plaster in our spare bedroom cracked and peeled. Water damage causes mold, so it needs to be mitigated quickly.
Conclusion
When all is said and done, mistakes happen. We could not convince our home warranty insurance company to use another repair company to install the new air conditioner. But when it leaked, they agreed to pay for a different air conditioning company to fix the leak. That repair company took pictures.
We also have an umbrella homeowners’ insurance policy which will cover most of the damage caused by the repair company.
My hope for you is that all of your appliances will continue to work. But if they don’t be alert and advocate for yourselves.
Keep cool. 🙂
What Is a Tanka?
Like me, you might need a little help with this form of poetry. Colleen has some guidance on her website, which I copied here to help me write this new form of poetry.
TANKA IN ENGLISH: 5/7/5/7/7 syllable structure. Your Tanka will consist of 5 lines written in the first-person point of view from the perspective of the poet. When writing a Tanka, the third line is considered your “pivot,” but feel free to let it happen anywhere, or to exclude it. It is not mandatory. If you do use a pivot, the meaning should apply to the first two lines, as well as the last two lines of your Tanka. Remember, Great Tanka can be read both forward and backward.
- Your tanka should be filled with poetic passion, including vivid imagery to make up both parts of the poem. The first three lines of the poem consist of one part and should convey a specific theme. The third line of your poem is often where the pivot occurs although it can happen anywhere. The pivot gives direction to your poem whose meaning should be applied to the first two lines of your poem, as well as the last two lines so that your tanka can be read forward and backward.
- The last two lines of your tanka are where the metaphor (where the poet compares two concepts without the words: like or as), simile (where the poet compares two concepts with words: like or as), or where a comparison occurs to complement the first three lines of your poetry. Use words you are comfortable with from everyday speech. Avoid ending your lines with articles and prepositions.
- Make use of your five senses. Don’t describe your theme. Instead, use adjectives, or exclamations of sound, taste, and smell, along with hearing and sight to make your tanka powerful.
- The Tanka is untitled and should be written in natural language using sentence fragments and phrases, not sentences.
- While many poets will adhere to the 5/7/5/7/7 structure, there is no rule that says this is written in stone. Remember, tanka poetry is looser in structure than Haiku. Let your creativity guide you. Follow the short/long/short/long/long rhythmic count instead of counting the syllables in the traditional fashion.
- Tanka poetry does not require punctuation. You don’t have to use capitals at the beginning of each line, nor do you need to add a period at the end of the line.
- A double tanka is two poems. Three or more tanka poems are a sequence. They are usually linked by a common theme.
Marsha Ingrao - Always Write 
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