The Lanturne

I bet you were expecting an excerpt from my NaNo novel today, weren’t you? Too bad, so sad. Did you forget this is the first Friday of the month? That means you’re getting poetry. But because it’s NaNo I found a form that’s really short and quick and easy to do, and to make up for the quickie form I’m including one of my poems written earlier in the year. First, the form.

This month’s form is the Lanturne, which is a Japanese form from the Middle Ages. It’s a five-line shape poem that when centered on the page resembles a Japanese lantern. In theory, at least. The syllable count for this form is one, two, three, four, one. It does not have to rhyme.

The poem is meant to illuminate the subject, like a lantern. It usually describes a one syllable noun, which is then personalized.


Clouds
gather
threatening
to split open -
rain.


Song
of praise
wafting from
the church window
joy.


Page
by page
by chapter
the book is done -
sigh!


Bonus Poem

The Gathering

Magic is brewing . . .
dusk was falling
as the poets gathered
competing with evening’s song –
first the cicadas
with their long, drawn out whine
then the crickets join in,
a frog belches his loneliness.
Sometimes they compete in song
sometimes they blend in harmony.
Birds hold a lively discourse
uncaring of the poets
gathered below
voices rising and falling.
A squirrel jumps from tree to tree
nearly misses
distracted by a blast
of music from the picnic shelter.
Two motorcycles roar past.
The spell is broken;
the poets are done.