National Poetry Month Challenge Format List

Sorry this is so late, but as promised, here is the list of poetry formats which resulted from part one of my National Poetry Day challenge:

• Acrostic
• Ballad
• Ballade
• Canzone
• Envelope Quatrain(s?)
• Ghazal
• Haiku
• Heroic Couplet
• Italian Sonnet
• Ottava Rima
• Pantoum
• Paradelle
• Rengay
• Rondeau
• Rubyat
• Sapphic Stanza(s?)
• Sestina
• Shakespearean Sonnet
• Terza Rima
• Villanelle

I intend to fulfill my half of the challenge, but just in case I run out of time, and in order to maximize the educational benefits of this endeavor, I intend to focus first on those formats on the list with which I’ve never worked before.

Oh, and thanks are due to Joshua Gage for contributing most of the suggestions listed!

Calamitous Haiku (+ Hessler Contest Video!)

The following haiku looks at a another sociopolitical political issue, violence, using a scientific metaphor:

I hope you found that worthy of contemplation. Now, in contrast, please enjoy this video clip of my comedic performance of “Error” (formerly “Cyberspace Senryū“) in this year’s Hessler Street Fair poetry competition:

Futile Haiku

This poem is very simple and thus doesn’t require much introduction.

Mars Haiku

Welcome! It has been a week since the last time I posted a poem, and that means it’s time for another! I wrote this poem for a contest that NASA held, in which entrants were asked to write Haiku about the planet Mars. Unfortunately, I was one of over 1,600 poets who misunderstood the instructions, and whose entries, therefore, were never submitted. The only positive aspect to this disappointing scenario is that I can now share my Mars Haiku with you here, which I shall now do without further delay:

Haiku #8

The finalists in Writing Knights Press’s Grand Tournament II have been announced, and I am not one of them. However, there is a positive side to this: I am now free to post the poems here on my blog which were part of my submission! I’ll begin with a humorous haiku:

Okay, Then…Back to Poetry (+ A New Haiku)

It seems that readers are losing interest in this blog, and sharing a work of prose fiction hasn’t helped. Therefore, I will now return to poetry. The following is a haiku which I wrote last night. Please feel free to leave a comment with your interpretation.

“Feline Haiku”

As promised in my previous post, here is my “Feline Haiku”:

Meow! (That’s cat language for “Published!”)

As the title of this post suggests, my “Feline Haiku” has been published in The Poet’s Haven‘s On Velvet Feet! Please click on the title in the previous sentence and buy a copy!

That reminds me: I haven’t yet posted the “Feline Haiku” on this blog! I will remedy that situation in my next post.

6 Haiku

First of all, sorry for the longer-than-usual delay between posts; this was due to my being out of town last week on my 4th Habitat For Humanity trip!

That said, today’s poetry consists of 6 haiku. Please comment with your theories on what each one means. If you’re lucky, I may come up with some kind of rewards for the best guesses (no promises, but if I get enough responses I will try). Alright, here they are: