#TankaTuesday Weekly Poetry Challenge No. 255: #Poet’sChoice (with a twist)

It’s the first of the month and you know what that means! Word Crafters, choose your own poetry form—It’s up to you! This is our last Poet’s Choice for 2021… I have a request. Let’s write a poem using a form of your choice about Yule, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanza, and any festival or tradition you celebrate during the month of December. Even if you don’t celebrate, share something meaningful as we go into the dark days of winter. Share your wisdom with us. Remember, I’ll have a new weekly poetry schedule beginning on January 1, 2022.

Let’s Create Yule Poet-tree

On the first of the month, you can now experiment with freestyle poetry, as long as you also add a syllabic form to your poem. Don’t forget to check out the Poet’s Collective, where you will find an index of Syllabic Poetry Forms. Check it out!

Are you looking for inspiration for your syllabic or prose poetry? Find an image on Pixabay.com or experiment with “found poetry” to find some inspiration. Another option is to try some magnetic poetry from the poetry Oracle.

Try combining various forms: for example, you could write a cinquain followed by an Abhanga, and finish with another cinquain! Be CREATIVE!


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

Not sure how to write syllabic poetry? READ THIS FIRST: How to Start Crafting Syllabic Poetry

Tanka Tuesday Cheat Sheet

PoetsCollective.org

sodacoffee.com/syllables

synonyms.com 

thesaurus.com

Word Craft: Prose & Poetry – The Art of Crafting Syllabic Poetry

THE RULES

*Write a poem using any form you’d like (This includes freestyle poetry as long as you add a syllabic form to the poem). However, you must follow the rules of the form you use. Tell us the name of the form and how to write it. Then, write about Yule, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanza, and/or any festival or tradition you celebrate during the month of December. Even if you don’t celebrate, share something meaningful as we go into the dark days of winter.

*USE sodacoffee.com/syllables to count your syllables. That way, we are all using the same syllable counter.

*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:

Follow the schedule listed below:

I will share your posts on Twitter… Here are my thoughts about sharing posts on Twitter: If you like it, do it. However, we are all friends here. Time is at a premium for all of us. If I share your poetry, you do not have to waste the time sending me a reply to thank me for sharing your post. I spend over two hours a day thanking everyone for sharing my posts. I’d rather spend that time writing poetry. So, for our challenge, let’s share, but we don’t have to say thank you to retweets. Your retweet already shows you care. ❤

Now, have fun and write some holiday poetry!

Published by Colleen M. Chesebro

An avid reader, Colleen M. Chesebro rekindled her love of writing poetry after years spent working in the accounting industry. These days, she loves crafting syllabic poetry, flash fiction, and creative fiction and nonfiction. In addition to poetry books, Chesebro’s publishing career includes participation in various anthologies featuring short stories, flash fiction, and poetry. She’s an avid supporter of her writing community on Word Craft Poetry.com by organizing and sponsoring a weekly syllabic poetry challenge, called #TankaTuesday, where participants experiment with traditional and current forms of Japanese and American syllabic poetry. Chesebro is an assistant editor of The Congress of the Rough Writers Flash Fiction Anthology & Gitty Up Press, a micro-press founded by Charli Mills and Carrot Ranch. In January 2022, Colleen founded Unicorn Cats Publishing Services to assist poets and authors in creating eBooks and print books for publication. In addition, she creates affordable book covers for Kindle and print books. Chesebro lives in the house of her dreams in mid-Michigan surrounded by the Great Lakes with her husband and two (unicorn) cats, Chloe & Sophie.

57 thoughts on “#TankaTuesday Weekly Poetry Challenge No. 255: #Poet’sChoice (with a twist)

  1. An interesting way to discover different celebrations and ideas Colleen 🙂 I’m looking forward to reading later in the week. I’ve opted for the second part – sharing my “wisdom” – LOL – what little I have … as we wander + walk towards the Solstice. So Bright Blessings to you and everyone …. we could all use some Light and Love as we get closer to sweeping out yet another year.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Hey Colleen, I’ve failed to access my link but it’s linked back to your post. I wonder if you can add it for me to Mr Linky. 🙏🏾

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Hey Colleen. I think you still haven’t remember to add my post. I see the link. My site is still not opening in the browser so I can’t add it myself. And I shared quite a bit in there😓

        Liked by 1 person

        1. I’ve just gotten my WiFi back. There was a horrible wind storm here in Michigan. I guess power lines were done which hit a train. The tower for our cable company and WiFi was damaged. We’ve been out for 3 days. There’s no recap this week. I’ll try and get a post up today for this week’s challenge.

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          1. So sorry about that Colleen. Hope everyone is safe. I also hope you did some inspired writing in the forced hiatus. I’ll be checking in on your personal site😃😃

            Liked by 1 person

            1. I did your get link added. What a crazy mess. Our first floor renovation is very noisy. I’ll have time to write over Christmas week. Everything is kind of a mess right now. LOL! ❤

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              1. Thank you Colleen. With all the excitement of the holidays, it can be hard to steal a moment for blissful writing here.

                Liked by 1 person

                  1. Isn’t it too early for a merry Christmas? The strongest tradition for me and my peers now is drinking together alas, as most of us don’t have families and yet are independent. however I do believe that any day is a time to make memories. Don’t want to overburden Christmas 😅

                    Liked by 1 person

                    1. It’s responsible, no worries. I also have the fact that I am at the business end of my debut novel. I want to celebrate Yule as well. I’ll do some research on it and maybe write something on it🙏🏾
                      Be well too Colleen, and don’t be a stranger 💜

                      Liked by 1 person

                    2. The ancient Yule customs are kind of fun. Most of our Christmas traditions are derived from those old beliefs. There was lots of celebrating because the Yule signified that the sunlight would once shine as the days grew longer. Wassail! ❤

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