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Monday, August 24, 2015

Monday Poetry Stretch - Lune

One can find many variations on haiku these days. Often these forms attempt to find a syllabic pattern that is more appropriate to English than Japanese. Today's poetry stretch takes the form of one of these variations.
The lune is a haiku variation invented and named by poet Robert Kelly. The lune, so called because of how the right edge is bowed like a crescent moon, is a thirteen syllable form arranged in three lines of 5 / 3/ 5 respectively.
(Adapted from The Teachers & Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms.)
You can try your hand at writing an instant lune or learn more about the form at Poetic Asides.

I wrote these lunes to get us started.
Lune #1
wings beating, whirring
hovering
sipping sweet nectar

Can you guess what I was watching when I wrote this?

Lune #2
watermelon days
rush headlong
toward pencils, books, desks

I suppose none of us can escape this one. I, for one, can't wait!

I hope you'll join me this week in writing a lune. Please share a link to your poem or the poem itself in the comments. 

8 comments:

  1. Crying in the night
    Gnashing teeth
    Life with a new dog

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  2. Thank you for introducing me to the lune, Tricia. I loved watermelon days rushing...

    And Jeff... Your poem brings back puppy time and how hard that can be! Hang in there.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you for introducing me to the lune, Tricia. I loved watermelon days rushing...

    And Jeff... Your poem brings back puppy time and how hard that can be! Hang in there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree, watermelon days rushing is a beautiful depiction of childhood.

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  4. These are fun!

    extraordinary
    dream wakes me—
    ordinary day


    left screen door open—
    welcome fly,
    share my summer day


    two-year-old runs, falls
    on green grass,
    I fall beside her


    rose-covered teacup,
    sipping tea
    with my grandmother


    butterfly flitting,
    defined by
    next daisy, next rose


    —Kate Coombs

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  5. Celebrate birthday--
    Carrot cake
    Makes us feel healthy

    Wee, timorous mouse,
    Robbie Burns
    Doesn't help the fear.

    Moon over the barn
    hides the scars
    of winds, storms, rains, years.

    --©2015 Jane Yolen all rights reserved

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    Replies
    1. Love moon over the barn - evocative depiction of the light concealing and illuminating.

      Delete

  6. the neighbor’s roof tiles
    when we squint
    we’re back in Venice


    last day of winter
    still the snow
    clings to the mountain

    writing a letter
    old fashioned
    well before my time

    ReplyDelete