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Monday, July 20, 2015

Monday Poetry Stretch - Dodoitsu

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.

5 comments:

  1. Work and love:

    There’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

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  2. SPRINGTIME CELEBRATION
    Chirping on budding branches
    Alongside rows of finches,
    Our full-throated harmonies
    Celebrate springtime.

    (c) Charles Waters 2015 all rights reserved.

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Blades of grass and leaves on trees
    Do not measure their movements.
    Here, we common poets sit,
    Counting, and counting.

    -Phillip Van Wagoner

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  5. Purposes: A Triple Dodoitsu

    The 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

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