Guest Author - Jordan McCollum

The haiku, tanaga, and sijo are Eastern poetry forms which can help you think about writing poetry in a different way.

Haiku
Most of us are already familiar with haiku, but for the uninitiated, here’s a little background.

• Haiku is a Japanese poetry form.
• The ancient form regained popularity in a slightly different guise in the late 1800s.
• The modern haiku in the English language takes a three line form. Rhyme is completely optional.
• Rather than counting words or metric “feet” (a set of stressed and unstressed syllables), the basic unit of the line is the syllable.

The first line of the haiku has 5 syllables, the second 7 and the last 5. For example:

A simple haiku
to illustrate the format:
graceful poetry.

Making the haiku creative: Traditionally, haiku deal with themes from nature, especially the seasons. Because the form is so short, it’s more important to focus on the overall effect of the language. Choose words carefully, not just for their syllable count but for their sounds. Work on evoking a feeling (a traditional goal in Japanese literature) rather than telling a story.

Tanaga
The tanaga is a relatively unknown form in English poetry, but is quite easily adapted to the English language.

• The tanaga originates in the Philippines.
• It consists of four lines of seven syllable each.
• In traditional tanaga, every line rhymes (AAAA rhyme scheme). Modern tanaga, however, can utilize nearly any rhyme scheme.
• It is traditional for every tanaga to include at least one metaphor.

The tanaga makes a great
Way to practice the rhyme trait:
Get enough rhymes from your pate
To fill your syllabic plate.

Making the tanaga creative: Write a set of tanagas to create an extended metaphor. For an even more challenging exercise, try maintaining the same ending to every line. To make it most challenging, end the first line of the poem with “orange.” (Just kidding.)

Sijo
Although the sijo has been explored in English poetry, it’s another form that is good for exercising your creativity.

• The sijo comes from Korean literature. It is an ancient form; even older than the haiku.
• It consists of three lines of 15, 15, and 16 syllables, respectively.
• The first two lines introduce a theme and explore it. At the beginning of the last line, there is a reversal on that theme, then the conclusion.
• The sijo usually focuses on natural subjects ranging from the pastoral to the existential and employs metaphors, similes and other figurative language.

The sijo is a sunrise, illuminating art, spilling
Forth light: inspiration, reason. Ancient truths gleam new again.
The brightness grows dim; the sun sets on my glimpse of eternal light.

Making the sijo creative: Try to deepen the metaphor with each line of the poem. Make the twist in the third line as surprising. Try developing a different metaphor on each line, keeping within the same theme.

With these forms, you're sure to stretch your creative poetry muscles!