mid-march, the light
a feverish wound
inside my eyes
burning the end
of a story
I took all winter to write
The light
Cherita
Poetry of the rice fields
transplanting rice
she complains
about her heartless lover
to a scarecrow
without
a head
sweat trickling down her back
she watches him
in the rice field
a shadow lands,
then an egret
another shadow, another egret
first summer rain
the smell of want
the smell of soil
ankle-deep in water
she giggles —
covering his face
Throwback to some Cherita
In August 2017, I had six poems published on The Cherita. I couldn’t share the poems immediately because of the rules of the journal and then the display format. Later, ‘The Cherita’ released several anthologies, collecting all the poems published by them. I recently managed to get myself the kindle version of one of the books titled ‘Where the river bends‘ and can finally, have all my poems up on my blog. Cherita is a form, as you might know, created by Ai Li who is the editor of the online journal and the curator of the anthologies. (If you’ve already seen a few of them on my Instagram page, well, this is the backstory)
(1)
the horizon thickens
the sea separates
from the curdled sky
we rise like wet birds
from the water
into emptiness, into nothing
(This Cherita also appears in my book ‘Water to Water‘)
(2)
origami bird
I fold and refold
our love
hoping
one day
it will fly
(3)
the after-rain
a moon trembles
in every puddle
sleep leaves the window
and slips into
my empty bed
(4)
a door slammed
a dog barked softly
once, twice
she woke up
when she heard the wind
tiptoe into the garden
(5)
afternoon quiet
the cat sleeps
in sunshine squares
the light and I
argue about shadows
and god
(6)
the sound of temple bells
she closes her eyes
for a moment
when did she get
too old
to pray for love
Flash fiction and such…
February has been a writing experiment. If you’ve been following this blog, you’ll know I’ve been trying my hand at flash fiction (500-1000 words). So, if you are part of blog groups that share flash fiction or if you write some yourself or have anything to do with flash fiction at all, do give me a shout. I’d love to read your work and link mine as well.
Meanwhile, a cherita (which is also a storytelling form):
morning crossword
every face on the train
a clue
every story
expecting
an empty white square
New Reason
like Scheherazade
fighting
to stay alive
love invents
a new reason
every night
For Poets United‘s Midweek Motif : Invention
Micropoetry Month: Nov 2017: #30
On this last day of the first edition of Micropoetry Month, I thought we’d take a look at the Jisei, the Japanese Death Poem. The Jisei, written about death in general or about one’s own imminent death, reflects the poet’s contemplation of his mortality, of what was and what comes next both in the context of self and universe.
One translation of Basho’s famous Jisei goes like this:
On a journey, ill—
And my dreams on withered fields
Are wandering still.
I attempted a jisei a couple of years ago, here’s another shot at it. Share your micropoem, about death or maybe about life, using comments or Mister Linky.
And when I realize
there was no now,
that life, like time, was a linear illusion.
Like death.
What then?
A cherita as well in the same tone:
she wrote her jisei in six lines
one line about
the fickle, waning moon
two about a persistent mist,
and three about a hobbled dream
waiting for a perfect night
A very warm note of thanks to everyone who was part of Micropoetry Month – as reader, participant, inspiration or supporter. Thank you for your poems, your likes, your comments. I enjoyed writing. I enjoyed reading. And I hope we can do this, or something like this, again soon. Meanwhile, I will continue to post micropoetry and other poems on this blog and haibun on my other blog Phantom Road. You can find me on twitter @tp_poetry. See you on the trail!
Micropoetry Month: Nov 2017: #28
As we start counting down the last three days of November, I want to share another Cherita, a form that is becoming increasingly popular. If you’re just learning about this form, it is a six line poem, broken into three verses. The first verse has 1 line, the second has 2 and the third has 3. Also, the cherita is a story-poem that suggests there is always more to the tale!
Try (another) one or any other form of micropoetry and bring it here using comments or Mister Linky.
maybe I wasn’t thinking
maybe a thought
was passing through
a dandelion’s tryst
with the wet
twilight wind
Micropoetry Month: Nov 2017: #14
Revisiting the Cherita today, a six line story-poem form invented by Ai-Li. If you haven’t tried it before, it is broken into three verses, the first verse has 1 line, the second has 2 and the third has 3.
Tell a story, write a poem… share using comments or Mister Linky. If you wish, try using the words monk, dragonfly and rain in your poem.
the old monk’s begging bowl
half filled with
morning rain
a dragonfly
hovers in the
half emptiness
Micropoetry Month: Nov 2017: #3
A Cherita for Day 3 of Micropoetry Month! Cherita is a six line story-poem form invented by Ai Li, broken into three verses of 1, 2 and 3 lines each.
Do share your micropoem (doesn’t have to be a Cherita, doesn’t have to be in any form) in the comments section or using Mister Linky!
transplanting
ankle deep
in a flooded paddy field
she complains-
to the scarecrow
with the broken head
Also pleased to add that three of my poems have been included in the 6th edition of The Cherita (Nov 2017: Volume 2: Somewhere a Carousel – Pages 119, 127 and 143).
On “The Cherita”
The fifth edition (October 2017) of The Cherita, Volume 2: “When I can’t sleep” has two of my poems on pages 129 and 141. Many thanks to Ai Li, creator of the form and editor of this issue.
