#TANKA TUESDAY #POETRY CHALLENGE NO. 211, #Abhanga, or #PoetsChoice

Posted on February 2, 2021January 31, 2021 by Colleen M. Chesebro

WELCOME TO TANKA TUESDAY!

It’s the first of the month and you know what that means! Word Crafters, choose your own syllabic poetry form, theme, words, images, etc. It’s up to you! This opportunity only happens once a month!

WAIT…

Are you looking for inspiration for your syllabic poetry? Find an image on Pixabay.com or experiment with “found poetry” to find some inspiration. Another option is to try some magnetic poetry. You still have to count syllables, but it’s like putting together a puzzle! Use this opportunity to try a new form!

The Poet’s Collective features an index of Syllabic Poetry Forms. Check it out!

WAIT!! I have a new rhyming scheme syllabic poem, I want to introduce. This form is called the Abhanga.

Abhanga, “the completion” is a stanzaic form commonly used for devotional poetic composition, although it has also been used for cynicism, satire and reflective moods. It was popular from the 13th thru 17th centuries Marathi Region of India and is described as complex and classic. (poetrymagnumopus.com)

The elements of the Abhanga are:

stanzaic, written in any number of 4 line stanzas.
syllabic, 6-6-6-4 syllables each
rhymed L2 and L3 rhyme. Often internal rhyme is employed. End rhyme scheme x a a x , x being unrhymed.

Here is my example:

magic is found within
breathe deep into your core
open your heart and soar
find inner peace

©2021 Colleen M. Chesebro

I’ll add this form to the list this week. Have fun!

Don’t forget to add the URL of your published poem in Mr. Linky below.

For this challenge, you can write your poem in the forms defined on the Poetry Challenge Cheatsheet below, and/or any other syllabic form you’d like to try.

View Cheatsheet

Here are some impressive sites that will help you write your poetry and count syllables

synonyms.com

This site even has a link so you can install the extension on Google Chrome.

thesaurus.com

For Synonyms and Antonyms. When your word has too many syllables, find one that works.

writerlywords.com/syllables/

Find out how many syllables each word has. I use this site to compose my poems. A simple yet very powerful syllable counter for poems and text which will count the total number of syllables and number of syllable per line for poems like haikus, limericks, and more.

THE RULES

Write a poem using a form of your choice: Haiku, Senryu, Haiga, Tanka, Gogyohka, Haibun, Renga, Solo-Renga, Tanka Prose, Cinquain, and its variations, Etheree, Nonet, and Shadorma, Badger Hexastitch, and or Abhanga.
Post it on your blog.
Include a link back to the challenge in your post. (copy the https:// address of this post into your post).
Copy your link into the Mr. Linky below (underlined with a hyperlink).
Please click the small checkbox on Mr. Linky about data protection.
Read and comment on some of your fellow poets’ work.
Like and leave a comment below if you choose to do so.

The screenshot below shows what Mr. Linky looks like inside. Add your name, and the URL of your post. Click the box about the privacy policy (It’s blue). As everyone adds their links to Mr. Linky, you can view the other submissions by clicking on the Mr. Linky link on the challenge post. All the links will show in the order of posting.

See the URL in the browser image below. This is what the URL of your post will look like after you published your poem. Cut and paste that address into Mr. Linky below:

I will visit your blog, comment, and TWEET your POETRY.

If you add these hashtags to the post TITLE on your blog (depending on which poetry form you use) your poetry may be viewed more often on Twitter:

#Haiku, #Senryu, #Haiga, #Tanka, #Tanka Prose, #micropoetry, #renga, #solo-renga, #poetry, #5lines, #Haibun, #Prose, #CinquainPoetry, #Etheree, #Nonet, #Shadorma, #Gogyohka, #BadgerHexastitch, #Abhanga

JOIN US for the Sue Vincent Classic Rodeo, to celebrate one of our own poets on carrotranch.com. For this rodeo, Carrot Ranch is offering a $100 grand prize. Five runners up will each receive one paperback from Sue Vincent’s collection of published books (those who live in a region where the paperback is unavailable may receive an e-book instead).

POETS read the rules carefully. Use your syllable counters. ❤

No fee necessary to enter but this is a fundraiser so we kindly ask for a suggested donation of $5 per entry (no more than two entries allowed per writer). The contest will close at midnight on Friday, February 19th, 2021. Winning entries will be announced and read at CarrotRanch.com/blog on March 22, 2021.