B&P Shadorma & Beyond – The Hay(na)ku – November 28, 2015

Hello World, this is Bastet presenting another poetic form.

As you can see by our title, the form I’m presenting is called ‘The Hay(na)ku‘ and it’s a fairly recently created form (2003) by poet Eileen Tabios (born 1960)  an award-winning Filipino-American poet and writer well known for her prose poetry.   The Hay(na)ku has become pretty well-known in poetic circles (The name “hay(na)ku” was coined by Vince Gotera).

With a name like hay(na)ku, we know that we’re into micro-poetry and this is just about as micro as you can get!  It’s a tercet with just 6 words – line one is one word, line two – two words and line three – three words.  That’s it. There’s no syllable count or rhyming requirements etc.

However there are variations  –  for example a reverse hay(na)ku which has lines of three, two, and one word(s) for lines one, two, and three respectively or … if one so desires one can write a chained hay(na) ku for a longer poem and Ms. Tabios’ has created a variation, the “haybun,” which combines a single hay(na)ku tercet with prose.

Here’s my attempt at a hay(na)ku variation, with a shadorma ending:

A Shadow

on
the window
a shadow moved

as the rain
in rivulets
fell

was
it him
at the window

looking at me
with silent
tears

none
could say
where he’d gone

wherever it was
it was
far

and
time just
keeps moving on

the clock ticks
the hours
still

rain
falls here
in the mountains

the sun shines
each morning
[sometimes]

a shadow
t’was just a shadow
no, not him
nor his tears
just a trick of light and rain
on my window pane.

© G.s.k. ‘15

And now for some inspiration:

leaf in water

or if you prefer here’s a lovely piece of Celtic music:

 

 

But of course you may wish to inspire yourself with some of your own art work, so feel free to do so … once you’ve written your hay(na)ku  or shadorma (3-5-3-3-7-5 syllable poem) or combination – please tag Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie and B&P Shadorma&Beyond, then link up with our Mr. Linky app.

I hope you have a lovely week and have fun experimenting with the shadorma and hay(na)ku!

Ciao,  Bastet