* Or another short poem
I do not consider myself a poet. Oh, I’ve written poetry – some of it’s even been published or won (minor) awards. But I can go for years without writing a single line.
Nevertheless, I studied a lot of poetry in college, and thought I at least knew the primary forms. So when I started getting notices in Second Life for workshops on poetry styles with names like “renga” and “etheree,” I was stumped – and had to find out what was going on.
I knew there was a large community of poets in Second Life – many of them published and acclaimed in the physical world, as well as the virtual one. Just about every day of the week, there’s at least one open mic poetry reading. (Check out the SL Events for Writers Calendar if you think I’m exaggerating!) And readings by featured poets occur with great regularity in SL.
But what I’ve recently discovered is a poetry “subculture” in SL that glories in learning about, writing, listening to, and publishing the very shortest forms of poetry ever invented.
And once again, the unique features of Second Life make this subculture far more accessible than it is in first life. I mean, when’s the last time you wrote a tetractys poem and could share it with others who would appreciate the discipline involved in writing a poem of only 20 syllables that must be broken into five lines of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 10 syllables, respectively? I know it’s been a few lifetimes since I’ve done that in first life!!
But in Second Life, you can learn a different short form every week at a workshop organized by Sunnie Beaumont, from the fabulous INKsters writing community in SL. Bored with the tetractys? How about a nonet or septet or Clerihew? Or one of the countless forms of Japanese short poetry, of which haiku is probably the best known?
Sunnie is the SL avatar name of poet Mary-Jane Grandinetti, who is also the editor of the online poetry journal The Fib Review. She offers workshops on how to write these short forms at 7 p.m. Second Life Time (same as Pacific time) every Tuesday at the INKsters Rose Garden Classroom (a lovely outdoor setting with a terrific view of the water, where it’s hard not to get inspired).
The workshops are taught by Sunnie and other poets, including DanteOsaka Deschanel, another short-form aficionado who offers haiku workshops almost every Friday at 7 p.m. SLT at Shin Tao Haiku Retreat, his gorgeous oriental-style retreat in Second Life.
Dante, who is first-life poet Mark Arvid White, also hosts live open mic poetry readings, poetry contests, and other events for writers and poetry lovers at Shin Tao.
I just recently discovered Shin Tao Haiku Retreat and was astonished at all it has to offer. I didn’t want to leave! Besides the workshops, here’s a few things you can find there:
- An oasis of peace and beauty, with Japanese-style buildings and gardens to wander around in or to meditate to the birdsong and the ringing of chimes.
- The Library of Haiku, which is a virtual garden of illustrated poetry. You can wander the buildings and grounds for hours reading all the short poems, which are beautifully printed on graphic backgrounds. Some of the poems are from the masters (e.g., Basho), but many are by SL residents who’ve submitted their poetry to the many contests Shin Tao sponsors.
- The origins of haiku and other Japanese poetry forms, as well as fascinating historical details about the early masters and instructions on how to write the poetry.
You can check out the Shin Tao Retreat’s blog to discover lots more about this incredible place.
Back at INKsters, Sunnie Beaumont displays lots of information about the short poetry workshops and The Fib Review, which publishes a newer, fascinating form called the Fibonacci poem. As you might expect, it’s based on the sequence discovered by the mathematician of the same name, and uses that sequence to determine the number of syllables in each of the six lines of the poem.
At Sunnie’s place, you can also find her recently published book of poetry, Chocolate Sauce. Both Sunnie and DanteOsaka are widely published, award-winning poets, and their gifts to the poets and poetry-lovers in Second Life are a treasure.
Having wandered through the “garden” of poetry at Shin Tao and reading Sunnie’s information on the Fibonacci and other short poems, I can feel myself being drawn into another “spell” of writing poetry – short-form poetry, that is. Now I just have to figure out which one: the Fib maybe? Or one of the others I haven’t even mentioned – Senryu, Tanka, Lu-Shih, Lanturne, Pathya Vat, Five by Five, Haiga, Kyoka, Renhai? I may need to try them all!
