WHCshortverses
Selections: Sijo
Selected by Werner Reichhold
suddenly
I glimpse a well-worn path half-hidden in the trees
narrowly edging vernal pools shadowy ferns and dark raised
roots
I am compelled to walk its length - discover where it leads
kirsty karkow
Maine, USA |
Is the poem an exquisite form of colloquial language? How much is
this seemingly little step, arranging line breaks doing for you? [wr]
Shaggy,
uncut fields of hay
stretch from pine woods to the river.
The sagging farmhouse needs new paint
weeds rampage in the flower beds.
Slowly, with heavy heart, the old man
hangs a sign "For Sale".
kirsty karkow
Maine, USA |
.
Across
the vast Sahara
a caravan is winding.
Guided by ripples in the sand
pale moonlit constellations.
The camel driver needs no compass -
ancestors taught the way.
kirsty karkow
Maine, USA |
.
slowed
by lust and passion after an almost all-night loving
I turned to him for assurance that we're meant for each
other
he was already fast asleep, snoring, in that cheap motel
Victor P.
Gendrano
California, USA |
Tagalog
(Philippine language):
nang ikaw ay makakita ng damit na payong
iniwanan mong kusa and anahaw* na pandong
ngunit nang mapunit bumalik ka rin sa dahon
(*anahaw is a palm tree with broad leaves)
English translation:
when you found an umbrella to shade you from the sun and
rain
you discarded the anahaw leaf you used and grew up with
but when the wind ripped its cloth, to the lowly frond you
returned
Victor P.
Gendrano
California, USA |
Refreshing energies offered; extremely sensitive. The power of
'natural
objects' as a resource to live with patiently. [wr]
I
glimpsed the color of spring
as you leisurely sauntered in
the balmy breath of air
drove the winter chill and pall away
but you did not tarry long
and soon vanished out of my dream
Victor
P. Gendrano
California, USA |
grandma
spins a long, long yarn
grandpa nods until she's done
he scratches his head and answers
in one word or maybe two
plenty to get her going again
no matter if he hears
Debra Woolard Bender
Florida, USA |
Linkage really seems to be The Art, and the way line breaks work
here is overwhelming. [wr]
trees
bend against the dark air
this intimate connection
limbs branching so full with stars
stems of living tendrils that touch
here are the tongues that taste a rooting sky
this night flowering
Marjorie Buettner
Minnesota, USA |
Again, blending is what makes the poem roll smoothly through
one's mind. All of our senses are alerted, or better, alarmed.
Majorie's sijo is the closest to the sijo goal of situation,
elaboration, twist and conclusion. I wonder about sijo, which save
their punch line for the very end. It seems to me the excitement,
the change belongs in the middle line. [wr]
In
a somewhere city on a street certainly not our own,
a burning man flees a building crumbling fiercely in its
flames.
"He dances well for a man on fire," says his
brother passing by.
Larry Gross
Florida, USA |
Cool,
sarcastic? You may decide yourself. I can almost read it as
narrative even though the syllables are counted correctly so one may
put it into a 'sijo file'. [wr]
Rising
early each morning,
......I let her into the warm
barn;
I pour oats, clean her stall,
......then fork more hay into
the trough;
When she kicks my hand away,
......why do I think of my
wife?
Larry Gross
Florida,
USA |
The
line breaks are doing so much to a sijo, setting it apart from a
narrative. Here, unbelievably well used. [wr]
|
An
ancient spirit surely lives along this road so magical.
Our motorcycle seems to float beneath the canopy of leaves.
We barely breathe for at our side a great blue heron flies.
Elizabeth
St Jacques
Sault Ste. Marie, CA
Published
in Poetry in the Light 2000
|
What
a centuries old memory, suddenly put in relation with a present
experience! And we're allowed to share it. [wr]
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Editor's Choice: Sijo Selection
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