When My Muse Speaks

Weekend Camping

Weekend Camping

Here's to the scavengers of the campground.
Those black bear who lumber in, to scout around,
stealing an unattended watermelon, unbound
by civility or fear of the weekend camper's frown.

They trash the trash, leave behind their debris
and in their wake, a mess for everyone to see.
The sounds outside my tent, I admit, scare me
but it is their home where they can run free.
                                                  ~~Judi Van Gorder,

The Sha'ir or Syair or Sjair from 17th century, Malysia, is a poetic narrative that not only tells the human story, often in romantic adventures but also expounds on local conflict and gives religious instruction. Because this form originated in a maritime trading center, the characters are often cosmopolitan. Shorter versions are known to use birds, fish, animals in allegory. The form originally performed, presenters would sit before an audience with an open book and sing the verses out loud.

The elements of the Sha'ir are:
         1. metric, accentual, folk meter often using 4 stresses with the beginning syllable stressed and ending in an unstressed syllable. More important than stress is, all lines should be similar length.
         2. stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains.
         3. mono-rhymed. aaaa bbbb cccc etc
         4. used to communicate romantic adventures, local conflicts, allegories and religious instructions.