These might indeed be Senryus or some other species of micro poems. I just read three mystery/thrillers (audio books of course) back to back while cleaning house/walking/cooking/photoshopping etc and for some reason that led me to write these. Go figure.
Seventeen lifetimes
he sat, in prison, scribbling
wisdom on cell blocks
Parted lips drip gold
gold flecks smeared to make her bold
she laughs, gold flashes
Stars alight attract
lovers with star-shot wishes
their hopes soar space-wards
Lovers who obsess
future’s fate’s their obsession
now’s not their concern
Jealousy’s green eye
casts itself on all around
sees imagined faults
Security woos
slides rings upon shaking hands
fences in futures
Years pass, regret ebbs
its tide washes out old woes
leaves room for living
Ennui steals in
replaces that joie de vivre
leaves boredom instead
From to love to loathing
a step down a twisted path
thorns prick, bleed insults
For the Love Nudge Competition because the challenge appealed to me.
Very nice! I’m not a poet myself so I couldn’t tell you if they are Senryus, but they are beautiful!
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Thank you 🙂 the common consensus is that they are senryus 🙂
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Sorry, pressed “Post Comment” before I corrected that incorrect apostrophe — should have been “didn’t.” Sometimes, I type too fast for my own good. Please accept my apology for my typographical-punctuational lapse.
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That’s ok I make mistakes too 🙂 mute serious than an apostrophe
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Hah!
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So, I didnt’ know about senryu before a couple of weeks ago. It seems that more and more specific types of Japanese poetry are cropping up in English. Wonder who started all that?!
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I can think of a few wordpress bloggers who work mainly in those forms who may have started our picked up on the trend
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Exquisite senryu!
Masterful lines here:
“Ennui steals in
replaces that joie de vivre
leaves boredom instead
From to love to loathing
a step down a twisted path
thorns prick, bleed insults.”
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Thank you 🙂 I’m trying the form
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They are senryu and they are beautiful, my friend. Great work. You are a natural, for sure 🙂
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Oh wow. Thank you! Coming from a senryu master such as yourself that is indeed high praise
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🙂 you are welcome, my friend.
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😀
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They might be senryus or other micro-poems – they are without a doubt beautiful. It’s a great challenge, isn’t it?
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yes it is 🙂 so glad you mentioned it. I had not bumped into this blogger yet 🙂
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Ah, Lynn’s one of my earliest WP friends. I’m glad I could spread the word about her 🙂
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😀 Does she do other challenges? Or was this a one off?
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No, it’s a one off, I think. It’s certainly the first one.
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good to know 🙂 thanks
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Hi Melinda. I’d never heard of the senryus form before, but these are wonderful. And I’m blown away that you’ve written one for each word in my challenge.
‘lovers with star-shot wishes’ is a beautiful image and the ‘security’ and ‘loathing’ stanzas really drew me.
‘Security woos
slides rings upon shaking hands
fences in futures’
The idea of being wooed by security – willingly stepping into a trap – fantastic.
‘From to love to loathing
a step down a twisted path
thorns prick, bleed insults’
Oh, that twisted path! If only couples could foresee it ahead of them, would their feet take another way?
Beautiful sriting, Melinda. Thanks so much for taking part.
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Thank you for your kind words. I learned of this form from other poets on here far more talented than I. The “Security” is true; I have friends who married for that and then wondered why they were caught in loveless marriages. Most of these are actually about the experiences of friends of mine; they’re stepping stones down a path I hope to avoid!
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There are some terrifically talented people out there, and I love your work! Yes, security is a double edged sword. It can be a huge comfort – but if you choose the wrong person, it can lead to misery for all involved. Your poetry rings true – it’s no surprise it’s inspired by reality. Thank you for taking part 🙂
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You’re welcome 🙂 Thank you again for your kind praise
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Pleasure
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😀
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First of all, you’ve read 3 books while doing chores! Wow! What kind of focus o you have, give me some! ❤
And these series of senryus are just awesome. The beat the words are just so intense. 😘
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Thank you! I had a lot of chores to do. I listened to them over 2.5 days they were each about 9 hours long 🙂
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Oooohh!!! They’re indeed long!!!
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Not long enough when you factor in my commute 😦
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Oh noooo… there are traffic jams there too?
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Oh God yes, more cars, more people, more traffic.
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I’ve read that traffic is actually an unpaid work. I can relate…
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yes it is; I leave early enough to beat some of the traffic that I arrive at work 45-30 minutes before my shift starts. It makes the day longer and me more tired at its end, but I’m never late. More unpaid work right?
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Yes! I do the same. My office starts at 9am, but during Mondays I leave at 5am because traffic is horrendous during Mondays… -___-
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Wow. I leave later then that. You’ve got me beat
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Maybe because my home to office travel is farther than yours? 🙂
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I don’t doubt that it is. 🙂
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Maybe… Have some rest, Mel. It’s night now in your country right?
(Sorry I keep on forgetting about your lovely country. :/)
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Yeah it’s close to midnight here. I can barely keep my eyes open but I wanted to read and catch up on comments. It’s hard to do that from work but I try. 🙂
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Uh oh…
Have some rest, Mel! We can wait for you. 😉
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What a gorgeous series of Senryu, Melinda. I love the third stanza the best. ❤️
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Thank you! that one was for the challenge Love Nudge.
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You’re welcome! Yes, very fitting, too! 🙂
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You going to give it a try? It can be any type of poem just as long as its not too long.
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Hmmm I don’t know. Enough challenges at work as it is 😀 I took a look at the Love Nudge page though, and it does look enticing. Love. How could one resist?
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You know you can’t. Resistance is futile 😉 It’s right up your blog’s alley too! You could do a different form for each prompt (hint, hint; nudge, nudge) 😉
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Hahaha! Sigh. You know exactly which button to push. Okay. Just for you. 🙂
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you can do one a day… 😉 and put your skills on display 😉
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I don’t know about skills… but I’m sold 😀 I’m in!
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You have skills 😉 trust me! Or do you prefer Skillz? 😛
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Aww. Thanks! I’m not a Millennial, (unfortunately/fortunately?), so “skills”, please 😀
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same here, I want to throw the letter ‘S’ at those z-obsessed millennials!
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😀 Chuckling here! I agree! You are hilarious, I love it! 🙂
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😀 I’m picturing foam ‘Ss’ falling on laughing college kids 😉 You think they’ll get the point–wait Ss have no points…
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😀 😀 Gosh my stomach hurts from laughing!! Now I can’t look at them without picturing throwing a huge Ss foam at them!
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I’m going to be picturing that when the fashion disasters cross in front of my office on their way to class tomorrow…
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😀 Sigh. I so wish we were having this conversation at that little tea shop around the corner.
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that would be awesome. 🙂 though we’d be squirting tea out of our noses and laughing!
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That’s the idea. We’d be noisy and people would stare at us. 😀
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and laugh with us!
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I like your optimism 🙂 So what did you decide to do with the last 30 minutes before bed? 😉
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I wrote some of part 26 of Quest. 🙂
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Well done 🙂
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I wrote 2 sonnets and 3 senryus. You are fantastic for concentration! but now I must go to bed. I’m fading fast…it’s past midnight here and I have to shlep to that office in 7 hours… 😦 Have a good day!
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Good night, Melinda. Loved our chat 🙂 Have a good rest, ready to face a great new week tomorrow. ❤
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Thank you! I’m off to find dream land and conquer it with my army of foam Ss!
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I too enjoyed our chat, but you knew that 😉
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Excellent, Melinda. Amazing what the mind can do while seemingly preoccupied. I think you are starting to think in senryu…it’s all downhill from here 😉
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Thank you! So what’s at the bottom of that hill? What is Senryu the poetic equivalent to a gateway drug to?
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Since I fell in love with senryu poetry, I’ve found my long form writing has suffered dramatically – I can usually condense everything I want to say into 5-7-5 format…although maybe I never had much of anything to say and was just waffling on needlessly… 😜
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You definitely have good things to say. If there was waffling being done, it was in the kitchen with syrup not on your blog. 😉
I hope my long form doesn’t suffer; I’m a novelist masquerading as a poet on here. I will have to tread carefully! Thank you for the warning.
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Haha, all in jest – any writing that gets the cogs turning and words on the page has got to be good. I think you can safely add the title of poet to your resume, Melinda – the mask has well and truly fallen 🙂
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aw thank you! You’re right about words on the page and what leads to them.
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