I have been exploring various forms of poetry as of late- including Mirrored Refrain, Acrostic, and hell, I wrote my fist Haiku last week. I was even tormented and tortured by the Alexandrine(thank you, you know who)—a twelve syllable poem that is two lines of six syllables separated by ||—to the point of almost giving up. But I finally worked one out I liked.
The Japanese Lanturne (or Lantern) poetry form is one that I discovered to be a pleasant challenge. The traditional Lanturne consists of five lines whose syllabic sequence runs like this: 1-2-3-4-1— forming the shape of a Japanese Lantern when formated centered. Now, the strictest structure also mandates that the theme of the poem is nature, as is the case with most forms of Japanese poetry, and begins with a noun followed by a description of that noun.
For example:
Cows
grazing
in verdant
vales, making our
milk
Or some such shit.
Anyhoo…the number one unspoken rule about poetry is- write what you feel in any form that makes sense. As long as the emotion is conveyed, traditional structure takes the backseat.
So, taking that and running with it, I destroyed the Lanturne and created a variation of my own. I start with one noun, or abstract thought, and dialog about it throughout the poem until I end with the same one syllable noun or thought I started with— or something closely related to it.
I do try to maintain a structure that includes- a syllabic pattern that runs like 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4-1 (the sequence can run as long as needed); the one syllable words in the middle are transitions (they end the previous sequence and begin the next).
My best effort to date, using this variation, was written just this afternoon:
Baby
your Love
engulfs me
my love never
ends
of the
world will not
keep us apart
long
oh how
I long to fill
you
are the most
precious soul to
me
all I
am is yours
and yours alone
Baby
Want to give it a shot? How about a traditional Lanturne? Leave your poetry in the comments, and if I get enough, I’ll write a post featuring them.
Enjoy!
I have always loved writing poetry but never was lucky in that department:-). I have written couplets and sonnets in my regional language though. I liked your second poem. Can you please enlighten me about traditional Lanturne
This sounds interesting. I like hearing something about Japanese poetry. I think giving this a try would be really challenging. I wouldn’t mind giving it a shot.
I like reading this post..Japanese people is really great..Thank you for sharing this.I hope you can continue post more..
Wind
Whispers
Secrets from
All corners of
Earth