
Made on a 1974 Smith-Corona Galaxie XII typewriter. All rights reserved by me.
Made on a 1974 Smith-Corona Galaxie XII typewriter. All rights reserved by me.
The first snow perhaps the first freezing temperatures have gone. Until late November the salvia were blooming blue and Gerber daisies were full of warm colors.
Here’s a go at composing a gogyohka.
the autumn rose
dry leaves resist the wind
bruised seed cases
recall the bloom
recall the bud
© 03-12-20
Gogyohka (go-gee-yoh-kuh)
This poetic form was developed by Enta Kusakabe and means a “five-line poem” in Japanese. In that they may resemble the tanka or the cinquain.
The format is mainly five lines, however, four, or six lines are allowed and employs a free-verse style that seldom rhymes.
Each line is one breath in length.
These poems are usually untitled.
the cold cabin
winter drizzle —
small bitter grape
02-12-20
I keep notebooks for many of my interests. I like visiting notebooks and in this case I read some two year old poems. This one is new but I was in a similar spot back then. The wild grape is still producing but by this time of year the fruit is about the size of a peppercorn, 5 mm (0.20 in), or so. It is severely bitter, iron rations for critters.
Winter Home, Haibun
The Wren is on a mission to transform a Wasp nest into a condo. Parchment pours from the nest, it salts down the floorboards of the porch with rehab leftovers, gathered by the wind.
ancient hive, home again
the winter Wren —
plus one
© 01-12-20
Onions, Cinquain
onions
delicious bulbs
diced in butter sizzle
homely aromatic delight —
potluck
30-11-20
Cinquain
Obscured Moon, hay(na)ku
eclipses —
light tricks
and the moon
© ’20
Notes Hay(na)ku
Examples
pickles
last longer
than cucumbers do
——-
pickles
taste better
than cucumbers too
Leaving the Winter Woods
leaving
the winter woods
light strikes all the way through
still darkness, shadows in plain sight —
fox barks
Cinquain
I copied Adelaide Crapsey, a twentieth-century poet, who wrote cinquain with 22 syllables in five lines as a 2, 4, 6, 8, and 2 pattern.
Her poems feel similar to Japanese tanka, another five-line form, and share a designed focus on imagery and the natural world.
I wrote five concepts about writing haiku in my journal. I share one.
-5-
I desire to be a master haiku maker. Practice and reflection are my key activities. My audience is the proverbial studio dog, who is biased. My judgment may be suspect. I must be diligent in artistic purpose, grasp the situation sufficiently to write, keep necessary tools on hand, and possess a good work ethic.
I write haiku in English and follow current modes of writing.
Failed haiku
Previously published poems are excoriated by many haiku publications. Failed haiku are rejected poems.
I might consider a rejected haiku as rubbish. I do not.
If a haiku of mine is accepted I do not think it is a gem. It is not.
On the theme / prompt of “connections with others” this is my rejected ku:
unrequited itch —
quarantine d
Failed haiku do not exist. This ku above has no future. Editing wholesale is almost useless for me because I write to capture the moment, the image, the idea before it’s gone.
Perhaps I can tweak the arrangement.
I plan to submit other haiku all around the poetry world.
A master is flexible.
A Northern Autumn, Cinquain
milkweed
bland carcasses —
seeds have flown on the wind,
Monarchs cruise in southern precincts —
instincts
c. Lemuel ’20
Instincts have to do with behaviors related to animals. Plants, bacteria and viruses exhibit tropisms or responses to the environment. In my imagination I can create a milkweed being no more attached to their seeds than a typical migratory butterfly would be to their eggs, Nemo and Marlin of “Finding Nemo” in the Great Barrier Reef notwithstanding.
I wrote this poem, as a cinquain, but for fun I adapted the form a little.
I relied upon Adelaide Crapsey, a twentieth-century poet who used a form of 22 syllables in five lines as a 2, 4, 6, 8, and 2 pattern. Some say her poems are similar to Japanese tanka, a five-line form, and share a designed focus on imagery and the natural world.
tanka
the orchard stands bare
ducks dine on fat snails
soon the snows
come and depart
fruit bears in season
24-11-20 c. Lemuel
Tanka design takes the form of five lines and a 5/7/5/7/7 syllable pattern. Mine usually keep five lines, however, I treat the syllable count as ‘possibilities’