Urban Tumbleweed

Though this book came out seven years ago, it seems fresher than the day it was released. Is that because in the pandemic era, people spend a little more time staring, walking outside by themselves, being quiet, ruminating? Harryette Mullen, esteemed longtime UCLA professor, created a double practice for herself in making this book: walking daily and writing about what she encountered. Her hope was that “each exercise would support the other.” A tanka is a short, traditional Japanese poetic form containing 31 syllables, often printed as a single line. When written in English, the lines are often broken into separate lines of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables, but Mullen adapted the form even further and wrote three-line tankas. Why not? Poetry is one place where rules welcome subversion. She did this every day for more than a year. A 12- or 15-year-old could also do it. This collection is a calmly delightful study in witnessing. Mullen leads readers on so many funny, thoughtful, quirky journeys, meandering about the great city of Los Angeles, where many people don’t even walk that much. Each time you open this book, you will find something new. I have carried Urban Tumbleweed with me into countless poetry workshops and shared different tankas with every age of participant. The poems feel like a boost, a vitamin dose, a tonic for jaded spirits, reminding us how poetry springs from so many unexpected convergences and infinite details.