Choka

This is just to keep you practicing your syllable count. Its very basic and has no limit on poem length so go on and write as long as you want .. This form of poetry originally gives a choice of form structures of .....

5 - 7 - 7 -
5 - 7 - 7.. etc, or ..


5 - 7 - 5 -
5 - 7 - 5.. etc


Most recent and most popular forms of Choka foloow the alternating 5-7 or 7-5 syllable count but ending with a seperate line of 7 syllales like :

Toybox

storm passes overhead
thunder rolls, lightning flashes
Christopher feels fear
comforting his loved ones.
Tigger, Owl and Pooh,
creating nearness within them.
strange creatures bonded closer.

this is 5-7-5-7-5-7-7 poem.

So choka today is a form of Japanese poetry consisting of alternating lines of five and seven syllables and ending with an extra line of seven syllables. The total length of the poem is indefinite.



ps : Choka were long, elegiac poems. Poems of 30 - 100 lines in length were quite common. Being elegies they covered the usual elegiac topics: homages to emperors, lovers, gods, natural beauty, etc. They followed the basic 5-7 form for an ndefinite number of lines, then tacked on an extra line of 7. The final 5-7-7 was the 'stop sign' for Japanese poetry. Given that nobody knew how long a poem was going to last when the reciter started chanting it, the 5-7-7 ending was the signal that 'the poem is done, you can clap now.

pps : I will love to write a joint choka with some one .. that can actually span a continuation of 30 or more lines.. anyone interested ??