Recently, Tina Nguyen and Claire Everett hosted a twitter poetry party. People from around the globe joined in to write gogyohka, a Japanese form of short poetry consisting of 5 lines of free verse. The themes were “summer” and “spirit.” Here are some of the wonderful and sometimes quirky poems that came out of that virtual get-together…
the neighbor lady / having to remind me / that while it was July 4th / 8 AM was no time / for fireworks (by P.R. Clark Twitter)
dirty, stiff, and tart / refreshing / with a bit of a bite / my conversation / my martini (by Vince L. Wilson Twitter, Website)
nightly at 8 / office goblin spirits arise / chewing stray pens, / unfolding paperclips / xeroxing buttcheeks (by Vince L. Wilson Twitter, Website)
at my shoulder / my grandmother / long dead / still tuts about / bikinis (by Claire Everett Twitter, Website)
a shell of memory / against my ear / I listen / to the sea / of a distant summer (by Claire Everett Twitter, Website)
that moment / I was / his dream girl / but just / for that moment (by Heather Feaga Twitter, Website)
firefly-sized hope / still lit / I’d like to stomp it with my army boot / but won’t / because I haven’t learned a thing (by Heather Feaga Twitter, Website)
hurt and shattered / I swore to be lonely / till my spirit rebelled / yielding / to you (by Nimue Twitter, Website)
her / spirit wild / and free / she roamed / with the wind (by gennepher Twitter, Website)
sleeping / under the stars / cool fresh summer night / the dogs hot breath / on my cheek (by gennepher Twitter, Website)
an era lost / where any child / can run in and out / of homes / unlocked (by amoz1939 Twitter)
working late in the lab / black out / held hands with her / tip toe out / into summer night (by amoz1939 Twitter)
attar roses / no showy blooms for Grandma / when I was little / I knew how her ghost would smell / and this July she haunts me (by Liu Tiemo Twitter)
her words / have painted / a meadow in me / where countless flowers / bloom (by Paul Smith Twitter, Website)
at sunset / summer spills / itself / into the ocean’s / depths (by Paul Smith Twitter, Website)
the spirit of summer / led us to a meadow / at dusk / more than this / I cannot say… (by Paul Smith Twitter, Website)
babbling brook / merging in the sea / loses her identity / yet still she seeks / in its depths her destiny (by Neerja Pande Tiwari Twitter)
it never ends / our story / changing as it flows / like river / to sea (by Aki Gibbons Twitter, Website)
my girls / not so small / but not so big / to make popsicles / and leave the mess for me (by An Mayou Twitter)
do you / really believe / that God could love you / more than any / other (by Kane Fielding Twitter, Website)
summer / how your skin stuck to mine / sliding across hot vinyl / roads drawn fine / around Appalachian mountains (by ten ten ten Twitter, Website)
moonlight / the empty patio table / shadows / of aspen leaves / a lacy cloth (by Christina Nguyen Twitter, Website)
to risk it all / you forget yourself / and remember / only / your wish (by Christina Nguyen Twitter, Website)
remember / that summer / mom sent us to Florida / so dad / could leave (by Cady Ford Twitter, Website)
spirit of the Muse / bless these poets / with words / as plentiful and rich / as pomegranate seeds (by Stormerne Hunt Twitter)
the earth / measures / her life / by the breaths / of her seasons (by Stormerne Hunt Twitter)
when summer comes / I will wear white / take tea on the lawn / watch cricket / and be ridiculous (by Stormerne Hunt Twitter)
Click on the links following the authors’ names to visit their individual twitter accounts and/or homepages. Then continue the party: add a comment and write your own 5-line poem.
A Bunch of Wordz 