Dodoitsu is a Japanese poetic form. Similar to other Japanese forms, it does not rhyme and is not focused on meter, but rather on syllables.
Dodoitsu is a 4-line poem with a syllable count of 7 / 7 / 7 / 5. Generally the subject of these poems is love or work. They also often contain a bit of humor.
You can read more about this form and see a few examples at Poetic Asides.
I hope you'll join me this week in writing a dodoitsu (or two). Please share a link to your poem or the poem itself in the comments.
Work and love:
ReplyDeleteThere’s a deadline coming down
the tracks like a train and I’m
tied to the tracks—oh Dudley Do-Right
save me, please come fast.
Didn’t want to fall in love
with Socrates but I did.
Obviously I was born
a little too late.
—Kate Coombs, 2015
all rights reserved
SPRINGTIME CELEBRATION
ReplyDeleteChirping on budding branches
Alongside rows of finches,
Our full-throated harmonies
Celebrate springtime.
(c) Charles Waters 2015 all rights reserved.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBlades of grass and leaves on trees
ReplyDeleteDo not measure their movements.
Here, we common poets sit,
Counting, and counting.
-Phillip Van Wagoner
Purposes: A Triple Dodoitsu
ReplyDeleteThe bust of the emperor
Dead for many centuries
Still serves a mighty purpose.
Birds nest on his ears.
He does not hear them cooing,
Nor feels the weight of the eggs,
Still, he is the godfather
If many nestlings.
May the powers send to us
An emperor of such note
Who rules with benevolence
And the strength of stone.
©2015 Jane Yolen all rights reserved