Year: 2025

07/10/25 A New Haiku for a New Day

Photo Credit: Debal Das

Shipwreck out at sea
A relic of social decay
Now a world for fish

Blast from the Past:

It is painful to
Think all the progress we’ve made
Might one day recede

07/09/25 A New Novem Poem for A New Day

Photo Credit: Denis

now an error
no progress saved
nothing, just none

what bad Wi-Fi
when even one
webpage can’t load

This is about a bad internet connection. It’s also my attempt at a novem poem. These consist of three three-line stanzas, where each line contains three words. Two of the words must be one syllable and the third two syllables. In the first line, the two-syllable word must be the third word, in the second line, the second word, and third line, the first word. Also, each stanza must have at least four words that start with the same consonant sound.

Blast from the Past:

The waves crash softly.
My phone beeps persistently
Till I throw it over

07/08/25 A New Renga for a New Day

Photo Credit: Mark Pan4ratte

After our break up,
My emotions fall like they’re
Built to lean on you.

I find myself in pieces
I’ll wait to be whole again.

This is a renga I did with a friend who also recently experienced a breakup. A renga is a Japanese haiku-like poem game where one person writes a 5-7-5 poem (so a haiku), and then the other poet completes it with 7-7.

Second poem for today:

In this quiet moment, the one won
By me, because I set set-
Backs aside, I’d
Chose this again, in
Order to make myself myself

This is an echo poem, where you end each line by repeating either the sound of the last word or syllable: https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/echo-verse-poetic-forms

07/07/25 A New Kwansaba for a New Day

Photo Credit: Andrik Langfield

-for my ex-girlfriend

we set off united with joyful hearts
though we ended up having to part
i still cherish my time with you
writing silly stories, hiking through distant lands
you’ll always have a place in my story
for pushing me out of my rut
hope you say the same about me

We recently broke up, and I used the kwansaba format to reflect on this. It’s 7 lines, with seven words per line, where each word must be less than seven letters. Evidently, they are intended as a praise poem, mostly to celebrate family and African-American, although in this case, I took a slightly looser interpretation of that part. A girlfriend can count as family though.

Blast from the Past:

I feel like this would
Be easier if I could
Simply despise you