Category: Tanka (Form)

I WILL POEM FOR FOOD

On By Walter J. WojtanikIn April Poetry Month, Challenge, Haiku (Form), lyric, Pantoum (Form), Poetic Asides, Sestina, Sonnet (Form), Tanka (Form), Through the Eyes of a Poet's Heart, Triolet (Form), Villanelle (Form), Walt's Heartflashes - PoetryLeave a comment

Buddy, can you spare a rhyme?
I’m down on my luck and someone stuck
a slug in my hat. That and a hearty sestina
won’t buy me a cup of coffee.
But if you’re interested, might I show you
this string of haiku written just for you…
or maybe you could say thank you to a nice tanka
or pantoum. Would you swoon over this sonnet
if I put your name on it? A villanelle would go swell
with your shoes, or you can choose to have me
get satirically lyrical on you. I can let you have
a triolet for a song. You can’t go wrong!
Thanks anyway. You know, starving poets need love too!
I’m tols I’m sort of good! I will poem for food!
Hey! Hey Buddy, can you spare a rhyme?

(C) Walter J Wojtanik

Poetic Asides 2017 April P.A.D. – Day 11: Sonnet/Anti-form

 

BOKETTO AS A POETIC FORM

On By Walter J. WojtanikIn Form For All, Haiku (Form), Poetry, Tanka (Form), Through the Eyes of a Poet's Heart, Walt's Heartflashes - PoetryLeave a comment

I thank my poetic friend, Meena Rose for introducing me to the concept of Boketto. I have been thinking about how to translate this into a poetic form.

Boketto is a Japanese word that really doesn’t translate into English very well. The idea behind Boketto is staring at the sky or into the distance without a thought… Getting lost in one’s own self; removing the self from a place mentally. There is no regard to the past and no concern for the future. There is only THIS moment. The Boketto can be a very personal poem, or can be one of a random observation.

The Boketto consists of two stanzas, One of five lines (30 syllables – 7,7,7,4,5) and a three line (17 syllables – two seven syllable lines and a three syllable line which becomes a refain if a string of Boketto are written).

A variation of the Boketto makes use of two (three) ancient Japanese forms, the Tanka and the Haiku (Senryu). The moment of which you write will determine the choice. (Haiku – nature; Senryu – anything else).

Example:
WHITE NOISE

The air is filled with static,
a bombardment of senses
meant to irritate; annoy.
There is no joy,
this moment must cease.

I must escape in my mind,
hoping to find inner peace.
No relief.

© Walter J Wojtanik, 2014

Variation on Boketto:

SOLACE IN SELF

I am imprisoned,
lost in this moment in time.
I am writing rhyme
hoping to vacate this shell
and become one with my words.

not a sound is heard
silence becomes an ally
setting the soul free

© Walter J Wojtanik, 2014