Tuesday, April 5, 2011

HAWMC Prompt 5: Haiku & Tanka

I'm participating in WEGO Health's Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge (HAWMC) in April.

Today's challenge is to write a haiku for my condition (migraine). Haiku is "a form of Japanese poetry, consisting of 17 moras, in three phases of 5, 7, and 5 moras respectively." No rhyme or meter scheme is employed. Rather, the aim is to create something greater than the sum of the parts. Haiku were traditionally poems written about nature, and included a "season reference."
Migraine agony
brings uncertainty and fear,
throbbing pain and tears.
Ambitious Activist Challenge Add-on: Make your Haiku into a Tanka. Tanka is a type of Japanese poetry that "consists of five units (often treated as separate lines when Romanized or translated) usually with the following pattern or onji: 5-7-5-7-7... Tanka is a much older form of Japanese poetry than haiku."
Chronic migraines are
hard on mind, body, and soul.
Head pain, nausea,
Sleepless nights, daytime fatigue,
shattered dreams... my life has changed.
Disclaimer: Nothing on this blog is intended as medical or legal advice.

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