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#sijo — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #sijo, aggregated by home.social.

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  1. If we remain, or: The last machine

    A Sijo

    the future glows with aspirations
    though none know if we remain;
    signals cross the sleepless skyline
    in languages no throat has formed;
    what if the last machine looks back 
    and finds its makers gone?

    Reena’s Xploration Challenge 440

    For RXC, Reena invites us to compose poems inspired by this visual image of a vast futuristic city glowing with towers, traffic, and airborne vehicles, yet no human figure is visible anywhere.

    Sijo?

    A Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka and comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, though the break need not be metrical. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five. Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure. Modern sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.

    Let’s write poetry together!

    When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

    Ben Harper (b. 1969)

    Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!

    #Absence #Aspiration #Dystopia #Extinction #Humanity #Language #Machines #Poem #Poetry #Sijo #Technology
  2. Vincent, or: Theo

    A Sijo

    EPIGRAPH:

    You don’t know how paralyzing it is, that stare from a blank canvas that says to the painter you can’t do anything.

    Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890)
    the life we painted—over;
    blank linen upon my easel;
    this choice feels almost sacred;
    one false first stroke would skew my course;
    still, memory steadies my hand;
    old lessons guide the brush I raise

    Sijo?

    A Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka and comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, though the break need not be metrical. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five. Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure. Modern sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.

    Let’s write poetry together!

    When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

    Ben Harper (b. 1969)

    Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!

    #Anxiety #Beginnings #Decisions #Divorce #Fear #Metaphor #Poem #Poetry #Quote #Sijo #VincentVanGogh
  3. Search history, or: Hyperlinks

    A Sijo

    Leon Wieseltier posed questions \\ while poring over manuscripts;
    then, years later, I followed links \\ to essays, chapters, printed texts;
    my mourning became a map \\ for other lost wayfarers

    W3 poetry prompt

    For this week’s W3, Jaideep invites us to write a three-line poem showing how a cultural tradition and modern technology meet, interact, or create something new.

    Sijo?

    A Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka and comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, though the break need not be metrical. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five. Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure. Modern sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.

    Let’s write poetry together!

    When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

    Ben Harper (b. 1969)

    Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!

    #Books #Comparison #Internet #Kaddish #LeonWieseltier #Poem #Poetry #Quote #Research #Sijo #VincentVanGogh #W3
  4. I walk, or: Carrying less

    A Sijo

    sandals, Middle Eastern tan lines
    earbuds playing Billy Joel;
    the old words sound and sound right
    yet their teenage listener has blurred;
    midlife's now loosening its grip
    I walk on, carrying less

    Sijo?

    A Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka and comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, though the break need not be metrical. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five. Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure. Modern sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.

    Let’s write poetry together!

    When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

    Ben Harper (b. 1969)

    Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!

    #BillyJoel #GrowingUp #Immigration #LettingGo #Memories #MiddleAge #Music #Nostalgia #Poem #Poetry #Sijo
  5. Arakan, or: Jerusalem

    Poetry Partners 268

    ‘A Refugee’, a poem by Anowar Sadak

    I am a refugee
    Not by choice,
    But by the cruelty
    That stole my homeland.
    
    I was born in Arakan,
    Where my parents dreamed
    I would grow up in peace.
    Instead, I inherited fear,
    Burning villages, gunfire,
    And nights without sleep.
    
    The world calls me a refugee.
    Before that, I was a son,
    A student,
    A dreamer
    Who believed tomorrow
    Could be kinder than yesterday.
    
    I do not ask for pity.
    I ask for justice
    For every child forced to flee,
    For every family torn apart,
    For every homeland
    Reduced to ashes.
    
    Though I live far from home,
    Arakan still lives within me.
    Its rivers, memories,
    And the voices of my people
    Travel wherever I go.
    
    So I keep writing,
    Because my voice cannot be silenced,
    My identity cannot be erased,
    And hope is stronger than exile.
    
    I am a refugee
    But this is not the end of my story.
    
    One day,
    I will return home
    As a free Rohingya,
    Walking with dignity,
    Peace,
    And hope.

    A ‘Sijo’ by ben Alexander of ‘The Skeptic’s Kaddish’

    my people carried Jerusalem
    through exile, psalm, and hunger;
    today’s broken borders reveal
    old longing in new faces;
    from Arakan to elsewhere—
    the uprooted share one heart

    Let’s write poetry together!

    When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

    Ben Harper (b. 1969)

    Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!

    List of Poetry Partners

    #Empathy #Exile #Homeland #Identity #Longing #Memory #Partnership #Poem #Poetry #Refugees #Sijo
  6. The ghost, or: The silence

    A Sijo

    for one year, Kaddish gave my loss
    a borrowed ancient voice;
    then silence marked the threshold
    between mourning and forever;
    I withdrew after the last amen
    but returned to words as breathing

    W3 poetry prompt

    For Benji’s W3 prompt this week, he invites us to reflect on the quiet we long for, and what happens when it finally arrives. He asks us to consider the uneasy space after busyness, obligation, noise, or familiar chaos has ended, when freedom may first feel welcome but later reveal loneliness, memory, regret, or unexpected clarity.

    Sijo?

    A Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka and comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, though the break need not be metrical. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five. Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure. Modern sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.

    Let’s write poetry together!

    When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

    Ben Harper (b. 1969)

    Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!

    #Kaddish #Poetry #Mourning #Grief #Loss #Poem #Writing #Sijo #SelfExpression #W3 #Threshold
  7. Elsewhere, or: Tomorrow

    Poetry Partners 267

    ‘Just One Hour Before I Die’, a poem by Anowar Sadak

    I do not ask
    For a lifetime of happiness.
    
    I do not ask
    For wealth, power, or fame.
    
    I ask for only one gift—
    Just one hr
    
    Just one hour
    To know what freedom feels like.
    
    Just one hour
    To breathe the air of peace,
    With no fear following my footsteps.
    
    Just one hour
    To stand with dignity
    On the soil of my homeland,
    Without being called a stranger.
    
    Since the day I was born,
    I have known violence
    Better than peace,
    Exile better than home,
    And survival better than living.
    
    I have buried dreams
    Before they had the chance to bloom.
    I have carried memories
    Too heavy for any child to bear.
    Yet my heart still refuses
    To stop hoping.
    
    If Allah grants me
    Just one hr
    Of freedom, peace, and dignity
    Before I die,
    
    I will bow my head
    In endless gratitude.
    
    Because even one hour
    As a free Rohingya
    Would be worth
    More than a lifetime
    Spent in fear.
    
    That one hour
    Would heal wounds
    No one else could see.
    
    That one hour
    Would tell my soul—
    
    You were born human.
    You were meant to live free.
    
    And I would leave this world knowing,
    
    This is what it means
    To finally live.

    A ‘Sijo’ by ben Alexander of ‘The Skeptic’s Kaddish’

    another refugee in the news
    another person's fate;
    today's comforts surround me
    built upon chance circumstance;
    I've inherited no guarantees
    beyond this current moment

    Let’s write poetry together!

    When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

    Ben Harper (b. 1969)

    Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!

    List of Poetry Partners

    #Chance #Comfort #Dignity #Exile #Fate #Hope #Partnership #Poem #Poetry #Refugees #Sijo
  8. Relieving song, or: Rising steam

    A Sijo

    my pot begins to murmur
    beneath its plain, faithful cap;
    every heartbeat finds less room
    inside the thick, waiting steel;
    then comes the valve's relieving song
    each stanza lifts with rising steam

    d’Verse: Ars poetica revisited

    At d’Verse, we are encouraged to write an Ars Poetica that reveals our relationship with poetry through imagery, symbolism, or personification, showing our writing process rather than simply explaining it.

    Sijo?

    A Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka and comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, though the break need not be metrical. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five. Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure. Modern sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.

    Let’s write poetry together!

    When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

    Ben Harper (b. 1969)

    Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!

    #ArsPoetica #Conceit #Metaphor #Need #Poem #Poetry #Pressure #Release #Relief #Sijo #Writing
  9. Still, or: Shabbat tables call

    A Sijo

    snowlight whitens the village roofs
    while burning windows glow askew;
    through rising smoke a wagon tilts
    while alleyways darken again;
    still our Shabbat tables call
    through centuries of ashes

    d’Verse: Don’t box me in

    At d’Verse, we are encouraged to compose poems inspired by one of several paintings by the famous Jewish painter Marc Chagall (1887 – 1985). I selected ‘Burning House’ (1913).

    Sijo?

    A Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka and comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, though the break need not be metrical. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five. Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure. Modern sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.

    Let’s write poetry together!

    When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

    Ben Harper (b. 1969)

    Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!

    #Art #Ekphrasis #History #Interpretation #Jewish #JewishHistory #MarcChagall #Painting #Poem #Poetry #Sijo
  10. Schoolchildren, or: Shown fireflies

    A Sijo

    the last clean river snakes
    across flickering subway billboards;
    schoolchildren are shown fireflies
    on grainy government footage;
    only old poems remember
    how small palms gathered lights

    d’Verse: What art says

    At d’Verse, we are encouraged to compose poems inspired by one of several pieces of art by Indian artists. I selected ‘Waste Archives as Landscape’ by Navjot Altaf (b. 1949).

    Sijo?

    A Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka and comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, though the break need not be metrical. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five. Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure. Modern sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.

    Let’s write poetry together!

    When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

    Ben Harper (b. 1969)

    Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!

    #Art #Dystopia #Earth #Future #Garbage #Poem #Poetry #Pollution #Sea #Sijo #Trash
  11. Incoming, or: From sky and screen

    A Sijo

    in the living room, at my keyboard 
    quarter-to-two, the walls still;
    the night splits open around me 
    air convulses through the room; 
    whump—walls shudder—glass rattles 
    my mother’s text lights up my phone 

    Tanka Tuesday: Onomatopoeia

    For Tanka Tuesday, we are encouraged to compose syllabic poems that employ onomatopoeia.

    Sijo?

    A Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka and comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, though the break need not be metrical. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five. Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure. Modern sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.

    Let’s write poetry together!

    When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

    Ben Harper (b. 1969)

    Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!

    #Concern #Danger #Iran #Jerusalem #Onomatopoeia #Poem #Poetry #Sijo #Sound #War