Monday, April 05, 2010

Rumi's Lament

Night thrums, cicada
song, your breath sweet luxury;
once, its ruby-throated
presence rattled my swaddled
life; now I slumber once more.


***

Today's prompt (TMI) did not inspire, but a reference to Rumi, the great Sufi prophet and seer, did. Rumi believed that we go through figurative cycles of sleep and awakening, and then return to sleep. That is, we become inurred to what once tantalized and intrigued, what drew us to another. The taking for granted. Here, I play with the tanka form, a 31-syllable five line poem. In the East, tanka is written as a single line; in the west, the form follows a 5-7-5-7-7 structure.

Peace, Linda

9 comments:

  1. I loved this tidbit about Rumi and the tanka form. It's something different to thing about.

    Your poem was interesting to read both before and after I knew that information.

    Jai

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  2. I so admire you doing NaPoWriMo in the midst of everything else! Love this one. The rhythm, the images. (Rumi is always inspiration!)

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  3. Tanka written in a single line. Interesting. I need to see that.

    This was beautiful, as always. The first two lines are dreamlike.

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  4. I am enjoying reading your poetry-- from releasing Dad's ash unto God's welcoming embrace to making rhubarb sauce with Mom. Very lovely, vivid, emotional works on this page.
    Reading your prose always inspires me to be more beautiful with words.

    I like the return to the color blog format as well. The white felt too bleak for you!
    ~take care

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  5. yeah, I had a bit of a time with that one too.

    you did well, my friend

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  6. Thank you all for reading. Funny, but the idea for Rumi came from a fundraising letter from the litzine THE SUN, which used a Rumi quote. Anyway, fun to stretch... Peace, Linda

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  7. You learn something every day.
    I never knew what Tanka was, and now I do, thanks to you.
    It means: words of beauty; and peace, of course.

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  8. Cathy.

    You have no idea what kind of smiles you left me here and on my other poems. Thank you...

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