Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Poem #6 for Poetry Month- Chinese Ch'i-Yen-Shih



Today the new poetic form is from the Chinese: Ch’i-Yen-Shih.  It is comprised of monosyllables, which is trickier than it first appears especially when a perfect two syllable word pops into one's morning brain. 
There are seven syllables per line, the rhyme scheme is A B C B, with a pause/caesura after the fourth word in each line. 
That gives the poem/poet a spot to question, to rethink, to let the line unspool a while... think of it as climbing a hill and stopping at a place to look at the view out there. 
The photo is from 2009 when we built raised beds and transplanted asparagus in new soil after removing the old contaminated soil first. We now have flower beds elsewhere and I will cut the first asparagus of 2015 for a tofu stir-fry tonight. It seems there is a theme to this day already...


Said the Gardener to the Sun

I beg the sun
   please come, stay--
the sky floods light
   soaked earth sighs
Her back is strong
  though not young
She picks a fool
  Tool! cracks wise.







6 comments:

  1. I'm trying not to be jealous - of your green garden and your fecund wit!

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    1. Thanks, Sheila. Do not fear. Spring will arrive in Smithers...in due course! As for the fecund wit, some days I am about as sharp as an English cuke...other days, the edge is honed and humming!

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  2. So. A Robin Skelton book, encouraging all these. You can almost see him leaning out, tipping the subtleties of Eastern forms from his fingers and you reaching out with your hat or your bucket or your bare, cupped hands, to catch. Wonderful, spare writing. Onword, Woodwordonwards!

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    1. Thank you, Linda, and remember, I have you to thank for getting my poetic bum in the saddle every morning! xo

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  3. Replies
    1. Thank you, Lea, Linda and Sheila. It's becoming a better way of waking my right brain than whining into my journal about the rain or not writing or fog or not writing!

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