Weekend Mini-Challenge: Pick 2 Prompts, Any Prompts! then Senryū or Elfchen or Cherita

If you’ve read me once or thrice, you probably already know that I love merging prompts and writing very short poetry. So, when the time came for me to say goodbye to my Imaginary Garden with Real Toads hosting days (for now, at least *cough*), a last prompt that merges two prompts to create a very short poem feels just right.

Keeping that wee bit in mind… for today’s prompt, I invite everyone to take two prompts, any prompts, and merge the two topics to create a new senryū, or elfchen, or cherita poem. Your chosen prompts can come from anywhere or any-when, just make sure to include the link to both prompts. Only one poem per poet.

 

Senryū: “three lines with 17 morae (or “on”, often translated as syllables…). Senryū tend to be about human foibles… and are often cynical or darkly humorous.” ~ Wikipedia

Elfchen: “a short poem with a given pattern. It contains eleven words which are arranged in a specified order over five rows. Each row has a requirement that can vary: 1^st line (1 word), a thought, an object, a color, a smell or the like; 2^nd line (2 words) what does the word from the first row do? 3^rd line (3 words) where or how is the word of row 1? 4^th line (4 words) what do you mean? 5^th line (1 word) conclusion: What results from all this? What is the outcome?” ~ Wikipedia

Cherita: “the Malay word for story or tale… consists of a single stanza of a one-line verse, followed by a two-line verse, and then finishing with a three-line verse.” ~ CHERITA [1--2--3]

There you have it, dear Toads. Choose 2 prompts, any prompts! and birth a new poem out of them (a senryū, or elfchen, or cherita). Add the direct link to your new poem to Mr. Linky. Visit other poets.

Thanks a million for letting me host poetry prompts these last few years

You rocketh very mucho (and then some).

Really, I know these things.

Fussy Little Forms: Cherita

Good weekend, Toads! Let’s try a new (to me, anyway) form that is so beautiful, I hope we all can really enjoy experimenting with it: CHERITA 

Cherita was created by ai li, and you can read her lovely expression about the form here:

What’s Your Story? Cherita Knowhow

Cherita builds on haiku and tanka, and was inspired by the six-word story, which was inspired by Hemingway, so hey, there is a rich history here. You remember Hemingway’s:

For sale, baby shoes, never worn 

Cherita is a six-line poem in three stanzas. First stanza is one line, second stanza two lines, third stanza three lines. Line length is up to you. The idea is to write a short story in six lines. 

I tried it out and offer this simple tale for an example:

I should rake leaves 

but I decide 
to do something else 

when thinking about leaves 
and wind 
and justice 

photo and cherita poem above by Marian Kent

I wonder if we might try this and even include our handwritten/notebook versions as Kerry inspired us to share a couple weeks back! If you like, no obligation, but it might be a pretty form to share that way. Have fun!