Crafting Poetry One Syllable at a Time
Posted on August 16, 2020 by Colleen M. Chesebro
This week, Frank J. Tassone’s Haikai Challenges asks us to write a haikai poem of your choice (haiku, senryu, haibun, tanka, haiga, renga, etc.) that alludes to the katydid (kirigirisu).
Here’s how the challenge works:
1. write the haikai poem of your choice.
2. post the link of your post to Mister Linky.
3. pingback by posting the link to the challenge on your site.
4. read and comment on other contributors’ posts.
For Frank’s Haikai challenge, I created a haiku sequence dedicated to the katydid, an insect we don’t have here in the Sonoran desert of Arizona.
summer's soothsayer
promises changes to come
grass green leaves singsong
neath the white moon orb
acacia trees sway in rhythm
katydid dinner
twilight winds scour leaves
death song harmonies unite
as summer sounds fade
©2020 Colleen M. Chesebro
Category: Authors Supporting AuthorsTags: #Haiku, Frank J. Tassone, Haikai Challenge, haiku sequence, katydid, Syllabic Poetry
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“A good poem is a contribution to reality. The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it. A good poem helps to change the shape of the universe, helps to extend everyone’s knowledge of himself and the world around him.”
—Dylan Thomas
Click: What is a Rhyme Scheme?
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Colleen M. Chesebro is an American Poet who loves crafting paranormal fantasy and magical realism, cross-genre flash fiction, syllabic poetry, and creative nonfiction. Colleen sponsors a weekly syllabic poetry challenge, called Tanka Tuesday, on wordcraftpoetry.com where participants learn how to write traditional and current forms of haiku, senryu, haiga, tanka, gogyohka, tanka prose, renga, solo-renga, haibun, cinquain, Etheree, nonet, and shadorma poetry. Colleen's syllabic poetry has appeared in the Auroras & Blossoms Poetry Journal, and in “Hedgerow, a journal of small poems.” She’s won numerous awards from participating in the Carrot Ranch Rodeo, a yearly flash fiction contest sponsored by carrotranch.com. In 2020, she won first place in the Carrot Ranch Folk Tale or Fable category, with her story called “Why Wolf Howls at the Moon.” Colleen is a Sister of the Fey, where she pursues a pagan path through her writing. When she is not writing, she is reading. She also loves gardening and crocheting old-fashioned doilies into works of art.
There’s a soothing rhythm and sequence of sounds here. Nice, Colleen!
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Thanks, Merril. I had to go back to where I grew up in Wisconsin to remember the sound of the katydids. ❤
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I hadn’t thought about katydids in years. Your poem is a good reminder of them.
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Gosh, me either. This was all Frank’s idea. They make an interesting sound.
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Reblogged this on Where Genres Collide Traci Kenworth YA Author & Book Blogger for all Genres as well as craft books and commented:
Another poetry challenge! This one a haikai.
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Thanks, for the share, Traci. This challenge is Frank’s. 🥰
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Okay, welcome to Frank’s contest!
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Great job on this
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Thank you. 🥰
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Great prose and interesting word ‘katydid’? Katydid what? Lol 🙂 xx
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A katydid is a bug. Like a cricket. I added a photo.
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Learning new things daily 🙂 xx
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LOL! Me too! 😂❤️
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❤
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Absolutely gorgeous Colleen 💜🎶
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Thanks, Willow. ❤️
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💜💜
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The intermingling of seasons..you’ve captured it well. (K)
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Thanks Kerfe. I had to look this bug up. I didn’t know what they were. 😂
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Reblogged this on Frank J. Tassone and commented:
#Haiku Happenings #3: Colleen Cheesbro’s latest haiku #sequence for my current #Haikai Challenge!
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Many thanks, Frank. 😍
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These are perfect for this time of transition.
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Thanks, Ken. I’m looking forward to Autumn.
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I like the last one best. There’s an ominous tone to it.
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Thanks, Jane. The katydid sounds the death knell of the end of summer. ❤️
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I can’t tell who’s singing. They’re all green 🙂
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I thought that as well. I guess these little bugs rub their legs together like grasshoppers. It’s a raspy sound like the wind in dried grasses. 😍
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If they’re green, I call them Katydids, if they’re brown I call them grasshoppers.
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Great way to remember them. Of course, here in the desert they are all brown. LOL! 😀
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Yeah, but it’s unscientific and I’m probably completely wrong. There are crickets too, similar but not the same.
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They are an interesting creature for sure.
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I’ve seen some Katydids the size of about a quarter and some smaller than a dime!
A beautiful insect indeed.
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Wow. I’ve never seen one. I like the name… quite poetic! 😀
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“Katydid teaches attunement to new vibrations and will aid in heightening intuition, sensitivity and awareness. … Katydid will aid in strengthening senses and perceptions of the seen and unseen so whatever transformation stage you are in will be a time to be aware; mentally and spiritually sharp.” & “These insects are commonly known as katydids. Katydids are named for the phoneticised version of the stridulous sound they make when they rub their front wings together – “catedidist”. They are closely related to grasshoppers and crickets and share their basic body shape,…”
Look ’em up they are cute. But then most bugs don’t bother me. Only the ones that bite, like mosquitoes… and some No-see-ums. If you are looking up interesting bugs… look up Wheel bug… they look like Steam Punk bugs!
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So interesting! Thanks, Jules. You are a wealth of information! ❤
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I just like looking things up…
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I wanted to be a researcher… I get you! 😀
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As someone who does have katydids, well done.
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Yay! What a cool bug! 😍
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Pingback: #Haikai Challenge #153 (8/22/20): cricket (koorogi) / #154 (8/29/20): morning-glory (asagao) #haiku #senryu #haibun #tanka #haiga #renga – Frank J. Tassone
I really like that first stanza and love the idea of katydid as soothsayer.
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Aww, thanks. Maybe the whisper the secrets of the ancients. ❤️
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🙂 ❤
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