Haiku Unchained

[Nintendao]

A thread for poems

Original or quoted

Compose or discuss

 

Five, seven, then five.

A form we know very well.

Cast off this constraint.

 

For those times when,

Expression is more important,

Feel free to bend rules.

[Taomeow]

Good idea, my friend.

Many haiku in the chain

wanted to break free.

 

I think we had a "Mystical poetry thread" at some point but that, too, is a chain even a mystic might want to break.  Sometimes nothing can restrain poetry except its own chosen restraints. 

 

The lifeguard on duty,
a muscular cutie,
proclaimed that he spotted a shark. 
The ocean spat out
a hurried wet crowd.

 

To rule us takes merely a lark.
Who knows if there's really a shark?..

 

 

[Earl Grey]

@Jim D. 

 

this thread might be more your alley

unlike the haiku chain 

free yourself from the uncanny valley 

spare yourself a haiku structure’s pain

Edited December 1, 2019 by Earl Grey

[Nintendao]

16 hours ago, Earl Grey said:

@Jim D. 

 

this thread might be more your alley

unlike the haiku chain 

free yourself from the uncanny valley 

spare yourself a haiku structure’s pain

 

Alleviate pain

By forging a wiggly chain 

More like a noodle

[ilumairen]

2 minutes ago, Nintendao said:

 

Alleviate pain

By forging a wiggly chain 

More like a noodle

 

More like a noodle,

an expressive word doodle -

structure hard to break

 

[silent thunder]

words whirling in whorls.

worlds worth of whirling word whorls!

whole wide worlds of words!

[Nintendao]

Here's one for the whimsical immortal Lan Caihe (藍采和).

 

Peaceful blue orchid,
dozing half-blitzed in the snow,
where's your other shoe?

 

 

Who's your favorite Baxian (八仙)?

 

[Earl Grey]

That was cool, huh huh

When we killed that frog huh huh

It won't croak again

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI133jdZG4A

 

 

[Earl Grey]

Here I sit

same as ever

took a dump

pulled the lever

the toilet clogged

it overflowed

look out world

it’s a mother load 

 

 

Here I sit 

broken-hearted 

paid a dime

only farted

 

 

 

[thelerner]

On 12/14/2019 at 3:51 AM, Earl Grey said:

That was cool, huh huh

When we killed that frog huh huh

It won't croak again

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI133jdZG4A

 

It won't croak again

Nor ever be green again

I Sit, on pad, alone

 

I don't need no 7 syllables in the middle, nor 5 at the end.   better now.

Edited December 17, 2019 by thelerner

[Nintendao]

Misty, whispy clouds,
drifting through the hollow eyes
of my empty skull.

[Taomeow]

Someday we will return to the beginning

and eat the fruits of paradise ad-lib.

And Adam will be skipping, jumping, spinning,

and Eve will turn right back into his rib.     

[Nintendao]

the prophesied one

restore balance to the force

reintegration

[Taomeow]

Shaolin, Shaolin,

Shaolin, Shaolin,

I'm begging of you please don't take my cat. 

Shaolin, Shaolin,

Shaolin, Shaolin,

please don't take him and don't shave his head.

 

He jumps and kicks and begs for alms,

he practices his Tiger Palms,

all four of them, on anything that moves.

And I can easily understand

my cat could be a Shaolin man -- 

if not right now, in his next lifetime then.

 

Your kung fu skill's beyond compare
With jumping kicks and bright robes' flare
With weapons twirled in acrobatic spin 
Your chanting is so sweet and soft
and sounds like meows I can't pull off,   
And I cannot compete with you, Shaolin!
 

He purrs about you in his sleep
And there's nothing I can do to keep
From crying when he calls your name
Shaolin

I know that you could take my cat
Teach him kung fu and shave his head
But you don't know what he means to me
Shaolin!!  

[liminal_luke]

 

[moment]

Just so you know

the waters a bare toe

Too much talent for me

you can now see

[Nintendao]

"AsuShunamir, clothed in stars,
The spell of Ereshkigal, queen of the dead,
Could not posses this luminous being."

 

Edited February 9, 2020 by Nintendao

[silent thunder]

“You ask why I make my home in the mountain forest,
and I smile, and am silent,
and even my soul remains quiet:
it lives in the other world
which no one owns.
The peach trees blossom,
The water flows.”

― Li Po

[gatito]

The river flows past,

The scammers have perished.

Outed by their chat.

 

Edited February 9, 2020 by gatito

[Nintendao]

moss and twigs adorn

a small altar of white stones

gifts from forest gnomes

 

[moment]

“5 haiku” (by Sonia Sanchez)
1.
You sniff
dog-like around
language

2.
i taste
your saliva spiked
with applause

3.
painted beads
falling from your
fingertips

4.
poems
going the wrong way
in moonlight

5.
you fast talking
manicured poet
sailing on glass.”

 

[Taomeow]

掩耳盗铃

 

We don't use the word "sink" anymore, they declared.

It's a word that scares people unnecessarily.

Scared people undermine the economy, they figured.

They grew pensive, they started counting. 

Scared people undermine our profits!

 

But there's still a window of opportunity, a narrowing window to be honest,

but we'll squeeze through that window and fly away.

All it takes is to stop using the word "sink."

 

The Titanic experienced a period of negative buoyancy.

No reason for concern -- the flu kills a lot more people.

The Titanic was contained.

Its period of negative buoyancy was only temporary,

lasting a mere 108 years.

It will be restored soon.    

 

[Taomeow]

Cassandra was the paranoid bitch

to Trojans -- till the day Aegeans came.

And Noah packing animals, two of each,

was called insane -- till it began to rain.  

[Nintendao]

Here's a few more for the Ba Xian.

 

Han Xiangzi,
Played his flute in a tree,
Fell off a limb,
And defied gravity!

 

He Xiangu,
Knows how to brew,
The finest of potions,
From herbs that she grew.

 

Li Tieguai,
Don't despair if you die,
For another spare body,
Is surely nearby.

[Nintendao]

Zhang Guolao,

Where'd your donkey go now?

Folded up in your pocket!?

Sounds like magic, but how?

 

Cao Guojiu,
Royal brother true,
Exit, stage left,
To breathe life anew.
 

Edited May 20, 2020 by Nintendao