Coffee shops are fun places to gather material for journaling and maybe even crafting into poetic vignettes… glimpses into the lives the of people around us.
The Imayo form is a 4-line Japanese form that has 12 syllables in each line. The twelve syllables are broken up with a purposeful caesura (break) between the first 7 syllables and the last 5 in each line. 7/5 syllable counts are unique to many notable Japanese forms suck as the Haiku and the Tanka.
I like how the poem can sometimes break down into two separate stories, but together tell a more poignant story and perhaps better developed overall narrative.
This poem is a product of sitting in coffee shops and taking notes. I pulled a moment out of the pages of my recollection and tinkered it into this Imayo. Enjoy.
Could be it's goodbye...
The coffee has gotten cold - he takes another sip.
A bell rings over the door - patrons come and go.
Her napkin is still right there - ruffled by the breeze.
The empty chair speaks loudly - tears roll down his cheeks.
©️2021 Tim Geoghegan
To be certain, this poem could benefit from time and some workshopping, but the challenge is about what I can get done today. It is what it is, for now. See ya again tomorrow.
Cheers!