Haiku, Tanka, Sonnet, Sicilian Octave Whatever!

April 6, 2021

Haiku do not rhyme,
Breaking rules would not be fine,
And so this is mine.

This is a haiku,
With two extra seven lines.
They are hard to do.
They are an older design,
Tanka shouldn’t even rhyme.

And when you write a style that is well known,
People look hard to make sure you follow the rules.
And so you might get chased from hearth, from home,
And you are made to feel like you’re a fool.
And so sonnets follow certain rhyme schemes,
It is ABAB CDCD.
It’s so formal in rhyme, a pain to read,
And then it is EFEF GG.
When we think of a sonnet it’s Shakespeare,
Who wrote his work for the masses to read.
And I never liked reading them, I fear.
Reading prose and novels was more my speed.
I would rather not write these poems again,
A pain to write and hard to read, the end.

I understand why poetry is a pain,
People who write them are really insane.
And as I write these forms of formal verse,
Well I can’t help thinking that it is the worst.
So I am going to write a form that I like,
Without any structure without any hype,
I like them to rhyme with a little meter,
Writing something fun for all of the readers.

Good night!

Formal Poetry notes:

A haiku is three lines with syllables of 5-7-5.

Tanka is 31 syllables where the first three lines are a haiku followed by two lines of seven.

A sonnet is 14 lines of 10 syllables, and Shakespearian sonnet is also in iambic pentameter and a rhyme scheme of ABABCDCDEFEFGG with a volta either after the octave or before the couplet.

A Sicilian Octave is eight lines of hendecasyllables (11 syllables) with a rhyme scheme of ABABABAB or ABAB CDCD this one uses a simpler rhyming couplet scheme of AABBCCDD.