Senryu

Senryu is a Japanese syllabic verse that deals primarily with human nature and is often expressed through humor. It developed in the 18th century and is named after Karai Senryu who was a judge of comic verse contests. They were originally poems of the merchant class and often made fun of corrupt officials and professionals.

The official’s child—
How well he learns to open
and close his fist!
———- —anonymous

The focus of the modern Senryu can be just about anything as long as it has a human or humorous slant. Senryus are lively, often humorous and sometimes even vulgar.
The main characteristics of the Senryu are energy or liveliness in the focus and choice of words, humor as revealed in human nature and use of subjects such as relationships, family, professions, children and pets. It is written in the same frame as the haiku, 17 syllables or less, 2 units of imagary and 1 unit of enlightenment.

So if you are wondering if a 3 line, 17 syllable poem is Haiku or Senryu, you can pretty much place the serious poem in the Haiku column and the more human, humorous poems as the Senryu. (but there are humorous Haiku and serious Senryu, go figure..)

The Senryu is:
• a poem in 3 lines or less.
• syllabic, 17 syllables or less.
• commonly written in 3 lines but can be written in 2 lines and can be written with fewer syllables, never more.
○ L1 5 syllables describes image.
○ L2 7 syllables, adds conflicting image or expands first image
○ L3 5 syllables provides insight (the ah ha! moment)through a juxtaposed image.
• written as a natural human experience in language that is simple, humorous, sometimes bawdy or vulgar.
• presented with an energy or liveliness in the focus and choice of words
• often humorous
• written in the moment.
• an imagist poem (draws the humor from the image)
• untitled but can be #ed.

Some of my own senryu: —Judi Van Gorder

small child ignores call,
parent warns and begins count,
“Daddy, don’t say fwee.”

some roads meander
others flat out ask for speed
don’t forget your map

fire ignites within
flame mushrooms to the surface
autumn days

pelican’s head bobs
beak bulging with trigger fish,
shore’s stand-up comic

Pasted from Poetry Magnum Opus, with thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource

My Example

Form: Senryu

dumpster diver digs
begs for change upon the street
lives a tax-free life

(c) Lawrencealot

Pruntiform

• Pruntiform is a recent invented acrostic form created by Randy Prunty in which the words of the first line of the poem are sequentially the first word of each subsequent line. The structure of the poem is at the discretion of the poet.

You can also use the title of a book, movie or poem (with 3 or more words in the title), begin each line of your poem with the sequential words from the title. The subject could describe the book etc named or it could be about anything. The frame of the verse is at the discretion of the poet.

Unnoticed by Judi Van Gorder

Water does not remove the stain
For it is deep and indelible.
Elephants dance in the attic.

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=993#pruntiform
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example

An Unfinished Life

An opportunity exists each day to address
Unfinished work, in getting on with
Life.

© Lawrencealot – January 10, 2015

Note:  I used the words of the title, vs the first line.

Made into movie starring Robert Redford, Morgan Freeman, and Jennifer Lopez.

Abbreviated Haiku Poetry Form

Abbreviated Haiku is written in either 2 lines with syllable count 7/2 or 3 lines with syllable count 3/5/3 or 2/3/2. This is sometimes called Miku.

creeper weeds 
cover garden path
blistered hands
–jvg

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1137#abbreviated
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.
 

See Haiku Related form Links.

My example

anxious dog
fetches walking leash
daddy sighs

© Lawrencealot – November 9, 2014

Lady's Slipper

Pathways for the Poet by Viola Berg (1977) is a book for and by educators. Classic poetic forms as well as many invented forms which appear to have been invented as teaching tools or exercizes for use in workshops or classrooms are included. Some of these invented forms I have found in use in internet poetry communities, a testament to their staying power. On this page I include the metric invented forms found there in which appear to be exclusive to the community of educators from whom Ms. Berg drew her support. I have yet to find these in any other source. …. Whether classroom exercise or sharpening your skill as a writer, some of these forms can be fun to play with.
 
 

The Lady’s Slipper is a verse form that plays with internal rhyme within a very short line. The tiny poem with the close rhyme lends itself to silliness. It was originated by Viola Gardner

The Lady’s Slipper is:
a tristich, a poem in 3 lines.
metered, iambic trimeter lines. uS-uS-uS.
composed with internal rhyme in each line.
designed for the last line to leave the reader thinking, questioning. 
Training Day by Judi Van Gorder
Within the open pen
a filly kicks and tricks
a cowgirl with a curl
 
 
Pasted from  http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1199#dionol
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.
 

My example

 I would!

 I would! (Lady’s Slipper)

Although you know Pablo,
suppose he has no clothes,
okay! Just who would say?

© Lawrencealot = September 13, 2014

(Illustration is a Pablo Picasso lithograph.)

Soft-Songed Tercet

Soft-Songed Tercet
Type:
Structure, Metrical Requirement, Rhyme Scheme Requirement, Other Requirement, Simple
Description:
This form has four requirements.
  1. It is iambic.
  2. The schema is:xxxxxa
    xxxxxbxxxxxb
    xxxxxa
  3. There must be an unusual image or turn of phrase.
  4. It must have a soft feel to it.
There is also a multi-stanza form called the soft-songed triplet.
Schematic:
Rhyme/Syllable:
xxxxxa
xxxxxbxxxxxb
xxxxxa
Meter:
xX xX xX
Thanks to Charles L. Weatherford for the wonderful resource.
  • Soft Songed Tercet is an invented verse form found at Poetry Base that has an unusual request, the verse must have a “soft feel”.The Soft Songed Tercet is:
    • a tristich, a poem in 3 lines. When written in more than one tercet the form is oddly named the Soft Songed Triplet. (“Tercet” is 3 line unit as is a “triplet”, both of which can be written in any number within a poem. The words are often used interchangeably however, the classic English “triplet” is usually monorhymed. So technically the name Soft Songed Tercet properly should apply to both a single tristich or the stanzaic form of any number of tercets.)
    • metered, iambic, L1 &L3 are trimeter, L2 is hexameter.
    • rhymed, rhymed a(bb)a L2 has internal rhyme.
    • composed with an unusual image.
    • composed with a “soft feel”.
      x x x x x a
      x x x x x b x x x x x b
      x x x x x a
       
      Furry Fix by jvgSilky fluff warms my palm
      as I cup a small plump rabbit waiting to jump
      free. Its fine fur a balm.
Thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the wonderful resource.
Example Poem
Fluppet
So fluffy I’ve been made
I’ll bring your daughter joy – become her favorite toy,
she’ll never be afraid.
© Lawrencealot – February 6, 2014
Visual Template

Trilinea

  • The Trilinea, one more haiku copycat from Berg‘s Pathways for a Poet, created by Nellie Amos. It seems a bit superficial to me since the defining feature is the word “rose” must appear somewhere in the 3 lines.
    The Trilinea is:

    • a tristich, a poem in 3 lines.
    • syllabic, with syllable count per line, 4/8/4.
    • rhymed, L1 and L3 rhyme.
    • composed to include the word “rose”.
    • titled.tattoo by Judi Van Gorderteardrops of dew
      cling to a red velvet rose
      the touch of you
Thanks to Judi  Van Gorder, who has done a marvelous job with PMO.  I agree with her feeling about this form.
My Example
Hardly Matters
I rose to say
something;  what is was I forgot
but that’s okay.
 
(c) Lawrencealot – December 8,2013

Pixiku

Pixiku
Monday, January 21, 2013
11:28 AM
Pixiku is a poetry form Invented by  Alice E. P. Stephenson, aka SEA_angle on Allpoetry.
The plural of PIXIKU is PIXIKU just as the plural of HAIKU is HAIKU.
Pixiku is THREE line poetry
(Wild child of Haiku and Senryu).
PIXIKU have no syllable count. Capital letters okay.
Since we all have something quotable to say once in awhile.
Pixiku, Haiku or Senryu Around The World.  (Up to You.)
HAIKU about nature
SENRYU about everything else
(Lower case. Maximum syllable count 17 syllables.)
PIXIKU is all encompassing with NO syllable count…
(Upper case okay in a Pixiku.)
The following are PIXIKU examples by the inventor
IN YOUR LIFE
You are the star
Your decisions have your autograph
Consequences reflect your character
THE GIFT OF YOU
Did you know that not only is
Today a gift since the present
YOU are a gift being present
PIXIKU INSTRUCTIONS:
P ixiku is a 3 line poem; original personal quote (thought)
I nvented by poet SEA angel
X eno to poetry and the wild child of Haiku and Senryu
I nvites your life experience self expression etc.
K eeping a syllable count or lower case not required
U p to you how you set up 3 lines to express your message

 

Example Poem by Lawrencelot
There are just under billion people
alive on the earth today
and you are related to everyone of them by DNA.
(C) Lawrencealot – September 19, 2012

Alphabet Haiku poetry form

Modern haiku form created by  Beatrice Evans, aka Ronnica at Allpoetry
It requires only strict 5/7/5 syllable construction.
It is formulistic, with all words beginning with the same letter.
There is no requirement for aha moment and punctuation and metaphor and photos are permitted.
Example Poems

Train track talisman
telling tardy trains that the
tapestry takes time.
Taciturn tableau
 tamed, tree-trunk’s tight tendrils tie–
throttle tampering.
(c) Lawrencealot – Feb 23, 2013

Dekaaz

Inventor, Rachel Bagby
Dekaaz has 10 syllables in 3 lines:

1) 10 syllables
2) In three lines2/3/5
3) That you speak aloud to another living being.

Merely writing 10 syllables 2/3/5 does not a dekaaz make. Dekaaz aren’t true dekaaz unless shared out loud. Inspired examples of the form can be found on  the creator’s website: http://rachelbagby.com/dekaaz.

Here’s one:

Driving Lessons

Cat’s eye
To cat’s eye
We mouse through the fog

My thanks to Rachel for elucidation and example..

 

Solage

 
Solage is a specific form of humorous verse with the following properties:

  • It has three lines (called the hook, the line and the sinker) of irregular length.
  • The rhyming structure is AAB.
  • The third line is a pun based on the previous two lines.

The form was invented by the Melbourne-based performance poet Cameron M. Semmens.

Examples

If you don’t care a bit
Where your arrow hit…
Aim less

They did not mishandle
Creating the scandal:
Proper-gate

 Pasted from <http://deletionpedia.dbatley.com/w/index.php?title=Solage_(poetry)_(deleted_04_Jun_2008_at_19:19)>
Democracy’s Death   (Solage)

Like death’s curtain
these seem certain
– Taxes –

 © Lawrencealot – March 7, 2013