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
- Andromeda Jazmon 2/29/16
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!
14 comments:
Love these first efforts and the accompanying photographs. The baby one is my favourite - especially that last line.
Beautiful, Andi - Thanks for sharing, and for sharing the gorgeous photos. Bring on Spring!
Both of these are so tender and powerful, Andi. I just love them, and your photos, too. Happy ten years, and ten years more!
I like the tiny changes you've made in the first one - imagining that baby's cry on a sliding scale toward outrage makes me smile. Hell hath no fury like a tiny one demanding Mama!
I'm still imagining the scrim of ice on fluttering lashes - so pretty, those individual shards of ice crystals on a branch.
I love both of these, Andi. I can feel the pain in that first poem. And the second one, well, it warms my northern heart. Thanks for sharing these.
And happy blogiversary! You were one of the first folks I met when I started blogging just a bit later in the year you started. Thank you for being such a kind and generous member of this community.
Happy Blogiversary, Andromeda! Ten years is mighty impressive! I appreciate the introduction to this new-to-me form, one I'd definitely like to try myself. I'm particularly drawn to your second poem, "Wind"– that juxtaposition of ruffling feathers and eyelashes freezing.
Happy blogiversary!!! We're so lucky to have had so much beauty from you over the years, today included. I love both of these but ESPECIALLY the line "spring ruffles all things". PERFECTION.
Lovely poems -- don't think I've read many sedoku at all. And a very Happy Blogoversary to you!! Still remember first "meeting" you online and also the first time the Poetry Princesses joined forces to write that first Crown Sonnet. :)
Thank you all! It's so fun to have a community conversation that lasts over the years. Really my favorite thing about blogging! Old friends and new, and always a conversation!
I am impressed by how much power you have packed into these small poems, and such visceral imagery. Wonderful, powerful work, Andi!
Happy Bloggaversary to you! I loved "Wind" - just exquisite.
There have been two others saying they were about to celebrate their blogiversaries of ten years. What a wonderful thing. I just crossed the five year point, am so glad I started. I love both your sedoka, Andi, cannot pick a favorite, but you have me interested in trying one. "Spring ruffles all things" fills my mind with so many images.
You are at your best in this short form! Good to hear your poetic voice again, and Happy Blogiversary! We started A Year of Reading 10 years ago, too. What a ride it's been!!
Thanks, Mary Lee! I was thinking about you and Mother Reader, remembering how we all caught the fire around the same time. Who knew we would still be doing this ten years later? You've been an inspiration to me!
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