Category Archives: Senryu

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 22 – lying eyes

lying eyes

we’re told
not to believe
what we see with our eyes
“trust us,” they say, “we’ll tell you what
is true

it’s impossible
to know the truth; what is truth?
it’s an opinion

~kat

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 22 Challenge: write a poem in which two things have a fight. Two very unlikely things, if you can manage it. Like, maybe a comb and a spatula. Or a daffodil and a bag of potato chips. Or perhaps your two things could be linked somehow – like a rock and a hard place – and be utterly sick of being so joined. The possibilities are endless!

Poetry Forms: Cinquain and Senryu

A cinquain is a five-line poem consisting of twenty-two syllables: two in the first line, then four, then six, then eight, and then two syllables again in the last line.

Senryū is a Japanese form of short poetry similar to haiku in construction: three lines with 17 morae. Senryū tend to be about human foibles while haiku tend to be about nature, and senryū are often cynical or darkly humorous while haiku are more serious.


storied

storied

if it’s rewritten
history can’t repeat itself
lessons go unlearned

~kat

Senryu

Similar to haiku, senryu generally consist of 17 syllables (also called morae) divided over three lines in a 5-7-5 pattern, though these guidelines were less strictly followed as time passed. Senryu differs from haiku in that it is not required to reference the seasons or nature.


in retrospect


in retrospect

civilization
left to gerrymandered right
exposed their dark side,
extreme-powered corruption,
chaos-fed barbarism,

where democracy
was devoured by madness
and pro-life killers

~kat

NaPoWriMo 2023 Challenge Day Twenty; Have you ever heard someone wonder what future archaeologists, whether human or from alien civilization, will make of us? Today, I’d like to challenge you to answer that question in poetic form, exploring a particular object or place from the point of view of some far-off, future scientist? The object or site of study could be anything from a “World’s Best Grandpa” coffee mug to a Pizza Hut, from a Pokemon poster to a cellphone.

Today’s prompt took me down a dark rabbit hole. Things right now are completely mad. I can’t imagine what future generations will think of us. The poetry form: a tanka/senryu combo.

Haikus & Senryus

muddy
ecstasy
spring rain

lingering
winter, frosted gloam
peepers mum

fair dandelion
golden face turned toward the sun
to frost at dawn fades


footprints
rain remnants
to mop

such stillness
peepers choked by frost
in hiding

only to be nipped
by latent cold snaps at dawn
first flowers still rise

~kat

For Tanka Tuesday Challenge to explore the haiku and the senryu, a handful of each in various metered forms: 2/3/2, 3/5/3, 5/7/5 . I love writing little poems!


Tanka Tuesday Senryu

bewitched by candlelight
flickering in the darkness
peace bellowing

~kat

A Senryu for Colleen Chesebro’s Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge, Synonyms Only, Prompt Words: Mystery (Darkness) & Attract (Bewitch).