Tanka Writing Roundtable • Spring 2024
Dr. Randy Brooks

This Life Will Be Beautiful
A Tanka Collection

by
Eden Niebrugge

College provides many opportunities for students to learn and grow in their respective careers, hobbies, and relationships. But it’s far more than that. As youth on the cusp of our teenage years and adulthood, we experience a whirlwind of emotions, both familiar and unfamiliar.

This collection of tanka reciprocates a brief glimpse of the bittersweet emotional journey that college takes young adults on. From job searches and assignments to religion and love, this collection highlights a wide range of emotionally charged “stories,” hoping to bring comfort to fellow young adults.

assignment sheet
worn at the edges
just like me
never good at
following instructions

puzzle pieces
and book pages
this house
finally feels
like home

skipping away
from the job fair
application in hand
my email dings,unfortunately . . .

early riser
for coffee drives
with mom
the ripple effect
of one free drink

turning twenty
mom’s arms
around me
as we doze off
to the tv

can we
share secrets?
i’ll go first
i’ve fallen
in love

rosemary bread
avocado toast
with bacon
i cherish every second
with you

red velvet
coffee & cake
sweet sips
as we discuss
the end of us

a bar of soap
turning smooth
i am
scrubbed clean
of you

watering
a flower bed
of lilies
and mums
your grave

resting on break—
i spoke too soon—
head over
the toilet
at noon

translated
by a man,
the meaning
altered in
a youth bible

this life
will be beautiful;
i cut my tongue
on the envelope
gum seal

if god was
a teenage girl
she would have
hated herself
too