Book Synopsis During the Pause offers poems that embrace the ideas of Nature, Politics, Racism, Love, Death and Loss, Science, Philosophy, and much more. As Tanka poetry, or short song poetry, which began in seventh-century Japan, the poems follow a simple 5-7-5-7-7 syllable pattern with no rhyming or punctuation. This unique structure lends itself to an economy of words and is an eloquent vehicle for emotional expression.