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.

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  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.

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  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