Tag: senryu

covid 19, poetic forms, poetry

Some Short Poetry Forms

carolyncordon

One short form of poetry we all know is the Limerick. Who amongst us haven’t had a giggle at a rather risque limerick at some stage in our lives? Being a bit naughty, or worse, isn’t a necessity for the poetry form, it isn’t one of the poetic ‘rules’ for a limerick. What makes a poem a limerick is the rhyme, and the number of stresses, or ‘beats’ in each line, and the number of lines.

In a Limerick, the first, second, and fifth lines all rhyme and have three ‘beats’ in each line, and the third and fourth lines both rhyme and have two ‘beats’. If that sounds a bit confusing, here is a limerick I penned recently, on the theme of Covid-19, which seems to have taken up most of my attention, and much of this blogsite.

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This awful Covid virus

Sent here by Nature to try us –

It may cause some shrugs,

But I want my hugs!

It’s a blessing for those with shyness.

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The Japanese poetry forms, Haiku and the similar Senryu don’t rely on rhymes, they are more focused on line lengths. These forms are the same, except for subject matter. In the traditional Japanese format, they are both of 5, 7, and 5 syllables in the three lines that make up the poem. In more contemporary and wes, they may be shorter than that, but they are never a lengthy poem, and they focus on a moment, and the reading of the poem is done within a single breath, is one way I’ve seen it described.

The Haiku tends to be Nature focused, while the Senryu more focused on people, and it is more likely to show humour. There are many rules about these Japanese forms, too many for this blog post, but this site has a good explanation on what Haiku is, to help you to write your own. As I said above, Senryu has the same rules regarding form but not subject matter.

Nature in my front yard

Haiku can be difficult to get just right, and so can Senryu, this is one of my more successful Senryu, I feel:

My mind wanders –

watching birds & people 

also wandering …

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So they were two of my favourite short forms of poetry, if you like them, why not leave a message and let me know!

covid 19

A Note Regarding Poetry in “Plague Invasion”

carolyncordon

“Plague Invasion ” – It began as a short phrase in my head, and my poetry brain loved the assonance of the phrase and wanted to do more with the words. That ‘a’ sound in the two words seemed important, and worthy of something, something big. I could have written a poem, an important and worthy one. But I wrote something else, I wrote this blog post, and so it all started.

“Short poetry forms give the opportunity to share more thoughts, because four haiku will fit easily on one page … and so one ‘suite of Haiku’, can count as one poem. This may well mean each contributor will be able to share some more of their thoughts, poetically than for instance, on three lined Haiku, they will be able to submit for of them all on one page, as I did in this blog post, previously.

Hmm, I’ll write a post about that, and perhaps will received more small poems to showcase in this book. Haiku and the related Senryu, Clerihew, Tanka, Clerihew, Limerick. An A4 page of one of each will be one submission regarding poetry. The Editor has spoken!”

This was a comment on that previous blog post titled ‘Lines While in Lock down’. The comment was from John Malone, a friend and poet, who is again going to write a back blurb for a word related book for me, this book, . John is a regular commenter on this blog, and I value his thoughts. They often add value to what I have written.

John writes poetry, with a particular skill with short and pithy little poems, which he shares on his blog. In John’s small poems can be much that is important to think on. And isn’t that what good poetry can do, scale back the huge truths that are there, and present it to you, in a neat little package your mind can then unpack and think further about …

So, given all of these thoughts, the upshot is that I, as the editor of this worthy book, “Plague Invasion”, will accept submissions of a page of short forms of poetry, as one ‘poem’. So a ‘suite’ of five Senryu, for example, will count as one submission of poetry. I hope this is understandable, and if you need further clarification, post a question on this blog post, and I will do my best to answer any questions regarding this.

If you want to be involved in this, send poetry and/or prose to kittycordo@gmail.com – up to three poems of thirty lines or fewer, and/or up to 3,000 words of prose in up to three pieces. I will consider your submission, and let you know if it is accepted for this anthology. Contributors whose work is accepted will receive a free copy of the book. If they are Australian residents, the book will be posted to them, if they cannot attend the book launch.

People residing outside of Australia will receive a copy of the book on payment of the cost of postage and handling, with will be advised at a later time, when the costs is known. Stay well, write about what you’re experiencing, and we may meet up at the launch of this book. In the meantime, stay in contact here, on my blog, it’s my home away from home, at my home!

I value any feedback, please leave comments here, we can discuss things further.

poetry

Add Another Book to the List!

carolyncordon

I now have another book to add to my list of books written, this most recent book is the smallest, but by no means the least. This means I now have eight books published! “Angles on Ankles” is a book of poetry, a chapbook, of around twenty poems, all focused on my most recent life challenge.

This challenge was the breaking of my right ankle, on AFL Grand Final day, a painful challenge for sure, but one which gave me plenty of resting times, which I used to write poems about the whole new experience.

There are poems that rhyme, others that don’t, there are Senryu poems, and there longer and more prosey kinds of poems, all about my right leg! And on the front cover, what’s in that photograph? Well it’s a photo of my broken right ankle, encased in a moon boot!

Before this challenge occurred, I’d barely ever even thought about moon boot, now I’m writing poetry about them. I love the way our life experiences can add brand new subjects to write about! I had the chance to try out some of the poems in this new collection, and I was happy with how it all went.

It was my first time for going out to attend a writing related event, rather than a medical appointment, since I broke my ankle, and it felt great! It was a poetry reading, a monthly one I almost always attend. I wasn’t able to go last month, but a dear friend offered to take me there, and bring me home again.

Thanks Colleen, you were awesome! Colleen and I have been friends for about twenty years, and I was thrilled to be attending a poetry reading, with her as the guest poet! Colleen came to my place to take me there, put away my walking frame, and getting it out for me as needed, and I was so glad to have here there.

The poetry she read was great too, her poetry collection is a terrific book of poetry, about the small but so important things in life. Her work is so true, and finely written, it’s like she is sharing her many wisdoms learned through her life. If you like poetry, I strongly recommend you get a copy of her book!

Back to my own collection, I included a page of Senryu in this collection – I tried them out at a poetry reading today, and they were very well accepted. Senryu is a Japanese form of poetry, very similar to Haiku, but is is about people rather that about Nature, as Haiku is.

I found Senryu was just the best poetic form to comment on a few aspects of my broken ankle …

poetry, Uncategorized

Some Poetic Forms

carolyncordon

There are many different ways to write poetry, or ‘poetic forms’. Here are a few you may have heard of, but never tried to write, or have written in the traditional form, but not in a new, stripped back form.

I like playing with different poetic forms, and am always happy to try something new, when it comes to my attention. My poetic attempts may interest others, or maybe they won’t it doesn’t matter. Trying these things out, using my own knowledge in different ways is good for my brain!

Give some of these forms a try yourself, and see whether your own brain feels pleasantly stretched in new ways! Firstly, I love sonnets, short poems of fourteen lines. They are distinguished by very strict rhyming schemes, in several different styles, as below:

  • Spenserian sonnet. 3 quatrains and a couplet – “abab bcbc cdcd ee”
  • english(shakespearean) sonnet. 3 quatrains of “abab cdcd efef” followed by a single couplet.
  • italian(petrarchan) sonnet. octave of “abba abba” then a sestet of “cdc cdc”

I have written in these three styles, having had some of my poems published in books, and online, and am proud of my work in the form. But today, I found a brand new form of the sonnet, and I hurriedly ‘gave it a go’!

This new form is the Monosyllabic Sonnet. I found it in an email, sent by a poetic friend, with details of his own poetry blog, https://playground.poetry.blog/ I strongly suggest you go there and explore the many poetic forms Paul has on display on his blog. I have a few of my own attempts at the forms Paul talks about, and encourage you to have a go too, and get involved in what Paul is doing, sharing poetry with the world!

So with the Monosyllabic Sonnet, the poet is to stick to the rhyming schemes for sonnets, as I have put above, but instead of writing in iambic pentametre, you are to write just one word of one syllable only, for each line, instead of longer lines of far more syllables for each line. You are also free to use the title of your poem to fill in more meaning to the poem, by indicating what it is about to aid with clarity.

Here is a new poem I have written to demonstrate what is meant:

On bringing meaning, by sharing your wisdom.

 

We

live, 

free 

give.

 

 

Wonder

much,

ponder 

such …

 

You 

know?

Do 

so!

 

Yell!

Tell!

 

If you like this poetic form please feel free to say so! If you wish, you can share your own attempt at writing a Monosyllabic Sonnet of your own.

 

Now a look at the short Japanese poems. The Haiku is the best know form of Japanese Poems. In the Western world, Haiku are often presented as being written in three lines, with five syllables in the first and final lines, and seven syllables in the middle line. This though is not quite what the Haiku is in its ‘native’ world, where the Haiku is an exceptionally short poem, usually of fewer characters than the English form indicates.

For this blog though, I am going to talk about a related poetry form, the Senryu. Where Haiku relates to poems written about Nature, and referring to the season, the Senryu is written about people, and can more than Haiku, be a funny poem, talking about perhaps a comical part of human nature.

The Senryu has the same form as Haiku, being a short poem, usually of three lines, short, long, short, as with the Haiku. I have written a new poem in this form, and hope you enjoy my words. Again, feel free to comment, and have a go yourself, if you feel so inspired! I love comments on this blog.

 

My Senryu:

 

Wisdom is

saying very little,

or staying mute …

 

 

 

 

poetry

A Happy Coincidence

carolyncordon

Today was a pretty full on day, with weather that acted against doing too much. I have a chronic illness that means I am particularly badly affected by being too hot, and the summer we’re having at the moment in my part of South Australia is hot, perhaps the hottest ever, or at least since Australia was settled by white people.

When you know what your limitations are, you learn how to deal with them , so that’s what I did, I spent a minimum of time outside in the heat, staying inside as much as possible, where it was nowhere near as hot, then drove, in my air-conditioned car, to

Anyway, I got to the usual writing group venue in plenty of time, but I hadn’t had time at home to write my poem for the day, the final poem for the #poemadayfeb I have been doing for all of this month, even though, I’d looked up what the word for today and so knew it was ‘yourself’.

Others arrived at the meeting, we went through the usual items, telling of our writing related activities for the previous week, talking about some relevant issues relating to several events we will be involved in, for the coming months, and then doing our writing exercise.

The writing prompt for today was ‘night’, and I eventually settled down to do my writing, based on that them, but without any real idea on what I was going to write. In the back of my brain, I had my poetry prompt, as mentioned, and together with that was the writing prompt from today’s meeting.

So, ‘yourself’, and ‘dark’, were possibly travelling around in the back of my brain, what would happen? As it turned out, a lovely small poem happened.  This unexpected poem is a senryu, another Japanese poetry form, similar to the haiku, but about people, rather than nature.

I’m relatively happy with this small poem, and the others at the writing group though it was a good one too. I love the people in this group, we share our words with each other, but there is so much more to it. We may have begun as people who write, but we have become friends, ones who care about each other. If you have a writing group too, I hope you have such lovely experiences.

Anyway, this is my senryu:

 

Every night leads

to a new day, a new chance

to be yourself.