I met a strange man
from a land with no snowfall
no ice and no polar bears.
He shivered and shook
while I sweated and stripped off
my sealskin coat, hood and boots.
I gave them to him,
smiling, glad that I live here
in my snug round house.
http://poeticbloomings2.wordpress.com/ suggest we write a Choka poem, a Japanese form using lines of 5 – 7 – 7 – 5 – 7 – 7, or 5 – 7 – 5 – 5 – 7 – 5, repeating the pattern, making me laugh, considering my last post in which I decried syllable counting poetry.
This coincided with Hannah Gosselin’s prompt at http://withrealtoads.blogspot.fr/?zx=b5584de227c1b80e for those of us enjoying the warmth of summer to visit the Arctic, In our poems, if we choose to write as a human, we must be a native of that region.
This is enhanced by the form, I think. Cleverly done.
Wonderful, Viv, hadnt heard of the Choka but you executed it so well. I love the message of generosity and sharing in this poem, as well. Just lovely.
I love the Choka form….I am a hot house flower so I would freeze. Great piece!!!
http://confessionsofalaundrygoddess.blogspot.com/2012/07/a-prayer-for-hunt.html
Very well done, Viv. The form looks so simple after it’s written, and so difficult when seen in numbers.
There is a story about a man who almost died in the Arctic, and when someone suggested God saved him, he said no, he was saved by an Eskimo. “Perhaps,” his friend suggested, “God sent the Eskimo.”
K
There is the spirit of selflessness implicit in this poem, Viv, and ha ha about the form and figuring out the math of it all! I can relate. The Inuit are truly gracious people, so this matched culturally as well… thanks for the smiles. Love, Amy
What an awesome compact glimpse, Viv, I love that you used the choka for this!!
How very effectively you shared your message within the form. Impressive, Viv! I am quite happy I read this one.
Nice share Viv ~ I like that you shared clothes to the man who isn’t used to the cold ~ Frankly I don’t know how they can take the extreme icy temp all year long ~
Love how you gave us his perspective and put us weak warm climaters in our place
I guess the Eskimo do know how to keep warm, don’t they. Lucky guy to have someone else generous enough to share his warm clothes.