Sleep — death’s twin sister
stole me away at dawn
leaving my breathing stale husk
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West Coast Winter
air
the flavor of BBQ left out overnight
tobacco smoke from a walnut pipe
crisp as an open freezer
grey as hospital walls
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Poetic Form: Gogyohka
Ladies and gentle dragons, I would like to present to you the 2nd easiest poetic form known to mankind: the Gogyohka.
It is literally just a 5 line poem.
That’s it.
No syllable count, no rhymes, nada.
Just 5 lines.
This
short
stanza
is a
gogyohka.
Originally found in the Japanese Tanka (to be discussed later because Tankas are awesome, so very very awesome), and created by one Enta Kusakabe, gogyohka’s are short and free. Freedom is the name of the game.
That being said, the line length can vary from one word (or letter) to lines as long as a full printed page. However, this is where the issues can come up. As a rule of thumb for poetry, the shorter the lines, the heavy they are. Emphasis is drawn by the line break and how and when those breaks are made determine the interpretation by the reader.
So, if you find you struggle with line breaks, give the gogyohka a try and see how short or long or medium lines work for you.
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Dragon Incantation
A is for Apalala, water converter
B is for Bakunawa, moon devourer
C is for Cuélebre, Xana kidnapper
D is for Dreq, Christian tormentor
E is for Evren, flame secretor
F is for Fafnir, ring hoarder
G is for Guivre, venom breather
H is for Huánglóng, writing instructor
I is for Imoogi, serpentine youngster
J is for Jörmungandr, Ragnarok holder
K is for Kulshedra, Saint George sleeper
L is for Lóng, Chinese Emperor
M is for Mušḫuššu, Babylon Gate Keeper
N is for Níðhöggr, Dread Biter
O is for Ouroboros, self-eater
P is for Piasa, American flyer
Q is for Quetzalcoatl, road sweeper
R is for Ryūjin, sea ruler
S is for Sárkány, gold collector
T is for Tarasque, landscape devastator
U is for Unnamed, Beowulf challenger
V is for Vritra, drought begetter
W is for Wyvern, two-footer
X is for Xiuhcoatl, fire god former
Y is for Yam, ocean stormer
Z is for Zirnitra, Persian sailor
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Poetic Form: Abecedarian
Quick Lesson Time: Poems are not just short phrases or cute greeting card sayings. Poems are a form of written art — paintings created from language and/or the tools of language. This is a broad statement but given the advancements in technology, poetry can now take many different forms: from binary poetry to hidden poetry.
To improve my poetry and to celebrate how far we have come in our global poetic history, I will be presenting poetic forms throughout the year of 2018.
Today’s Poetic Form is Abecedarian!
The link provided gives a wonderful overview of the form and other examples, but to summarize: Abecedarian poems are Alphabet Poems.
Most American students, including yours truly, were taught this form as a child. It helps with memorizing facts and can be entertaining for those young at heart.
If you don’t speak English but your language has an Alphabet (or an equivalent) you can play around with the form.
Each line of an Abecedarian begins with a letter of the Alphabet, in alphabetic order.
Typing it out, an Abecedarian poem’s first column would look like this in English:
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
These lines can be varied and formed however way you wish. The only prerequisite for this form is to pick an Alphabet and begin the poem in Alphabetical Forms.
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Regarding Certain Posts
Hello Writers and Lighters,
Rosie here. I just wanted to give a heads up on some creative projects I have going on right now. I am playing around with creating poetry that is interactive and invites readers to explore beyond the page. The first poem like this for the site is Unseen. If you select the text with your mouse cursor, the whole poem is revealed. The second poem, which is more of a test run, to be honest, is Corrupted. The gibberish in the text body is encoded in Base 64. Decode it using any decode site online and it will reveal a text. Likewise, the QR code will give you another strain of gibberish. Scan and repeat.
I want to see if these more interactive poems would interest readers and other writers.
My next poem is taking a bit longer because of the form it is taking but hopefully it will be done in the next week.
I look forward to playing with you all.
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How to Heal after being Profiled as a Cart Thief (because stealing carts is a lucrative business…)
Step 1: Sweet creamy protein chocolate goodness! Gives you the proteins needed for strong muscles to fight against systemic racism that has infected the minds of all humanity. Also, Chocolate because Chocolate.
Step 2: Get out a recipe book you bought with your hard earn money. Make sure that everyone knows it is yours now and not that one lady that went to jail for lying Because she was a liar and you are not. So enjoy your honest purchase.
Thank you captialism.
Step 3: Locate your spell and give thanks to the corporate gods that we have so much food in America that we can let it rot away. Really… we do… google that.
Step 4: Prepare the cauldron! Make sure it is red. Like the blood that flows from the working and service classes of America. One day my brothers and sisters. One day.
Step 5: Add your ingredients to the cauldron to create the perfect anti-fascist stew. The onions from a local garden, carrots from that neighbor with a truck, celery from that one Mexican single mother who bought too much, and tyme. Because all good things come with thyme.
Step I forgot-the-number-so-sue-me: Stop taking pictures because all the other prep work takes time. Begin to ponder the many types of labor that are outside our corporate overlords sway yet are still needed in order for our nation to function and then slowly realize that all your labor that is not monetarily compensated is feminized labor…even going into birth is called labor…
And after the realization of the inability of the “free” market to truly provide “freedom” to the public and instead installs a system of classes that are arbitrarily assigned to individuals before they are even conceived …
BEHOLD!
Serves 6 individuals and fills them with the energy and willpower to fight the good fight.
