Sedoka Poems to Bring in Spring

I just realized that March 9, 2016 is my 10 year blogoversary!!! Hard to believe how fast that has flown. Back then I was doing a lot of parent blogging and also reviewing children's books more, as I was an elementary school librarian. I haven't been blogging as much lately, what with a new job since last summer (Reference librarian in a small college close to home = YAY!), but I am still enjoying the ride. I am inordinately inspired and challenged by my Poetry Sisters and the poems we have written together over the past eight years. We started with a Crown of Sonnets in 2008. I am so honored and thrilled to be part of this sisterhood! And on it goes...
Here's another spring photo for you, just because.

As winter ends (we made it through another one!) and spring blows in (March in my part of the world is all about wind and unpredictability...) the Poetry Sisters are writing Sedoka. Sedoka is an ancient Japanese form going back to the 6th century. It consists of two three-line stanzas with a 5,7,7 syllable count, not rhymed. The trick is to present two contrasting views of the same subject, rather like the way good haiku contrasts two images to give a new insight. I've had some up and down days this past month, with sick children and snowy days mixed right in there with warm breezes, the first spring flowers, and seed catalogs arriving. They are calling for snow tomorrow, and 70 degrees on Monday.

I've tried to paint a picture of contrasts with these, and had fun doing it. I've always loved playing with haiku and squeezing images into short poems, so I'm sure I'll come back for more. Here's my first few attempts:

Lonely
 

An infant at night

on the pediatric ward;

watched where lights never go out.

His waking cry calls

a nurse; not mother’s crooning.

His voice tips toward blind outrage.

 - Andromeda Jazmon 2/29/16

Wind

Spring ruffles all things;

flocks of robins on the grass

flushed as tender swollen buds,

while scrims of ice hold

the pond; eyelashes freezing

still with winter’s tears.

 - Andromeda Jazmon 3/1/16

My Poetry Sisters have more to offer at their blogs: 

Laura Purdie Salas
Tricia Stohr-Hunt
Sara Lewis Holmes
Kelly Fineman
Liz Garton Scanlon
Tanita S. Davis

And don't forget to visit the Friday Poetry Roundup at Teacher Dance. Enjoy!