The Oriental Octet was created by James R. Gray. Once again, my research failed to come up with much information about the form itself, and a search of the name of its creator gave me the choice of a Professor of Philosophy, or a Scottish educator, poet, and linguist who died in 1830. So you can take your pick. :-)
This poem is written as an octastich, or eight lines, which explains the Octet part of the name. And like most oriental poetry, it has lines of either five or seven syllable in the specific pattern of 5-7-5-7-7-5-7-5.
Schematic:
xxxxx
xxxxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxxxx
xxxxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxxxx
xxxxx
The Oriental Octet is unrhymed (thank goodness!), and should be written about nature. I have to admit that I really like the oriental forms, with their five/seven syllable counts. Even the invented ones.
Summer symphony -
the burbling of the fountain
accompanied by
whispers of the trees above
creating a sweet music,
causing the ferns to
dance while the earthbound lilies
only nod in time.
The squirrel races
up one tree and down again
always in a rush
leaping to a tree branch to
chitter angrily at the
cat that is sitting
between him and the feeder
newly filled with seed.
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