Six Little Words

A Tho Sau Chu poem

Old form is from another land;
My pen will give it a try.
This will not sound as grand
As ‘twas writ by native guy.

I rather like this simple plan
Of six words in a line.
Add a rhyme; oh wise man
Who invented this poem form design!

If we could speak only six
Words in a sentence- no more!
Imagine our writers’ efforts to nix
Run-on sentences at their door!

But syllables we would rather count,
In English yet, if you please!
Six little words- a small amount;
I think I’d rather write Vietnamese!


Revision ▶︎

Revised the last verse 8/31/22 to:

But syllables we'd rather count,
In English yet, if you please!
Six little words- a tidy amount;
I’d rather write Vietnamese!

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Entry: December 6, 2017
For: The Poet's Place Cafe
Form: Tho Sau Chu or Six Word Verse Vietnamese poetry s measured by word count and uses either alternate or envelope rhyme. It can be written in quatrains or octaves. When written in octaves it is called Six-Eight Poetry.
Tho Sau Chu is stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains. It can also be written in any number of octaves.
Syllabic Pattern: None
Word Count: 6 words per line
Rhyme Pattern: abab, etc. or in octaves, abababab, cdcdcdcd etc., or envelope: abba, cddc, etc.