Prompting Yourself to Write 11: Haikus, Tankas, and Cinquains, Oh My!

Words have meaning.

They can evoke the whole spectrum of emotions in those who read, or hear them.

They can inspire a person to great deeds, and to terrible ones as well.

And that's just your Credit card bill. :-)

Seriously, all manner of literature exists that this applies to.

One genre is that of Poetry.

From the simple, and short, to the long, and involved, the various forms of the Poetic Tradition have had a hold on our imaginations for thousands of years.

Consider the HAIKU:

3 Lines:

5 syllables.
7 syllables.
5 syllables.

America is
a nation of free people
paid for with our blood.

Consider the TANKA:

5 lines:

5 syllables.
7 syllables.
5 syllables.
7 syllables.
7 syllables.

God Bless this great land.
Home of the free, and the brave.
A Light unto all
in a time of great peril.
May it stand tall, and prevail.

And finally, consider the uniquely American equivalent of the Haiku.

The CINQUAIN:

5 lines:

2 syllables.
4 syllables.
6 syllables.
8 syllables.
2 syllables.

The choice
is an easy one
in picking President.
All Democrats gone but John Kerry.
Bush wins.

I'm issuing a challenge to the Blogosphere.

Put your thoughts about all things (Your Country here.) from A TO Z, from the arts, and environment, to culture and politics, the people, places, and things, all that is good, and great, unique and wonderful, confounding, and controversial, about your nation, in your personal opinion, into the lines of these simple poetic forms.

Traditionally Haiku begin with a natural scene tied to a season, and Tankas also begin with an observation of a natural scene.

But that's tradition, and you don't have to follow it, on any of these forms, if you don't want to.

Just avoid end-rhyming the lines, try to vary the rythms from line to line, and you can keep a sentence moving to the next line if you choose.

Also try to avoid ending too many lines in a row with a one-syllable word.

Got it? ;-D

If you use an entry of your blog to try your hand at this exercise, trackback to this post, or send me an e-mail, and I will do a round-up of links to all who take the challenge.

To anyone without a blog post your poems as a comment to this post.

If you decide to send me a poem, or 3, in e-mail, instead, I'll post a collection of those I get, and give credit where credit is due.

Don't be shy.

And bring a dictionary to check your syllables. ;-D

Words have meaning.

They can evoke the whole spectrum of emotions in those who read, or hear them.

They can inspire a person to great deeds, and to terrible ones as well.

And that's just your Credit card bill. :-)

Seriously, all manner of literature exists that this applies to.

One genre is that of Poetry.

From the simple, and short, to the long, and involved, the various forms of the Poetic Tradition have had a hold on our imaginations for thousands of years.

Consider the HAIKU:

3 Lines:

5 syllables.
7 syllables.
5 syllables.

America is
a nation of free people
paid for with our blood.

Consider the TANKA:

5 lines:

5 syllables.
7 syllables.
5 syllables.
7 syllables.
7 syllables.

God Bless this great land.
Home of the free, and the brave.
A Light unto all
in a time of great peril.
May it stand tall, and prevail.

And finally, consider the uniquely American equivalent of the Haiku.

The CINQUAIN:

5 lines:

2 syllables.
4 syllables.
6 syllables.
8 syllables.
2 syllables.

The choice
is an easy one
in picking President.
All Democrats gone but John Kerry.
Bush wins.

I'm issuing a challenge to the Blogosphere.

Put your thoughts about all things (Your Country here.) from A TO Z, from the arts, and environment, to culture and politics, the people, places, and things, all that is good, and great, unique and wonderful, confounding, and controversial, about your nation, in your personal opinion, into the lines of these simple poetic forms.

Traditionally Haiku begin with a natural scene tied to a season, and Tankas also begin with an observation of a natural scene.

But that's tradition, and you don't have to follow it, on any of these forms, if you don't want to.

Just avoid end-rhyming the lines, try to vary the rythms from line to line, and you can keep a sentence moving to the next line if you choose.

Also try to avoid ending too many lines in a row with a one-syllable word.

Got it? ;-D

If you use an entry of your blog to try your hand at this exercise, trackback to this post, or send me an e-mail, and I will do a round-up of links to all who take the challenge.

To anyone without a blog post your poems as a comment to this post.

If you decide to send me a poem, or 3, in e-mail, instead, I'll post a collection of those I get, and give credit where credit is due.

Don't be shy.

And bring a dictionary to check your syllables. ;-D