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Epic poet and poetry video maker Andrew Benson Brown created a bit of excitement with his invented sonnet-haiku or haiku-sonnet published earlier this month—what poet Michael Pietrack has coined as “the sonku.” It turns out that, unbeknownst to Benson Brown, this form was already invented by David Marshall over twenty years ago, as seen here; though it did not have the intricate and demanding rhyme scheme. At any rate, poet Paul A. Freeman invites you to try your hand at this 21st century form. Post your sonku in the comments section below. Note that there are different opinions as to what should happen in the final couplet. This is your chance to experiment and see what you think works.
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EXAMPLES
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The Fall of Time
by Andrew Benson Brown
Thinning coat of frost
Whitening the ground with grief—
Love forever lost
Wrinkles on the leaf
Yellowing a lawn undone—
Beauty all too brief
Spots upon the sun
Reddening a field long dry—
Ripeness on the run
Cracks along the sky
Blackened by heaven’s treasons—
Bluer days gone by
Why keep growing on? Sprinkles of reasons:
Her smiles renew the seasons
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What’s a Sonku?
by Paul A. Freeman
A sonku is a form
of seasoned sonnet-haiku—
a melting spring storm.
Four haikus will do,
a twelve-line starting quartet,
with a couplet due.
A rhyme scheme? You bet!
Though you may need to tinker,
but then you are set.
If you’re a drinker,
stay sober, or you might write
a frightful stinker.
The couplet to finish, shouldn’t be trite;
pen something profound, nostalgic or light.
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Post your sonku in the comments section below.
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Sonku-When Winter Offends Spring
You are a mean one
A cold-hearted icy guy
Just go home winter
Time to hit the road
It’s another season’s show
Spring wants her abode
She’s fierce in her way
So, don’t tempt her by staying
Wise to fly away
Spring isn’t as tame
As many suppose, it’s true
But she’s not to blame
Winter offered doom
But Spring really doesn’t care
She’s burst into bloom
Do the seasons show up regularly? Of course, we know it’s true.
Every season has its position with colors of different hues.
Jennifer: interesting that you added another haiku stanza so that the lines add up to 17 lines rather than the usual 14 for a sonnet. A bit like the stretched sonnet, which has 16 lines.
White Sea
Fallen like
Symphony
Invite play
Unannounced
Frantic rain
Scattered sun
Misty stars
Falling stars
Disquiet.
Yesterday
The morning sun bright
Like a light in the dark sky
Turns the sky dark blue
And in the midday
You can feel the summer haze
Floating through the day
And when that night strikes
You are eased into the still
State where your brain plays
And in that morning
You wake and have forgotten
What you had to say
Of the trials and tribulations
That you faced yesterday