Definition: a lanturne is a Japanese poetic form in the shape of a lantern, with 5 lines consisting of the syllabic pattern 1, 2, 3, 4, 1.
for Summer
see,
these red
paper cones,
standing on your
toes-
see,
starless
black sky, your
summer canvas,
blank-
see,
candles
lit by your
shaking fingers
glow-
glow-
(it
will not
light up as
you dreamed it would/
should)
oh,
but those
shadows, so
fearless: they are
yours
come
look, your
silhouette
paintings, how they
dance
Just beautiful, Mohini. Love how you manage to conform to a particular form while putting together such strong images.
ReplyDeletei'm curious as to how much of the aesthetic beauty of a piece owes to its visual representation. i wonder if the same words would have as much power as they do if you wrote them in a different form, so it's not so striking to the eye ?
ReplyDeletethank you susan! i found that taking a break for a while with free verse has gotten me excited about trying different forms again.
ReplyDeleteand yes, tattelleteller, i think the visual shape does contribute a lot to a poem itself, more than i would have imagined... when i think about it, i dont think it would be the same at all in a regular verse format