I started a story and didn’t finish it, so… here is the second installment… We shall see if there is more to come…

When she woke alone, 
 It all seemed like a bad dream. 
 Then she saw the blood
 there on the back of her hand
 where she had brushed his cold cheek.

Copyright ©2019 Tim Geoghegan, all rights reserved.

This just has to get better…

Cheers!

So, the tanka for originated in Japan, like the haiku and others… but it is a little different that the haiku. The Japanese tanka is a 5 line, 5-7-5-7-7 syllable count, poem. It focuses on a moment in time and allows for imagery and metaphor which haiku tend to avoid. The rules that the tanka does follow are… loose and up to interpretation in many respects. The tanka, in English, seems to benefit from attention to the meter of the line, more than the exact syllable count. There are a lot of interesting resources on the form, I’ll let you do your own research.

Here’s what I came up with:

Accident

They had to pry the
 rumpled sweatshirt from her hands
 as the rain fell lightly
 over the road and the wreck
 that left her alone in the world.

Copyright ©2019 Tim Geoghegan, all rights reserved.

Cheers!

I have been messing around with cinquains and find them to be interesting. I decided to string a few together… I had a little help with this one… thanks to… you know who you are. It’s fun when you can mash up poetry and storytelling…

The rain
 falling lightly
 on the roof of the jeep
 as I take a moment to read
 the book.
 

 The book,
 a gift from you,
 one that you have enjoyed.
 A lovely story, truly a 
 classic...
 

 Classic 
 story of love
 and of man’s redemption
 a timeless tale that sets my mind
 adrift...
 

 Adrift
 in memory
 of the days we spent in
 perfect harmony walking in
 The rain.

Copyright ©2019 Tim Geoghegan, all rights reserved.

Cheers!

Or moseying through the woods might be more accurate. So I am tired and have not taken the requisite time today to produce a Shakespearean quality sonnet or something of that sort.

Outside

Hiking
in the forest
away from the rat race
is good for the mind and the heart. 
To health...

Copyright ©2019 Tim Geoghegan, all rights reserved.

I have several ideas for poems, but since I have to write them on the day I put them up, I have to make time to do them up right. Keep watching, the best might be yet to come.

Tonight I am sharing a sort of free verse thing that I pulled out of a quick write. It is what it is…

Damned Dailies

Here I am again...
 6:53 pm with bits of rice 
 stuck to my shirt.
 
 There’s no beer in the house
 and whiskey is too much
 trouble to pour...
 
 so ice water, soy sauce and 
 a Chinese fortune cookie
 are now fueling me through
 this self-inflicted insanity
 my yearly flogging… 
 penance for my sins
 
 Sins sit well enough in the corner 
 until December when I
 drag them out to purge 
 or memorialize or
 deconstruct them in order 
 to craft a new verse.

 Condensation forms on my glass
 which in turn is steadily
 dripping on my shirt.
 
 I look down and see  a spot
 of mustard and, like my sins,
 I poke at it in vain.

Copyright ©2019 Tim Geoghegan, all rights reserved.

Cheers!

Today was ridiculously busy and while I probably COULD have made some time to write. I didn’t until now (11:20 pm) So here is a beginning of something based on the fibbonaci sequence. I only tell you it’s based on the Fibonacci sequence to make it seem more important than it is… But you will see that clearly.

Flirtationally Disposed

The
real
science
of flirting
is found in the eyes
and in the verse of lovesick guys
and also in the liquid luck bars serve after ten.

Copyright ©2019 Tim Geoghegan, all rights reserved.

Cheers!

Today I found a reference to a Japanese form called “Imayo”. I understand the the form is a four line poem with each line having 12 syllables. Each line is broken into two parts by a deliberate caesura, the first part is seven syllables and the second part is five syllables (that feels a little more haiku like, eh?) Apparently this form was meant to be sung… As I am not writing music for this project, I shall leave that to someone slightly more ambitious than I.

Here’s what I came up with…

Before the Storm

She prepares the loaves to rise - rain falls on the porch
The soup begins to simmer - leaves line the front walk
Spoons and bowls ready for use - all the birds have gone
She breathes before guests arrive - day gives way to night.

Copyright ©2019 Tim Geoghegan, all rights reserved.

Something to note… if you look at the lines before and after the caesura, you might find that you get a couple of different poems here. It sort of sets up a nifty little juxtaposition of sorts. In the case of this poem, the seven syllable sections, by themselves, give you a glimpse at the woman preparing for company. The five syllable sections give you a look at what’s happening outside. Depending on how you arrange the sections you could get three or four different poems out of this exercise.

She prepares the loaves to rise
The soup begins to simmer
Spoons and bowls ready for use
She breathes before guests arrive. 

Rain falls on the porch
leaves line the front walk
all the birds have gone
day gives way to night. 

In and of themselves they possess a poetic quality which makes this form especially interesting to me and gives me pause to consider that while this is a compact form, it really has a lot of potential for powerful comparisons and contrasts. It may need to be a form I hold on to for a deeper dive. Thoughts?

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Cheers!

Today I really just wanted to get this done. I wasn’t going for awesome, I was just going for finished.

I picked a straight forward form, Tri-Cubes, to noodle with. The tri-cube is a three stanza poem with three lines per stanza and three syllables per line.

So here’s what I came up with:

Coffee shop

I see you
 sitting there
 drinking tea.
 
 Steam rises
 from the cup
 as you read, 
 
 and it’s like
 you don’t know
 I exist. 

Copyright ©2019 Tim Geoghegan, all rights reserved.

Sometimes when I’m standing in Starbucks waiting for coffee I look around and see all sorts of interesting people doing interesting things. Sometimes I imagine interactions that “could be”… this was one of them.

Cheers!

Yep. That is it. The Gogyohka is literally a five line poem with each line being a phrase unto itself. These seem easy to write I suppose, but I am pretty certain they are not as easy to write WELL. Here’s an example… you decide if it was done well.. I’m not judging.

Spring Morning

The roses bloom
 when the sun shines.
 She watches silently
 as bees gather
 in the golden light.

Copyright ©2019 Tim Geoghegan, all rights reserved.

Cheers!

This poem is a prayer of sorts. To God, to a muse, to a lover… You decide.

Missing Piece

Seems like there’s 
 a part of me
 hidden from me...
 
 ...you are there
 apart from me
 and I can’t see.
 
 Long I’ve tried
 to find my way
 just to find you...
 
 ...Yet you remain
 veiled from me,
 hidden away.
 
Copyright ©2019 Tim Geoghegan, all rights reserved.

Cheers!