Haiku and Senryu: A Contest and More....

by SusanFarmer

Rated: E · Message Forum · Reviewing · #927687

Updated on 02/01/15

CONTEST:

This a monthly contest to encourage writing Japanese form poems. Merit badges to all authors who post links to # of poems equaling the # of days in the month by the last day of the month.

Any theme is fine for February, but themes about love and Valentines are welcomed.{c:red\}

ALSO, since I really want to encourage writers to try Japanese form poetry--For every post with an entry(s), I plan to given 100 gift points. So if you enter poems one at time, it is 100 gift points per poem. The other end of the spectrum would be entering all 28 poems for February as one entry, which would earn 100 gift points(plus a merit badge of course). This lets me encourage those who don't have time to write 28 poems this month!

Introduction to this forum.....
There were several years in my life (when I had two or more children in diapers) that I only wrote Japanese forms. Why? Mostly because I could carry a poem around in my head and revise and rewrite it while whirling through very full days. Once I had time to actually sit down and write again, I realized that writing haiku, senyru, and tanka had transformed all of my writing in whatever form I chose to write: Everything I wrote was more crystalized and clear and powerful.

This forum is for anyone who loves to read or write using these Japanese forms.

As I re-work this contest, I think about seeing life through the lens of these form-poems. For me, these poems are like multidimensional photographs plumbing the depths of my experience crystalizing images that reflect past yet grow into future.....

Just a few ground rules for contests:

1. All content rating must be 'E.'

2. Contest will begin the first day of the month, and end at midnight on the last day of the month.

3. Write on any topic/experience--use "bitem" format please--may be previously written or new poems.

4. Merit badge to every author who enters a Japanese form poem for every day of the month(it is fine to enter several in one day - just enter 31 poems by last day of the month). When you submit the final poem, please be sure to put that FACT(ie the #) in the title of that posting...If you enter an early draft of a newly written poem, then revise the poem, it is fine to enter the revision in this same contest to count toward your poems for the month....Just put 'revision' in the subject line of your post.....

5. There will be Merit Badge awarded to winners.

What is senyru?

Merriam Webster dictionary describes senyru as: A three lined unrhymed Japanese poem structurally similar to haiku(5-7-5), but treating human nature in an ironic or satiric vein.

Simplyhaiku.com gives a definition of senyru that broadens it beyond irony and satire....

Simplyhaiku.com defines senyru as "a short poetic form which focuses on people....It portrays the characteristics of human beings and the psychology of the human mind....A common misconception about senyru is that it is exclusively a satirical and/or humorous poetic genre....There's another side of senyru, a more serious side that expresses the misfortunes, hardships and woe of humanity....

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