Spirits of the Night, sijo

Posted on by Colleen M. Chesebro

I’ve written my first sijo… and I admit it was a bit intimidating. There is a rhythm that I’m not sure I found.

The idea is to write this sijo in three lines with a 3-4-4-4 grouping pattern in the first line; the second line echoes the 3-4-4-4 grouping with more details, and the third line is 3-5-4-4. I struggled with the line pattern, so I broke this down into syllables of 16-14-15, for around (45) 44-46 syllables.

I’ll have to work with this form some more to perfect it. Notice the punctuation and capitalization—this Korean form differs greatly from the Japanese forms.

This is for #TankaTuesday and for the Wombwell Rainbow’s form which is the sijo.

© Lisa Fox, Felt Mansion
On dark moonless nights, star-shine unveils purple daytime forest shade.
Shadow trees, leaf-whisper in song. In dreams, I dance alone.
Deep sky reflects my soul-spirit, loneliness, my chaperone.

© Colleen M. Chesebro

Halloween is almost here!

39 thoughts on “Spirits of the Night, sijo”

    1. OMG!!! Thank you. I’ve not written this form before and actually watched a video on how to write it on the Wombrel Rainbow site. I know the cadence is off. I’m close… LOL. You made my day. Thank you. 🙏🏻 🥰

      Liked by 1 person

  6. I use the theme Shoreditch, too, and find it works well for my blog. I added the Dynamic HR (spacer) between my sidebar widgets to add more pizazz.

    I also like that it has 2 footers and one can be a different color.

    Your blog looks very nice, Colleen. 💖

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Such an intriguing form, the Sijo. That last line wrapped evrything up so beautifully. Like your undead avatar.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Anything with a cadence – like sonnets, limerick… I’m deaf.
    I enjoyed the mystery of you piece which fits the photo. Though being alone can be a blessing. Maybe not in a spooky place though 😉

    Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.