Category Archives: Syllabic Poetry

by | December 26, 2025 · 10:56 am

A Tanka for #TankaTuesday Poetry Challenge, Holidays

For Robbie Cheadle’s challenge at #TankaTuesday challenge I’ve written a double tanka about my childhood Christmas Eves.

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Church bells ring-a-linged

We walked through the candy canes

in the crisp-aired park

Flakes coating our hair and coats

Sliding ourselves to the first house

*

Progressive dinners

Mom’s aunt’s house, then her uncle’s

Grandma baked desserts

Worst part was the oyster stew

Now my fondest memory

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Eight years ago I decided to investigate this Christmas eve oyster stew phenomenon for my family history blog. My mother’s maternal family were the ones who celebrated with the progressive dinners and the oyster stew (a pan of milk and oysters essentially until my husband joined the family and added spices and seasonings). That family was half Dutch and half Pomeranian (an area on the Baltic that was part of Prussia, although the genetics of the German-speaking people (before WWII when they were kicked out of Poland) was actually Slavic. Anyway, the Pomeranian “half” was through the women, so that’s where I thought the tradition must come from. Here is the link to my post. Keep in mind one of the links within the article is now dead. A Christmas Tradition from the Old Country

To my knowledge nobody in the family carries on this tradition. We have all created new holiday traditions with our children.

Did your family have a tradition that seemed to pull the family together like this that is now nearly forgotten?

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by | November 4, 2025 · 12:29 pm

A Shadorma for #TankaTuesday Poetry Challenge No. 37, The Veil, 11/04/25

This week’s #TankaTuesday syllabic poetry prompt is by Yvette Calleiro. She asked for poems using the image of veil. While this is a great idea I learned something or maybe noticed is a better word about syllabic poetry. It’s very hard to approach subjects obliquely or “slant” (credit to Emily Dickinson) with syllabic forms.

I chose shadorma (possibly Spanish or of modern origin) for the form. This is a six line poem of 3-5-3-3-7-5 line lengths. I wanted a form that didn’t require the subject to be about nature, which is why I selected this form.

thanks to sfetfedyhghj

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The Mask Reveals the Heart

 

Bride’s coy veil,

vamp’s pillbox netting.

They conceal

to reveal—

no different from a mask

where disguise tells all.

 

Two years ago, the following flash fiction was published at The Ekphrastic Review. The veil in this case refers to the veil between living and dead or between this world and THAT world.

​Waiting for the Handsome Prince: A Farce (Of Course)
after “An Unexpected Visit” by Remedios Varo

Some girls left a glove or handkerchief, hoping to obligate a gentleman to return it. Eleonora liked to think she was different. She dropped a pump knowing he would imagine her barefoot and helpless. She remembered the velvet of his broad chest, jeweled medallion clanking, felt parts of her responding. Her new friend, Fairy Godfather, helped her prepare for Handsome Prince’s visit, adding to her pretty table setting an inexhaustible carafe and a trick candle, while assuring Eleonora they were traditional heirlooms with magical powers. Before he departed with an unnecessary hug, he reminded her what would happen if the spell were broken. All she needed to achieve the spell’s fulfillment was one kiss from Handsome Prince.Eleonora waited at the table for Handsome Prince all day. Then all night and the next day. She examined the events of the ball repeatedly. What went wrong? Was she too assertive? Too quiet? Did he prefer juicier curves or richer daddies? She tried to drink the water, but it was ensconced inside the glass, unattainable. She tried to rise, but the broken spell had already begun to claim its reward. The transformation into feline had begun. She was locked in place, the fur growing, even as the spinster cat had begun to dissolve into the woods. Just as the pitying fairies arrived to spirit her off beyond the veil, the now-unmasked Fairy Godfather appeared in his pumpkin, his goblin face taunting her.

NEW PUBS THIS WEEK

6 mixed media collages: Does It Have Pockets

2 speculative microfiction: Dog Throat Journal

revenge lit micro: Villain Era

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by | October 21, 2025 · 1:59 pm

#TankaTuesday, Fall Haiku

With my new fall routine in place, I’m back to trying #TankaTuesday syllabic poetry.

This week’s prompt was brought by Yvette M. Calleiro at Tanka Tuesday: Absorb, Repel and instructs poets to use the words “absorb” and “repel” in their syllabic poems. We can add a kigo word for fun. These are from a list of seasonal words.

I wrote this haiku with the two prompt words and the kigo “autumn sky.” Technically, haiku should not be rhyming, and this rhyme was unintentional. But I didn’t want to change it ;). Also, the plural of haiku can be haiku or haikus. I prefer haiku.

Autumn sky so blue

it repels all other hues

and absorbs my dreams.

I also wrote another haiku using the kigo “chilly.”

Chilly fall morning

sunlight splintering through trees

sparks dance at my feet

I posted an unenhanced photo of the intense blue sky in Arizona on Monday, but I’ll repost here to go with the first haiku.

The air seemed chilly this morning. A crispy fall morning. At least by Arizona standards. It was probably 65 degrees, and I could still wear a sleeveless dress.

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by | April 1, 2025 · 4:05 pm

A Senryu for National Poetry Monthr

HAPPY POETRY MONTH!

This week’s poetry challenge at Tanka Tuesday is The Fool, as in the card in the tarot deck. I got an idea for my senryu from the card from The Wild Unknown which features a baby bird on a twig or branch. I found the image online, but couldn’t find one I felt I had permission to reprint here. I did a marathon this past weekend of taking care of my toddler grandson. My hip is completely shot and otherwise screwed up, and I’m getting a new one in a month and a half,* so this was pretty insane for me to do (The Fool?). The gardener helped though, and the babysitter came for three hours, too.

After viewing the tarot card I thought about how my grandson must feel when he makes some of his dangerous choices. Here’s my poem:

baby climbs on chair

he stands upright, rocks backwards

hope blossoms in him

Of course that’s not how Grandma views the situation, but I do think we’re pretty close so I have him a bit figured out. BTW, he does not speak or say names yet, but he called out to me again, “Grandma!” He’s done that a few times for at least four months. I’ve had witnesses every time, too, so I am NOT imagining it.

*Back to the hip. You might have good stories about how easy the surgery and recovery was for you or a friend, but don’t bother. I have some conditions that makes it scary, and so those stories won’t make me feel better but will probably irritate me. Just sayin. But thanks for the thought.  Of course, prayers and vibes accepted and even desired!

In honor of National Poetry Month and the re-opening of Zingara Poetry Review, they are providing prompts each day this month–and then if you like you can submit them in hopes of getting them published. Here’s the link for the first prompt, which I kind of love: ZINGARA PROMPT ONE

Listen to this serendipity! I searched my The Wild Unknown archetype deck to see if it includes The Fool. It does not, but I found a business card for the editor of Zingara. I have no idea how long it’s been in there as I haven’t cracked that deck in awhile. Is that WILD?

Let’s get some poetry going this month! XO

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by | December 23, 2024 · 7:35 pm

Buy Yourself a Gift of Sunflower Tanka!!!

Lily is enjoying her new anthology, Sunflower Tanka. These are wonderful examples of tanka and tanka prose. There are even some unusual tanka forms. I’m so blessed to have four tanka prose in the book. A huge thanks to the contributing editors, Colleen Chesebro and Robbie Cheadle.

Isn’t the art on the cover gorgeous? It’s by Robbie.

I sent a copy to my mom and suspect she’s going to love it!

You can pick up your own copy here: https://shorturl.at/XEKLb

You can also purchase a Kindle version.

Blurb

Sunflower Tanka, edited by Robbie Cheadle & Colleen M. Chesebro, is an annual anthology of contemporary tanka, tanka prose, & experimental tanka from a broad mix of new and established poetic voices from across the world.

Our theme, “Into the Light,” draws inspiration from the way a young sunflower bud constantly turns to face the sun. Poets delved into the realms of death, love, and the natural world, capturing their human experiences in the timeless form of syllabic poetry.

Contributors to the first edition of the Sunflower Tanka: Suzanne Brace, Yvette Calleiro, Kay Castenada, Luanne Castle, Robbie Cheadle, Colleen M. Chesebro, E.A. Colquitt, Melissa Davilio, Destiny, Tamiko Dooley, Lisa Fox, Cindy Georgakas, Chris Hall, Franci Hoffman, Marsha Ingrao, Jude Itakali, Jules Paige, Kenneth, MJ Mallon, Brenda Marie, Selma Martin, Michelle Ayon Navajas, Lisa Nelson, D. Wallace Peach, Freya Pickard, Dawn Pisturino, Gwen M. Plano, Jennifer Russo, Aishwarya Saby, Reena Saxena, Merril D. Smith, Nicole Smith, Ivor Steven, Ben Tonkin, Trilce Marsh Vazquez, Cheryl Wood.

Get yourself a holiday gift of Sunflower Tanka!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!!!

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by | August 26, 2024 · 12:21 pm

Simple Pleasures: My Review of the New Elizabeth Gauffreau Poetry Collection

 

What a pleasure to open Elizabeth Gauffreau’s new book, Simple Pleasures: Haiku from the Place Just Right. Every page features a beautiful nature photo with an accompanying haiku. Combining poem with image creates a new art genre, one where each component gives more meaning to the other.

The first page displays a peaceful dirt road surrounded by evergreens. The poet invites the reader to accompany her on this trip through the natural beauty of the northeastern United States:

dirt road adventure

washboard, slapping branches, ruts

GPS turned off

I love that the GPS is turned off so that instead of following technology, we—poet and reader—are opening ourselves to the adventure.

Gauffreau directs us to majestic vistas, but she also points out the small or almost unnoticeable, such as a dappled woods image where you must look carefully or be directed by the poem:

new-growth pines, maples

farmer’s forgotten stone wall

a forest reclaimed

I learned things from the poems, which should not be surprising as Gauffreau seems so at home in the region.

stand of white birches

roots entwined canopy shared

indigenous trees

I hadn’t thought of birches as being Indigenous, so that was a bit of defamiliarizing the familiar, I suppose, as it made me take note. And it reminded me of the Robert Frost (another New England poet) poem, “Birches.”

The book is organized by the seasons of the year and makes a full cycle of the beauty of the area. Simple Pleasures: Haiku from the Place Just Right makes a gorgeous addition to my collection of Elizabeth Gauffreau books, Telling Sonny and Grief Songs. Heads up, though, I would recommend purchasing the paperback version because you will want to flip open the book often.

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 Author Biography

Elizabeth Gauffreau writes fiction and poetry with a strong connection to family and place. Her work has been widely published in literary magazines, as well as several themed anthologies. Her short story “Henrietta’s Saving Grace” was awarded the 2022 Ben Nyberg  prize for fiction by Choeofpleirn Press.

She has published a novel, Telling Sonny, and a collection of photopoetry, Grief Songs: Poems of Love & Remembrance. She is currently working on a novel, The Weight of Snow and Regret, based on the closing of the last poor farm in Vermont in 1968.

Liz’s professional background is in nontraditional higher education, including academic advising, classroom and online teaching, curriculum development, and program administration. She received the Granite State College Distinguished Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2018. Liz lives in Nottingham, New Hampshire with her husband. Find her online at https://lizgauffreau.com.

Book2Read Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/SimplePleasures

Print & Fixed EPUB for tablets and Kindle Fire

BookFunnel PDF Purchase Link: https://buy.bookfunnel.com/gef1ili6qd

For any device.

Blog Tour Host Links: https://lizgauffreau.com/simple-pleasures-blog-tour-links/

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by | August 12, 2024 · 5:15 am

Simple Pleasures Blog Tour: Day #7 – August 12 – Luanne Castle

Introduction

Thank you, Luanne, for hosting me on Day #7 of my blog tour for Simple Pleasures: Haiku from the Place Just Right! For this tour stop, I’m going to say a few words about my philosophy of haiku to give readers a sense of what to expect from Simple Pleasures.

I think it’s important for me as a writer of poetry and fiction to understand the literary context in which I’m writing–both the current context of what writers in a particular genre are creating and the literary tradition which brought the genre to this point.

When I first became interested in haiku as syllabic poetry, I was surprised to learn that haiku in English is a very slippery beast to pin down. There are purists who adhere to the 5-7-5 syllable count, the season word (kigo) and the pause that cuts the haiku into two parts (kireji). The Haiku Society of America, on the other hand, espouses the spirit of the Japanese form without trying to replicate the Japanese language-based  form in English. (https://www.hsa-haiku.org/hsa-definitions.html)

Then there’s this guy, Vermont poet Geof Hewitt, who decides to make his own rules. (Geof is a performance poet whom I met when he visited my tenth-grade English class in 1971. Then, in the early 2,000s, I took a performance poetry workshop with him, which was great fun. I even got a new poem out of it!)

 

https://vimeo.com/991080595/fe5211dfc3

Excerpted from: https://www.vermonthumanities.org/words-in-woods-hewitt/

 

So where does this leave me? I think I’m safe in saying that I follow the Haiku Society of America’s definition of haiku: “A haiku is a short poem that uses imagistic language to convey the essence of an experience of nature or the season intuitively linked to the human condition.”

I adhere to the 5-7-5 syllabic structure because it serves me well as the means by which I discover and express that essence. Any exception I may make to the syllable count is minor, when the poem just doesn’t scan right. Most of my haiku include a kigo, although my interpretation of season may extend to seasons of life.

 

The simple pleasures of our favorite places in nature are gifts of the spirit to be shared with others. In this collection of 53 haiku, each paired with a photograph, poet Liz Gauffreau invites readers to come with her to some of her favorite places in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Some places are long-time favorites going back years; others have become favorites by virtue of inspiring poetry.

 Author Biography

Elizabeth Gauffreau writes fiction and poetry with a strong connection to family and place. Her work has been widely published in literary magazines, as well as several themed anthologies. Her short story “Henrietta’s Saving Grace” was awarded the 2022 Ben Nyberg  prize for fiction by Choeofpleirn Press.

She has published a novel, Telling Sonny, and a collection of photopoetry, Grief Songs: Poems of Love & Remembrance. She is currently working on a novel, The Weight of Snow and Regret, based on the closing of the last poor farm in Vermont in 1968.

Liz’s professional background is in nontraditional higher education, including academic advising, classroom and online teaching, curriculum development, and program administration. She received the Granite State College Distinguished Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2018. Liz lives in Nottingham, New Hampshire with her husband. Find her online at https://lizgauffreau.com.

Book2Read Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/SimplePleasures

Print & Fixed EPUB for tablets and Kindle Fire

BookFunnel PDF Purchase Link: https://buy.bookfunnel.com/gef1ili6qd

For any device.

Blog Tour Host Links: https://lizgauffreau.com/simple-pleasures-blog-tour-links/

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by | May 7, 2024 · 5:15 am

Imayo for Rikka: #TankaTuesday

Colleen at #TankaTuesday suggested writing a syllabic poem for Part I, The Beginning of Summer, (May 5 – 19) Rikka 立夏. I tried an imayo.

Summer begins brilliant blue; sometimes clouds frame it

but mostly fresh greenery—saguaro seeks bliss

closer to heaven than earth, offering rare

gifts

as palo verdes erupt, showering sunshine

The hole in the saguaro is the entry to an occupied bird nest.

These palo verde blossoms end up all over the ground.

The duck in my pool yesterday.

Thanks to Christal Rice Cooper and Donna Biffar for editing an exciting poetry anthology. Volume 2 of The Power of the Feminine I is now available. Both volumes are jampacked with contemporary poetry that comes from a feminine perspective. The poetry is not written only by women either. I have two historical poems in volume 2 (and one in the first volume): A Lizzie Borden poem and one about European women in 1533. $3 for kindle version!!! My poems start on pages 90 and 309. https://www.amazon.com/Power-Feminine-poems-feminine-perspective-ebook/dp/B0D2WX6TY7/ref=sr_1_1?crid=16ESMVENBHW7U&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.lhKKLBk4OYONnpqAujXo1Ig50Do583AFm6JtVNC8EQ0_TaCv4F8ZAcJhxIsYfJQn.BMHoWPUTekccHF9OsWxgC4z41skHv5Enp5xpswPpXUk&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+power+of+the+feminine+i+poetry+anthology&qid=1714920222&sprefix=The+feminine+I+%2Caps%2C153&sr=8-1

Guess who tries to sleep in the baby’s bassinet when he’s not here? Perry, of course. The baby still ignores the cats. For now.

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by | February 14, 2024 · 2:48 pm

UPDATE: Early Spring in Arizona and Writing News (#TankaTuesday)

In this post I forgot to mention a reading that Storyteller Journal had this past weekend. I read one of my poems from Kin Types, a poem I’ve never read aloud before. Here’s a link if you’re interested. My poem is at the 20 minute mark.

The challenge for 24 Seasons Syllabic Poetry Challenge, No. 21 is Early Spring, Part II. I wrote a Butterfly Cinquain because I liked the name and the idea of it for early spring. I have bolded the kigo words, “coming of spring.”

The Weather Has Shifted Toward Spring

Today

I celebrate

the coming of spring days

the sun has turned up its wattage

I smile

without even realizing

so glad for sun-kissed skin

for blossoms tipped

upward

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The Power of the Feminine I, Volume 1, a poetry anthology edited by Christal Ann Rice Cooper and Donna Biffar is one of the most exciting anthologies I’ve read. The perspective of each poem is from a feminine speaker, and the inspirations come from mythology, history, the female body, and the contemporary world. The breadth of subjects is astonishing, and the poems well-crafted. I am thrilled to have a poem in this book, keeping company with work by many of the finest poets. I expect Volume 2 to be just as exceptional as this one.

My poem is about a healer woman accused of being a witch. I’ll have two more in the second volume. But SERIOUSLY this is a book you want. I am so impressed with all these wonderful poems. It would also make a great gift for anyone interested in women’s voices, women’s history, feminism, etc.

This thick book is only $10.99 on Amazon–or if you prefer a Kindle version, only $3!

The Lothlorien Poetry Journal has published a new volume. Five of my poems are in there, along with lots of poetry by other poets.

If you’re reading this today, February 14, Happy Valentine’s Day. Currently, my Valentine is my grandson, who is the cutest baby the world has ever known.

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by | January 31, 2024 · 12:21 pm

Two Arizona Bussokuseki: #TankaTuesday

The challenge for 24 Seasons Syllabic Poetry Challenge, No. 19, 1/30/24, Part II: Deep Cold is to write a bussokuseki poem which is similar to a tanka, but has an extra line at the end: 5-7-5-7-7-7. My kigos are “ground hog day” and “depth of winter” and I used one in each of two bussokuseki. Spring really seemed to have sprung on my walk today, but of course we are supposed to get a rainstorm and cold tomorrow night.

in depth of winter

the sun comes out and warms us

the sweet acacias

blossom, perfuming the air,

birds chirp and trill their anthems

tomorrow chill will set in

***

Friday ground hog day

will determine spring’s advent

fair days came for us

with the birth of our grandson

who will celebrate one week

of life on that holiday

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