Gogyohka (go-gee-yo-ka) is a verse form that was developed in Japan by Enta Kusakabe. It is meant to be a freer verse form than the tanka. A gogyohka is a five line poem in which each line is comprised of a single phrase.
You can learn more about this form and read some examples at Ben Johnson Poetry Forms, Gogyohka (5-Line Poetry) and Writer's Digest.
I hope you'll join me this week in writing a gogyohka. Please share a link to your poem or the poem itself in the comments.
ReplyDeleteWaisting Away: a Gogyohka
I wasted
a mind
and now
I mind
a waist.
A personal
choice
and surely
a personal
taste.
Some would say
I 've changed
my body's
vast
menu.
I think
I've only
changed its
shrinking
venue.
©2015 Jane Yolen all rights reserved
Three Thanksgiving Gogyohka
ReplyDeleteTwo-year-old
dances by
skitters
and hops
like a little bug
My brother and I
catch each other’s eye
and smile
remembering
everything together
Thanksgiving evening
the tablecloth
bare
its fall leaves
touched by gravy
—Kate Coombs, 2015
all rights reserved
Especially love that last verse, Kate.
ReplyDeleteJane
Thanks, Jane! I had a waist once, too. :)
DeleteMOOD SWINGS
ReplyDeleteI don’t know which side
Of life’s pendulum
Will tinge my soul today,
Yet I know, to quote my father,
“It will all turn out okay.”
(c) Charles Waters 2015 all rights reserved.
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ReplyDelete