Happy Poetry Month this 13th day of April! Today’s poetry form, the Sijo originates from Korea and like its cousins, the haiku and tantra, is comprised of three lines. Each line should have 14-16 syllables, pausing in the middle, the first half containing 6 to 9 syllables with the balance in the second. A Sijo may be narrative or thematic. It develops in three parts: introduction of a situation or problem; development or “turn” in line two; and resolution in the third, often employing a twist or surprise in the first half of the line. Sijo is strongly based in nature and may take on religious or metaphysical themes as well. Unlike haiku, sijo relies heavily on the use of metaphors, symbols, puns, allusions and other word play. Some modern print restrictions may show a sijo in six lines.
I take my inspiration today from an amazing “volunteer” tomato plant. I found it last summer, thriving in the middle of my compost heap. I am not a gardener. I barely knew what to do with it once I found it. But despite my inadequacy, Nature saw fit to provide me with a dozen or so plump tomatoes.
Nature has a way of surprising us with her wild chaotic unruliness. She has been sustaining life for eons, long before the first human thought to contain her in tidy rows with hoe in hand. It’s comforting to those of us who tend to go with the flow to know that Nature has our back…and a few tomatoes to spare.
This is an actual photo of my wild tomatoes from Summer 2015!
Nature’s Garden
Gardeners, who fancy their thumbs green, primp and prune and toil
Sowing seeds, midst fussy plots of weeds, their empty plates to fill.
My garden thrives in a compost heap, vines bursting tomatoes!
kat ~ 13 April 2016
like mercury colliding... 
April 13th, 2016 at 12:28 pm
I love everything about this post. First, I’ve never heard of a Sijo and was excited to learn about them. Second, very cool story about your tomato plant. I would love to find that in my compost. Third, your poem is lovely. Thanks for sharing!
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April 13th, 2016 at 12:41 pm
Thank you for reading! I love it when I can apply personal anecdotes to my poetry. I learn so much from Nature. She’s a great teacher! 🙂
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April 13th, 2016 at 1:12 pm
Nice one Kat. Makes me laugh a bit. My Dad grows tons of tomatoes every summer. More then we can eat or giveaway. Each year half if them sadly rot. Also, enjoyed this poetry form.
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April 13th, 2016 at 1:16 pm
It would seem that tomatoes can grow anywhere!!! 🙂 Thanks Mandi!
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April 13th, 2016 at 5:53 pm
How lucky for you to get such a wonderful volunteer tomato plant! We have to really work at getting our tomato plants to produce for us before the first frost. The sijo is very apropos!
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April 13th, 2016 at 6:02 pm
It was a surprise! Most of my summer tomatoes come from the overflow of gardens much more diligent than me. 😊
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