The increasing complexity of the techniques and tools brought to tanka and its literature capitalize on the multivalency that is an innate quality of tanka: the ability of tanka to imply more than they say links with various forms and formats, harnessing their ability to express different kinds of content in different ways in one harmonious whole. Yet the craftsmanship of tanka should not blind us to the role of intuition. Several items, some quite long, read like stream-of-consciousness works of the Beat period, but carry the discipline of a tanka mind. Readers will find selections of tanka, kyoka, ryuka, sedoka, cherita, tanka prose, sequences, responsive tanka, and non-fiction representing sixteen countries from around the world.