gogyoshi – Life

Happy May Day to everyone! Congratulations to all who did the April 30 poems in 30 Days. It was a grand race but now, it is over. Thank goodness!!! I am posting this gogyoshi for Real Toads Tuesday Platform. A gogyoshi is a Japanese poetic form created by Taro Aizu. It has five lines. That is the only constraint. Five lines – insanely simple. This poem came to me while sitting in my tree this morning.  This poem represents the Japanese concept of mujo – impermanence.

Life
Life is never promised.
We pass through time
like leaves blowing in the wind –
Like dew evaporating in the sun.
Life is never promised.

Haikai Challenge #22

A gogyoshi for Frank’s challenge. https://nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http://frankjtassone.com/2018/02/24/haikai-challenge-22-2-24-18-barely-spring-haru-asashi-haiku-senryu-haiku-tanka-haiga-renga/&data=02|01||2caf53d4b6e5469e109308d57ba761b7|84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa|1|0|636550881178780870&sdata=97wwKfKCuVnJCWpEzm7e+SRmttSXgHbZEgTj/4vLqc4=&reserved=0

Barely Spring

barely spring – the daffodils
nod in the cold sun and
crabapple trees burst into pink bloom –
cold and rain forecasted for tomorrow –
barely spring, it is expected

crabapple tree

Cedars

a gogyoshi for Open Link Night at dVerse. A gogyoshi has five lines like a cinquain or tanka. However – that is the only “rule” for this Japanese poetic form. No syllable count, no rhyme or rhythm required. Exactly five lines, any style.

Cedars
cedars in the meadow
lined up in a row –
all is silent in the snow
except for the lonely call
of a crow.

Cedar – Ansel Adams 1956