A December Tanka

‘Winter’ … WHB – Pen & Ink 2017 

 

Bright the winter sun

Burns in the short day’s heaven

As each day goes by

I think of Bethlehem’s star

Wishing the year ‘Au Revoir’.

 

Tanka is a genre of classical Japanese poetry meaning a short poem, and one of the major genres of Japanese literature.

A Tanka consist of five units (often treated as separate lines when romanized or translated) usually with the pattern of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables per unit or line). Wikipedia.

I have again ended my Tanka with a rhyming couplet.

A November Tanka

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Dark the days are now

Winter bites as we look on

In November’s clothes

Breeding hope and dulling pain

Will we see this month again?

 

Tanka is a genre of classical Japanese poetry meaning a short poem, and one of the major genres of Japanese literature.

A Tanka consist of five units (often treated as separate lines when romanized or translated) usually with the pattern of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables per unit or line). Wikipedia.

I have here ended my Tanka with a rhyming couplet

 

 

 

‘On Lost Youth” . . . A TANKA

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‘On Lost Youth” . . . A TANKA

 

Still lusting for life

It so defeats me to cry

Joy now comes with pain

Bringing thoughts of what has been

Youth will never come again

 

Tanka is a genre of classical Japanese poetry meaning a short poem, and one of the major genres of Japanese literature. 

A Tanka consist of five units (often treated as separate lines when romanized or translated) usually with the pattern of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables per unit or line). Wikipedia

Three Cinquains

A cinquain is a five-line poem, normally without rhyme, but with a specific syllable count of 2-4-6-8-2.  The form was invented by Adelaide Crapsey, an American poet who took her inspiration from Japanese haiku and tanka.  As with most other poetic forms, the cinquaine has since been developed to encompass a variety of ways, whilst always holding to Crapsey’s basic formula.

The following amplification is taken from: ‘The Cinquain’ ByDeborah Kolodii, as published on the  ‘Shadow Poetry’  website …

The ideal cinquain for Crapsey was one that worked up to a turn or climax, and then fell back. Similar to the “twist” that often occurs in the final couplet of a sonnet, a cinquain’s “turn” usually occurs during the final, shorter fifth line or immediately before it. Thus, the momentum of a cinquain grows with each subsequent line as another two syllables, … (are) added bringing the poem to a climax at the fourth line, falling back to a two syllable “punch line”.

Adelaide Crapsey

In another of my occasional attempts at structuring my poetic thoughts into a (to me) new poetic form, I give below three of my own examples of the CINQUAINE.

 

My life
Lives in my work
Searching for the right words
Seeking to make them tell the truth
Poet

---

 

Regrets
Are not for me
Rather, let the past rest
Whilst I live on in the present
With hope

---

 

Winter
Ends as the Spring
Advances with new life
Bringing hope and joy to us all
Rebirth

TANKA

TANKA:  

An ancient Japanese verse form, said historically to have preceded the haiku.  The TANKA follows strict rules for the  construction of lines, syllables and verses.  

There should be 5 lines in each verse and these should be of 5,7,5,7,7 syllables.
No rhymes are required, and there should be a minimum of 3 verses connected in a single story, thought or conceit.

My first attempt at a TANKA . . .

I took a right turn
It led to that promised land
Earthly Nirvana
Where destiny awaits me
Offers rejuvenation.

So love comes to me 
Late in life it grows in me
Promising new hope 
Like the acorn healthy seed
Awaiting its fruition.

What if I pass on
Before I’ve even tasted
These promised pleasures
Will my shattered hopes repair
There in Never-Never Land?

Mortuary Chapel, Lochearnhead … Watercolour  – WHB – 2001