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Oh here is another reason for me to make time to get back to participating here more often. The Barzelletta is one of those centuries old Italian classics which balances theme and form and most modern poets bypass or are ignorant of. I am delighted to read this modern version. Thanks for sharing this. ~~Tink

Haha, Usually when people play with forms they drift toward the invented artificially tortured forms, not you.. I love this! You have taken a classic, the Alexandrine couplet, which has been mostly overlooked by modern poets and given it a fresh new look with humor and unique imagery. Well executed, entertaining and a great example of why the study of classic form can influence good modern poetry. Thank you and Bravo! ~~Tink ps. I will link this small piece to the article on the Alexandrine couplet.

Tinkering with Tinker's Poetic Forms: Couplet Eye catches! gurunAthan ramaNi (Alexandrine couplet: iambic hexameter) The absent-minded boss || walks in the morning fog His hat in chain beside, and on his head his dog! She danced on the hobbyhorse || in the temple annual fair Amused that a chubby child, demand a seat on the mare! The pearly drop of rain || suspended on a leaf It caught within its walls the lofty mountain chief! *****

She never turns up! gurunAthan ramaNi (English Ghazal: iambic hexameter couplets) The sun goes down, the sky is blue — she ne'er turns up; The waves are red, even the air has hue — she ne'er turns up. The crowd is thin, I spot a couple 'hind the boat The boat and the net are decked with dew — she ne'er turns up. The lighthouse, lean and tall, its beacon yet to shine The ships are far between and few — she ne'er turns up. The broken moon is dim, the stars are yet to shine, I walk in sand, without a clue — she ne'er turns up. The waves adorn the sandy shore w

The wind rested on top of the branches of a tree in the park, not blowing below them. Sappho the cat followed the steady flow of spirits leaving the earth, passing the flakes of snow. The night searched for a cradle to lay down it's body of dreams, Sappho rubbed her head on Isaac's feet, as he opened his eyes daylight poured out like light entering a cave, he slept in the

Another one for short poem enthusiasts: http://www.onesentencepoems.com/osp/?page_id=13

A red rose held in my hand caught my tears on its petals like dew shimmering from the sunlight's kiss, leaked by rain clouds above the garden where I stood.

Thanks for the read. It is a collage of images and impressions built around the play of the word 'fly'. It plays intentionally with the reader's association with the word 'fly' and changes the experience for every reader.

Nature's Cycle gurunAthan ramaNi (Barzeletta couplets) . Majestic frog on a lotus leaf fell down; Even a flea has power, in Nature's cog. ... 1 . Before the flea could think about its power a raindrop drenched its wings and stopped its glee. ... 2 . And the raindrop thought it would become a pearl was mopped up by a ray of morning sun. ... 3 . The sun with all its glory fell in the sea as the seashore temple rang its evening bell! ... 4 . ★★★★★

Thanks, eclipse. gurunAthan

Thanks a lot, tonyv, for your understanding and appreciation of my debut poem in this esteemed group. Currently, I am in the task of creating Tamizh equivalents of some of such a large number of English Poetry forms that Miss/Mrs. Tinker has accumulated and expounded very well. In that process, I am happy to try my hand in some of the forms writing my own English verses. I am happy to join this group and look forward to deepening of my understanding of English prosody and poetry. gurunAthan

Has shamanic quality...

Welcome, gurunAthan. I'm excited that you've joined the forum. I like your debut submittal a lot. To me, it's quite pleasing from content to form. In five relatively short couplets (tetrameters in lieu of pentameters) you've presented an intriguing narrative that includes historical (1), earthly (2), intellectual (3), spiritual (4), and philosophical (5) ingredients. I love that you've included the notes. The layout and look of the work is scholarly and artistically pleasing. Thank you for this exciting, tasteful presentation. It's very much to my liking. Tony

I searched Sinann and found only a reference to the River Shannon. On the up-side, one of the first results Bing returned was "Sinann" right here at PMO. As is often the case with your works, the poem seems to span continents with its reference to the River Shannon (Europe), the Sphinx (Africa), and the "wind horse" (North America). I enjoyed the saga. Tony

001. Truth and Wisdom gurunAthan ramaNi (couplets: iambic tetrameter) The earth vibrates with so much noise The sky, refined, is peace and poise. ... 1 shivA is bright in a peaceful stance. shaktI, his wife, shows up in dance. ... 2 The moving breath is body's make The wise, they move it like a snake. ... 3 This world's a showy dream for eyes Beneath it lurks the Truth for the wise. ... 4 When you set the my apart from I And leave the why you know the sky. ... 5 Notes: shivA - God of Destruction in the Hindu Trinity who rejuvenates the world after th

I watched fire masquerading as ice on river waters, as the moon cried mountains, leaves twitched like the wings of dreaming angels as the wind horse passed over trees. Heard the river whisper about a shivering Sphinx's desire to change form. The wind horse carried me through forests, across mountains until I heard the vexed sun yearning for a new home away from this ravaged earth, Sinann's rebirth was revealed, on whose breath I had been riding.

Juris, I did. I compared the two versions side by side. Nice adjustments on the final published version. I do like your Gate(less) periodical. I know you have a link for it in your signature, but you should also add a topic to the Promotions forum. Tony

Joel, I like the jarring impressions of futility I get from this poem. Verse after verse, I'm left with a hollow sense that it's all for naught, it's all in vain. Very nicely done. Tony

Barry, I always enjoy your Native American themes. This one is compact, just right. Tony

I'm with Joel on much of this, though I get the same "desert" sense I get from "The race of camels" that I get from Shelley's Ozymandias. It's almost as if the former could serve as a "prequel" to the latter. Tony

Dreaming in the trenches, I caught the red moon and placed it into the eye of the the wind-horse. We flew-following the smoke of history, resting in a field we gave shelter to poppies from souls buoyed on Christly tears as they made clean the red moon.

There are lies and there areflies. These will not take you to the moonor flay you before the stars.Interestingly, like parent-birds,the instinct is to fight back, kamikaze-like:fly to the depths and crash.But, the advertised phytochemicalsaren't scraping the fat off my veins:Come on, burn, baby, burn.What do I do with you nowand how? Look, the plate left unfinished,has a fly feasting on it.

'I will try hard to stay' is a fundamental truth about humans and dying captured strongly in this piece. No one sets a date for his death. For as long as we are strong and healthy, we will press forward, 'try hard to stay'. 'Loved ones day I'm sleeping now' has a biblical sound to it. In the Bible, it uses the metaphor of sleeping for dying. Jesus referred to Lazarus who was already dead as sleeping and he was to go there to wake him up. No wonder Jesus promised to wake up all the dead (a metaphor for resurrection). Happy to see those fundamental things in a piece like this.

It is the same impression I got, am I reading a haiku? So my mind started building the structure. But the symbolical experience of raining hard and letting the world in (into some secure private space perhaps as contrast) opened it up for the reader to consume and make sense for himself.

It is the wonder of creativity when we can turn what would have been a passing moment into a poem. The chatter, hitching on board, and the eavesdropping.