I’ve put together a couple poetic form lists by nationality (French poetic forms and Japanese poetic forms) recently, but I thought it’d be fun to assemble a list of short poetic forms. Like less than 10 lines short poems!
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Here are 10 Short Poetic Forms:
Click on the links to learn more about each form.
- Gogyohka. 5-liner developed by Enta Kusakabe.
- Hay(na)ku. 3-liner created by Eileen Tabios.
- Lune. Two 3-line versions created by Robert Kelly and Jack Collom.
- Magic 9. Abacadaba 9-liner that’s poetic magic.
- Nonet. The disappearing 9-line poem.
- Rispetto. Italian 8-line poetic form.
- Shadorma. Spanish 6-line poem (that I find addictive).
- Sijo. Korean 3-line poem.
- Tricubes. Mathematical poem introduced by Phillip Larrea.
- Triolet. 8-line French form (that’s one of my all-time faves).
Have fun trying each form! And let me know which short forms I left off (besides, you know, haiku and tanka).