FIBONACCI – not your father’s haiku
General Motors tried to inspire a younger demographic with the catchy tagline of “This is not your father’s Oldsmobile.” I’d like to think that a Fibonacci poem is not your father’s haiku! A Haiku has a mathematically metered number of syllables in three lines, using a count of 5, 7, 5. Similarly, a Tanka uses the measure of 5-7-5-7-7. Below is an example, written when I was about sixteen years old:
LONELY TANKA
the wound is so Deep
it will scar your Memory
alone and Empty.
even after she leaves You
her unwanted stench Lingers
The Fibonacci sequence adds each subsequent number as the sum of the previous two numbers: 0 + 1 =1, 1 + 1=2, 1 + 2 = 3, 2 + 3 = 5, and so on. This mathematical sequence occurs in nature, music, science, geometry, and art, and has also been applied to poetry. The Fibonacci poem uses the following number of syllables per line: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, etc.
Below is a great example, used with permission by poet Narendra Rai:
Morn
As
It’s born
Brings with
Itself your aroma
That gives me hope
To hold you in my arms one day
Another mathematical approach to poetry can be found in an etheree, which contains lines of syllables in numerical sequence from 1 to 10. I tried my hand at a reverse etheree:
BLACK DREAMS
1 In
2 my dream,
3 I reach out
4 Wailing, weeping,
5 the darkness creeping
6 heart beating and bleeding
7 growing numb as senses pale
8 Blackened by burning betrayal,
9 You enjoy my screaming as I drown
10 You even help the demons hold me down
9 But wait, here is the craziest twist
8 you let me live to make it last
7 pulling me into your past
6 you laugh as my blood drips
5 licking fingertips
4 luminous scream
3 ruinous,
2 haunting
1 dream
Writing in this style is more difficult than it looks! Many poems typically have four to eight syllables per line, and in poetry, each line stands alone to allow the reader to pause. Challenge yourself and try this art form. You can share your poetry on this blog or you can share on my Facebook wall, just search “Cronin Detzz.”
Keep writing and keep sharing! - Cronin Detzz
