The Poets Coner
June is busting’ out all over!! Moon, croon, toon, soon, boon, loon — OMG!
In this weather, we could make poems out of anything!
How about it?
OMG
Oh-M gee [as in whizz]
Ji [Hindi and Urdu honorific — gender neutral, too!]
The Wiz
Oh humm
Set to music
Something more traditional? This occurred to me over lunch an hour ago:
night comes
crickets
summer
Short poems seem to fit the season. This column has talked before about haiku form from Japanese poetry. A haiku has 3 lines, the first line with 5 syllables, the second with 7 syllables, and the third with 5. The number of syllables comes to us from Japanese tradition — and the forms of Japanese language. Japanese language does not use “articles" but in English, it is often awkward to leave out words like “the,” “an,” and “a,” so our haiku syllable count goes up with very little poetic “punch” — no image, no special sound, and so forth. Furthermore, Japanese language does not use personal pronouns. Our use of personal pronouns often takes up haiku syllables without adding images or new-and-exciting sounds to a haiku. Plus, we’re encouraged to go easy on “I” and “me” or other words that put ego out in front of image or thought. YIKES!! What’s a poet to do?
A creative answer comes from Sacramento in the form of “Brevities: A Mini-Mag of Minimalist Poems,” edited by Joyce Odam and co-editor, Robin Gale Odam. “Brevities” celebrated its 200th issue in November-December 2020! The issues include short poems from all over the country. The “Mini-Mag” is, true to form, 3 5/8 inches by 4 1/4 inches, plus original art on the cover and textured, colored end papers.
In addition to the poetry, “Brevities” includes poetic forms to try out. Some of the forms presented are traditional, others are new. So here are a couple to try out this month under the June Moon or Fun Sun — or — any place, any time.
Issue 198 includes the “Minute,” a poetic form of 60 iambic syllables in three stanzas, each stanza starting with an 8 syllable line, followed by three 4 syllable lines. The rhyme scheme is aabb, ccdd, eeff.
If you’re generally a fan of free verse, here are a couple of definitions that might clear up questions about more formal poem styles. “Iambic” means that syllables are tapped out ta-DUM, ta-DUM, ta-DUM, a pattern of the way we raise and lower our feet to tap out rhythm to music. “Iambic” comes from Greek “iambus” meaning “lampoon,” because iambic rhythm was used by ancient Greek satirists in composing verbal attacks.
There was
A guy
[or gal]
Back home
With little
Under
His [or her] dome.
(The line “With little” has three syllables — variety helps!)
Issue 200 of “Brevities” suggests a form of "Found Poem: A type of poetry created by taking words and phrases from other sources, such as articles, lists, documents, and even other literary works, and presenting them to impart new meaning."
As an example, Joyce and Robin created this poem from a list of titles.
THE CITY TREES
Hush —
the birds of sleep
in their deep trees,
the green secrets,
the nudging breezes,
the watchful movement
of the leaves . . . hush.
For more information on “Brevities” contact:
Brevities: A Mini-Mag of Minimalist Poems
Editor: Joyce Odam
2432 48th Avenue
Sacramento, CA 95822-3809
[email protected]
Have a poetic June!
Tanya Joyce
Painter, Poet, Pinole Artisan
www.tanyajoyce.com
[email protected]
June is busting’ out all over!! Moon, croon, toon, soon, boon, loon — OMG!
In this weather, we could make poems out of anything!
How about it?
OMG
Oh-M gee [as in whizz]
Ji [Hindi and Urdu honorific — gender neutral, too!]
The Wiz
Oh humm
Set to music
Something more traditional? This occurred to me over lunch an hour ago:
night comes
crickets
summer
Short poems seem to fit the season. This column has talked before about haiku form from Japanese poetry. A haiku has 3 lines, the first line with 5 syllables, the second with 7 syllables, and the third with 5. The number of syllables comes to us from Japanese tradition — and the forms of Japanese language. Japanese language does not use “articles" but in English, it is often awkward to leave out words like “the,” “an,” and “a,” so our haiku syllable count goes up with very little poetic “punch” — no image, no special sound, and so forth. Furthermore, Japanese language does not use personal pronouns. Our use of personal pronouns often takes up haiku syllables without adding images or new-and-exciting sounds to a haiku. Plus, we’re encouraged to go easy on “I” and “me” or other words that put ego out in front of image or thought. YIKES!! What’s a poet to do?
A creative answer comes from Sacramento in the form of “Brevities: A Mini-Mag of Minimalist Poems,” edited by Joyce Odam and co-editor, Robin Gale Odam. “Brevities” celebrated its 200th issue in November-December 2020! The issues include short poems from all over the country. The “Mini-Mag” is, true to form, 3 5/8 inches by 4 1/4 inches, plus original art on the cover and textured, colored end papers.
In addition to the poetry, “Brevities” includes poetic forms to try out. Some of the forms presented are traditional, others are new. So here are a couple to try out this month under the June Moon or Fun Sun — or — any place, any time.
Issue 198 includes the “Minute,” a poetic form of 60 iambic syllables in three stanzas, each stanza starting with an 8 syllable line, followed by three 4 syllable lines. The rhyme scheme is aabb, ccdd, eeff.
If you’re generally a fan of free verse, here are a couple of definitions that might clear up questions about more formal poem styles. “Iambic” means that syllables are tapped out ta-DUM, ta-DUM, ta-DUM, a pattern of the way we raise and lower our feet to tap out rhythm to music. “Iambic” comes from Greek “iambus” meaning “lampoon,” because iambic rhythm was used by ancient Greek satirists in composing verbal attacks.
There was
A guy
[or gal]
Back home
With little
Under
His [or her] dome.
(The line “With little” has three syllables — variety helps!)
Issue 200 of “Brevities” suggests a form of "Found Poem: A type of poetry created by taking words and phrases from other sources, such as articles, lists, documents, and even other literary works, and presenting them to impart new meaning."
As an example, Joyce and Robin created this poem from a list of titles.
THE CITY TREES
Hush —
the birds of sleep
in their deep trees,
the green secrets,
the nudging breezes,
the watchful movement
of the leaves . . . hush.
For more information on “Brevities” contact:
Brevities: A Mini-Mag of Minimalist Poems
Editor: Joyce Odam
2432 48th Avenue
Sacramento, CA 95822-3809
[email protected]
Have a poetic June!
Tanya Joyce
Painter, Poet, Pinole Artisan
www.tanyajoyce.com
[email protected]