Micropoetry is a genre of poetry that is characterized by being short, brief. My kind of poetry! I've been reading about this poetic art form and discovered that it doesn't really have any rules, other than the character length. Character length is determined by the medium in which it's being shared, such as in a text message, or in a tweet. Twitter limit is 140 characters and cell phone is 160 characters. Anything longer than that, is not considered micropoetry. Twitter seems to be the most popular place for micropoetry. Check out this link for twitter micropoets who share their ‘140 characters or less’ poetry.
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| exotic flower in a botanical garden in Quito, Ecuador |
When men
don’t see their father faces
they live
angry,
locking up
the vault of memories
and hide their faces
from their own sons.
~ Deborah Ramos
Leaning on the seawall,
I blow smoke rings
beneath the moon.
Maybe I just dreamed you,
a fantasy of flesh and fluid,
my breath frozen,
afraid to break the spell.
~ Deborah Ramos
Watery fingers reach around
my seaweed waist
Once the tide rinses me clean,
I will taste only the salt of you,
until every grain sinks
into your wanting foam
~ Deborah Ramos
I love the challenge of telling a story in so few characters, where every word counts, which lends itself well to creating a powerful poem. This form also lends itself well to erotic haiku, blending haiku's tradition of a seasonal reference with the suggestive tone of erotic. Just a note on haiku, haiku generally is written in two parts. A fragment on the first or last line, and then you have the body of the haiku. I am seeing more contemporary haiku, that doesn't follow the 5-7-5 syllable rule, but keeps the 3 line structure.
A good structure for beginners is:
1. Setting 2. subject and action (on two lines)
jungle morning
wet kisses of rain
rivers between bodies
~ Deborah Ramos
Haiku isn't usually written in the past, nor does it cover a long period of time. It is submerged in the moment, about ordinary moments, but written to be extraordinary.
first kiss
the taste of apple
on her tongue
~ nick avis
silk kimono
in a puddle
at her feet
~ Lynne Jambor
pushing a snowball
down her skirt,
nipples perk up
~ Beth A. Skala
This one is seasonal, playful and erotic! Who pushed the snowball down her skirt? Is that person making her nipples perk up? or is the snowball having that affect on her? I've been playing around with this form and here are a few. I can't help sticking to the 5-7-5 rule.
galaxies expand
out-thrusting manhood crushes
red super nova
~ Deborah Ramos
night bed arouses
yin yang bodies fall into
sticky embraces
~ Deborah Ramos
Lying in the wet grass
him still beating
inside me
~ Alexis Rotella
I invite you to explore these forms. And perhaps share in the comments. below are links to interesting blogs on erotic haiku
