“Cosmos Cinquains”

 

 

 

The above painting is one I did for the cover of a new poetry book “Pitcher of Moon” to be published…soon.  Hopefully.

I can’t remember if this was a ‘challenge’ from an old poetry group or what. But I do know that we were given a string of words to work into cinquains.  I liked the idea of a story made up of cinquains, and this was one of my early efforts.

Cinquains are an interesting poetry form. They aren’t very old, and really not too popular now. But they proceed from syllables and build on these until they reflect the beginning number of syllables.  They proved harder than they looked.

Lady Nyo

COSMOS CINQUAINS

 

Universe-

Infinite space!

Distance to distance

Overwhelming all the senses

Forever.

–

Virgo

Chained sweet maiden

Like Andromeda  there

Infinite patience is her fate

Virgin.

–

Orion

Hunter’s stealth

Steals earth’s orbit

Canis Major barking loudly

Sirius.

–

Aries

Orion’s ram

Joins the hunter gladly

Orbits across the nighttime sky

Pursues!

–

Emptiness!

Vast galaxies!

Filled with stars

Still distance looms unending

Void.

–

Hunter

Orion’s quest

Emotion burning fire!

Chases Virgo through the Heavens

Captures!

–

Gravity

Heaviness bounded

Pulls both downwards

Sagittarius the Archer wounds

Falling.

–

Embrace

Luminous skin

Orion unsheathes cock

Virgo bleeds upon Hunter’s sword

Conquered.

–

Exploding

Supernova upward

Orion’s pleasure expanded

Virgo wilts, hymen pierced

Violated.

–

Black Hole

Emotion’s fire

Pleasure burned out quickly

Hurling Virgo into vastness

Disdained!

–

Jane Kohut-Bartels

Copyrighted, 2008-2013

Some Cinquains….

 

 

"Maine Coast", jkohut-bartels, watercolor, 2006

I admit cinquains are not my favorite form.  Sometimes they are expressive of what you want to say, but I  still find them  awkward.  Of course, cinquains are 5 lined, with syllables building upon each line: 2,4,6,8,2.   My cinquains either follow this or diverge from the rules.  No matter.  It’s an interesting form, and a good exercise to ‘write short’.

Cinquains (in french…5 lined) were first developed as a poetry form by A.  Crapsey, an American who died at 36 in 1914.  She was inspired by Japanese haiku and tanka.

Lady Nyo

Cinquains

–

Listen!

The brook murmurs,

It shames us with knowing

Secrets we have kept well hidden.

Traitor.

–

All are

Deeply asleep.

There is nothing to keep

The moon racing to open arms.

Embrace!

–

Try it.

Soften your heart.

See what solace it brings.

A velvet glove that caresses,

Tender.

–

The Soul,

Like the new moon

Refreshes, born again

And I write down:  “Live in the light”.

I begin to obey,

Shedding shame, joy-

Fully!

–

Water

Washes my fear

Away like small, pale sins.

Then I begin to go naked,

Shedding doubts like snake skin,

Dancing!

–

Sandhill

Cranes, spring appears

Like white arrows the sky

Is pierced with their honking tribute

Homeward!

–

Roses

Bend their white heads

Polite bowing to the ground

Like courtiers that seek favors

Shameless.

–

I live

In sadness on

This pale spring moon-lit night,

My body thin, like a

Flower dropped from heaven

Petals scatter,

Forlorn.

–

Jane Kohut-Bartels,

Copyrighted, 2010

Cinquains, “Mysteries”

I am having a load of trouble formatting on WordPress lately.  so it goes….but I’ll try to work this out.

However, cinquains are a neat form of poetry, and there are many different versions.

Lady Nyo

MYSTERIES

1#

Rose
Dropping petals

Covering the bed

Leaving sadness behind now

Alba.

2#

Ice moon

Cuts through my eyes

Bringing sadness upward

Welling sentiment crying forth

Despair.

3#

Kiss

Fleeting sentiment

No honesty given

Leaving lust far behind

Lips

4#

Hard hand

Commands my own

But mine soft with yearning

Yours flies out fast with passion’s speed

Claiming.

5#

Gaze

Half veiled

Invitation coyly given

Heart guarded but hopeful

Eyes.

#6.

Contempt

Tossed out warning

Don’t dare to cross me now

Darkness will be your portion then

Defeat.

#7.

Beauty!

Elusive, fleeting,

Fading fast enough

Tears apart held concepts

Radiant!

#8

Wounded

Unstaunchable

Creating so much pain

Give over the sword of mercy

End life.

Jane Kohut-Bartels

Copyrighted, 2009

Spring has Sprung! General Redemption for all.

It’s raining cats and dogs out there for the past three days and of course they would show up at my door.

This entry is going to be a mixture of things because I am trying on all sorts of ideas right now.  Spring is a tender, exciting time of the year.  Too much visual stimulation everywhere you look, but you have to look closely.  There are whole worlds, alien universes, in the tightly furled buds of vines.  There are strange groups of red (forget black) helicopters in the  seed bunches of the Red Maple that fall on the walks. The daffs here are over (the Deep South), but some variations are in full bloom, along with the snowbells I found in clumps thrown into the back 10 acres behind us.  They took root many years ago and spread like the proverbial wildfires across this abandoned acreage.  There are weird stringed neon green pearls/seed clusters falling from the Live Oaks.  There is this noxious pollen all over things, and the days of rain are a blessing for more than the fertility of the earth.

Ah God! I am having to rewrite a book written three years ago, and it’s tough going.  I am delighted with the rain because I have cats curled up, sleeping instead of ripping down things, running around leaping.  They are quiet, peaceable.  The rain effects them, too.  Must be the sleepy ozone in the air.

And I am thinking further about Forgiveness…even for those that don’t deserve it.  Spring does this to me.  It’s a time of regeneration, and turning the heart and mind to higher and more tender things.

So I’m posting some April Cinquains, a jump ahead a bit but not by much.   I’m open to all Cosmic favors.

Lady Nyo

APRIL CINQUAINS

Go now,
My heart shudders.
Little else can be said.
How cold I have become to you!
(bastard).

Listen!
The brook murmurs,
It shames us with knowing
Secrets we have kept well hidden.
Traitor.

All are
Deeply asleep.
There is nothing to keep
The moon racing to open arms.
Embrace!

Try it.
Soften your heart.
See what solace it brings.
A velvet glove that caresses,
Tender.

The Soul,
Like the new moon
Refreshes, born again
And I write down:  “Live in the light”.
I begin to obey,
Shedding shame, joy-
Fully!

Water
Washes my fear
Away like small, pale sins.
Then I begin to go naked,
Shedding doubts like snake skin,
Dancing!

Sandhill
Cranes, spring appears
Like white arrows the sky
Is pierced with their honking tribute
Homeward!

Roses
Bend their white heads
Polite bowing to the ground
Like courtiers that seek favors
Shameless.

I live
In sadness on
This pale spring moon-lit night,
My body thin, like a
Flower dropped from heaven
Petals scatter,
Forlorn.

(In Memory of Spanky)

Jane Kohut-Bartels

Copyrighted, 2009

Poetry, this time Cinquains…..”CARAVAN”

I am doing some research right now, and am sinking lower under the material.  I’ll be back soon, hopefully with something to say about “Goddesses in Belly Dancers” theme.  I turn towards poetry like bellydancers turn to the shimmy:  It’s a reprieve from having to think about your next move.

Poetry gives me that space, to think further.

Lady Nyo…and thanks to the readers and to the bellydancers that are peeking in on this blog.   I hear ya.

CARAVAN  CINQUAINS…II  (alternating methods I and II)

Caravan
Camels milling
Drivers whip them
Sun beats down relentlessly
Pilgrims.

Desert
Unbroken dunes
Dangerous sands crossing
Camels plod in time to a drum
Acrid.

Camels
Desert ships
Spit and groan
Stink with foul history
Beasts.

Parched lips
Oasis near
Tongue passes across
Dry skin blasted with desert sands
Thirsty.

Night
Falls finally
All stop gratefully
Desert dangerous at dusk
Darkness.

Fire burns
Men play the ney
Drums sound soft, sleepy rhythms
Camels bellow out into night
Fire dims.

Morning’s
Gentle breezes
Mount the ships
Watching sun rise upward
Daylight.

Chanting
Drives the beasts.
Whips add to the rhythm
Camel groans increase  the music
Discord.

Robbers!
Swarthy men.
Draw swords fast
Panic among the pilgrims
Thieves!

Brave men
Leap into fray
Slashing weapons blood spills
Camels and women scream in terror
Heroes.

Sands
Stained red
Fallen bodies groaning
Winds will cover, changing
Dunes.

Wounded
Life drips away
Women’s hands comfort men,
Staunch the blood, pray over the dead.
Allah!

Caravan
Smaller now
Plods desert onward
Fearful eyes, hearts uneasy
Journey.

Silk road
weaves before us
Camels pick up tempo
Sands of desert leaving behind
Homeward!

Jane Kohut-Bartels
Copyrighted, 2008

Belly Dance and Radical Shifts in Approach…

These are not tanka, obviously, but they are a neat form of poetry.  I haven’t researched them for a while, but I believe they are American, turn of the 20th. century.

I am shifting gears again…have to.  I have a deadline to Montreal, in late January, for a heavy workshop on Tribal Fusion with Audra Simmons.  Today is exactly 2 months from when I will be there and there is a lot of preps for this workshop….especially because Tribal is very different from my training in Turkish.  The body, arms, everything is very different, so I am trying to  make sense of it all.

These next two months will be quite a challenge because I learn slowly.  There is resistance in mind, body and soul to new things, but this Tribal stuff REALLY hurts!  It’s in the positioning of the arms, mostly, but I get over it.

Teela/Lady Nyo….damn, it’s cold outside.

BELLY DANCE CINQUAINS

(N.B. Habibi is Arabic for Sweetheart… and a number of other things….)

CINQUAINS…alternating methods I and II

Asyad
Ruling Demon
Resides in wombs
Leave my heart alone!
Tempter.

Saidi!
Desert tempo
Quick! Break out whirling hips,
Move heart and body, dervish-soul
Rhythm.

Joy Cry
My petit mort
Zar births women’s pleasure
Slip down into arms enfolding
Climax

Rhythm
Masmoudi beat
Fertile cresent blazing
Spirit carried by desert winds
Outward.

Habibi!
Blazing eyes
Arms clutching tightly
Ah! I surrender fully,
Beloved.

Hips shake
Breasts push forward
Belly rolls with desire
Cocks waving to a dancer’s grace
Seduce.

Jane Kohut-Bartels
Copyrighted, 2008

“The Cosmos”……these are cinquains.

Cinquains are a form of poetry, with a couple of methods. Last year I wrote tons of them apparently, and they will come again in fashion on ERWA.

They always do….

COSMOS CINQUAINS Alternating Methods…I and II (Part I)

Universe
Infinite space!
Distance to distance
Overwhelming all the senses
Forever.

Virgo
Chained sweet maiden
Like Andromeda there
Infinite patience is her fate
Virgin.

Orion
Hunter’s stealth
Steals earth’s orbit
Canis Major barking loudly
Sirius.

Aries
Orion’s ram
Joins the hunter gladly
Orbits across the nighttime sky
Pursues!

Emptiness!
Vast galaxies!
Filled with stars
Still distance looms unending
Void.

Hunter
Orion’s quest
Emotion burning fire!
Chases Virgo through the Heavens
Captures!

Gravity
Heaviness bounded
Pulls both downwards
Sagittarius the Archer wounds
Falling.

Embrace
Luminous skin
Orion unsheathes cock
Virgo bleeds upon Hunter’s sword
Conquered.

Exploding
Supernova upward
Orion’s pleasure expanded
Virgo wilts, hymen pierced
Violated.

Black Hole
Emotion’s fire
Pleasure burned out quickly
Hurling Virgo into vastness
Disdained!

Janekohutbartels

copyrighted, 2008