WD Poetic Form Challenge: Senryu
It’s been two months since our last poetic form challenge and the April PAD Challenge is over, so let’s get another one started. This time around, the challenge is to…
It's been two months since our last poetic form challenge and the April PAD Challenge is over, so let's get another one started.
This time around, the challenge is to write senryu, which is a variation of the haiku. As with haiku, senryu are most often 3-line poems containing 17 (or fewer) syllables--often in a 5-7-5 pattern. Senryu does not include a cutting or seasonal word, and it's usually about human issues (not nature, as is the case with haiku).
In fact, many people write poems that they call haiku that are really senryu. So in a way, it's a form of poetry that is often suffering from identity theft and mistaken identity.
OK, so that's the form.
Here are the guidelines for competing in this challenge:
- Write and share original and previously unpublished senryu in the comments below (on this specific post).
- Deadline for entries: May 31, 11:59 p.m. (Atlanta, Georgia time).
- No entry fee.
- Include your name as you would like it to appear in print (just in case you're chosen as a winner).
- Speaking of winners, the top senryu (and maybe a few extra, since the form is so short) will be published in a future issue of Writer's Digest magazine in the Poetic Asides Inkwell column.
- Anyone and everyone (from any location on the globe) is encouraged to participate. It's free and fun.
- Note to new poets: You'll have to register on the site (don't worry; it's free) to comment. And for your first few comments, you may have to wait for one of us editors to approve your comment. Don't worry; we'll get to you--and then, after that first approval, you should be good to go into the future.
Good luck!
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Learn how with the most recent edition of Poet's Market. Click to continue.
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Check out some other recent poetic posts:
Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
