Fear (Tanka style)

On a lonely night
the threat of agony looms
like a masked dentist
knocking at the fragile door
between pain and agony

michael
2016

*this poem is not true to its form, hence the addition of the word 'style'*

Below is the Tanka definition:

https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/tanka: The Japanese tanka is a thirty-one-syllable poem, traditionally written in a single unbroken line. A form of waka, Japanese song or verse, tanka translates as "short song," and is better known in its five-line, 5/7/5/7/7 syllable count form.

One of the oldest Japanese forms, tanka originated in the seventh century...

In many ways, the tanka resembles the sonnet, certainly in terms of treatment of subject. Like the sonnet, the tanka employs a turn, known as a pivotal image, which marks the transition from the examination of an image to the examination of the personal response. This turn is located within the third line, connecting the kami-no-ku, or upper poem, with the shimo-no-ku, or lower poem.