At Home ~ gogyohka ~ senryū

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 43 Comments

At Home

What is a trip to a place left behind,
one that always lives in my heart?
Have I returned home when I visit there,
or when I leave?

This is my response to Twiglet #308: returned home.
As an exercise, I have also written this as a gogyohka and a senryū.
(Also shared with Colleen’s #TankaTuesday
Weekly #Poetry Challenge No. 303, Senryū.)

always present

a trip to a place left behind
always in my heart
at home in two places
past and present as one
never gone

 

have I returned home
when I visit the past
or when the trip ends?

Senryū are similar to haiku, but they tend to be about human nature, rather than nature.

Gogyohka (pronounced go-gee-yoh-kuh)
 ~ a form of Japanese poetry pioneered by Enta Kusakabe in the 1950s
 ~ 5-line poetry ~ like tanka, but with freedom from restraints
 ~ no fixed syllable requirement
 ~ no conventions regarding content
 ~ brief lines in keeping with the tradition of Japanese short verse

Words of Healing ~ gogyohka & sijo

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 18 Comments

collection of poems
in heartfelt delivery
friends from near and far
hear labor of love in words
poetry reading

I wrote a gogyohka this morning, then realized
I could use the same theme to write a sijo to respond to
Ronovan Writes Sijo Wednesday Challenge #44: Overcome.

Words of Healing

Searching both heart and soul,
       a poet finds words of healing.

Held close at first, they come alive
       when read to a circle of friends.

Recovery follows loss,
       as a gentle rain quenches a drought.

A Higher Plane

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 5 Comments

A Higher Plane

I follow a light and the path
it offers, the secret held
in musical notes that float
as they dance with sunbeams,
stepping stones that lead higher
and higher. The notes become
so numerous they can’t be
discerned from the light
that wraps itself around me
and opens my eyes to a new day,
one of acceptance of all, by all.

This is my response to Poetics: Visionary Poetry, the prompt from Ingrid at dVerse ~ Poets Pub, which asks us to write a poem inspired by a vision or dream.

The Intent of Moonlight and Ethereal Synapses

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 15 Comments

 

The Intent of Moonlight and Ethereal Synapses

A haze struggles to dim a light traveling
the distance that binds two bodies.

Our growing world of disconnect, challenged
by invisible connections. Clouds shift,

strain to cast shadows, oblivious to the aura
framing them. Different wavelengths of light,

thoughts conflicting, gelling. Powerless
to impede, branches sway their hips to its pull,

the flow from one chamber to the next echoing
tidal forces, defying the disconnect, absorbing

those wavelengths in a way not imagined
but realized. The embrace of affirmation, a kiss.

 

This is from a reading at The Gumbo Bottoms Single Pot Still Poetry Society … Gumbo Bottoms Ale House, Jefferson City, MO (09 Jan 2023).

First appearing in easing the edges: a collection of everyday miracles, edited by D Ellis Phelps, The Intent of Moonlight and Ethereal Synapses is now included in my poetry collection, Glass Awash, published by Spartan Press.

 

How a Heart Heals ~ quadrille

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 16 Comments

How a Heart Heals

Long held in self-imposed darkness,
removed from all past pain,
a heart boldly wills itself to open
to possibilities, that light of day
might reveal a world open to it,
return to it a joy long lost,
that it might once more know love.

 

This is my response to Q44 #167 – To BOLD-ly Go,
the prompt from De Jackson at dVerse ~ Poets Pub,
which is to use a form of the word bold in a Quadrille – a 44-word poem
(excluding title), with no required meter or rhyme.

 

an old path ~ senryū

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 42 Comments

an old path
in early morning light
new meaning

This senryū is my response to Colleen’s #TankaTuesday Weekly
Poetry Challenge No. 301, Synonyms: New & Experience.

I was so focused on the fact that I used “old path” for “experience” and “early morning light” for “new” that I overlooked the fact that I actually used “new” in the third line of this senryū.

So… here’s another senryū

this old path
in early morning light
leads forward

Shared with Open Link Night #329 at dVerse ~ Poets Pub.

I Was Never There

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 28 Comments

I Was Never There

Traveling this lonely highway,
occasional headlights
the only break in the darkness,
I count oncoming white lines
as they flash before me,
pass beneath me, each one
as familiar to me as the numbers
on my dash that measure my progress.

My surroundings may be
hidden by the darkness,
but I’m not lost. I’ve traveled
this road so many times
that every curve wraps itself
around me. The rumble strip
knows my name, warns me
when the siren of sleep beckons.

Longing to reach the other end,
I wonder if the road is all there is.
Am I meant to be anywhere
but where I am, passed by mile marker
after mile marker, the road passing
beneath me while I remain
stationary, one more element
in the night, yet never really there?

 

This is my response to Poetics: Are you listening? – the prompt from Merril at dVerse ~ Poets Pub, which is to write a poem that uses two titles from a provided list of podcasts, keeping all words in order and changing only punctuation, if necessary. My poem includes “Rumble Strip” and “Not Lost.” Also, I’ve used another podcast title, “I Was Never There,” as my title.

oil and water

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 4 Comments

oil and water

speak to the truth
of our time together
the drive gone
from the start

we could better
shoot the rapids
of the wildest river
our boat sinking
the entire time

than find the drive
to refute the testimony
of any fly on the wall

no right way
no wrong
just straight through
no matter the cost

even as we resisted
at every step
no effort to preserve
even rekindle the fire
until it came to a close

This is my response to Wordle #585 at The Sunday Whirl.

boat | preserve | speak | resist | oil | fire | drive | fly | shoot | matter | close | right

Healing Waters ~ sijo

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 15 Comments

Healing Waters

Fond memories are the filter
       that clouds the unforgiven.

Pleasant days upon and beside
       the water wash away the snow.

One day, I will return
       to the river and accept the cold.

The recent storm (The Blizzard of ’22) that swallowed Buffalo and Western New York is a reminder of how little I relished digging out after a winter storm when I lived there, yet I will return, someday.

Image source: New York Post

This is my response to Ronovan Writes Sijo Wednesday Challenge #42: Recover.

Sijo (a Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka)
~ three lines of 14-16 syllables each
~ a total of 44-46 syllables
~ a pause near the middle of each line
~ first half of the line contains six to nine syllables
~ the second half should contain no fewer than five
Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure.
Modern Sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.
Read more here: Wikipedia