qarrtsiluni

a hay(na)ku*

dented
moon, wheeling
just like me.

synaptic trash
caught sweet
in blue-violet mercies

roaring,
glory-headed girl,
smashed diamond skies

tilt,
tilt a-whirl,
twist and all-fall-down.

dry
river coursing
bloodstream’s ancient dreams

sashay
into beatitude
unravelling like me,

glistering
somersault into
infinity’s unformed matter

—is
that fire-
eating the open door?

or
peat-y fingers
down my throat?

i’m-a-ring-’round-rosie-girl,
a hot-blue-star
unhitched and free-wheeling

one-of-seven-sisters,
a pleiade,
bartering my soul.

unbolt
this cage
of inkblue heaven

drown
my mercies,
fill my mouth,

cast-me
deep beyond
the oh-so-watchful stars,

deepsky,
non-stellar objects
wheeling lopsided within.

by Holly Anderson and Caroline Beasley-Baker

Download the MP3
__________

*Hay(na)ku is a 21st century verse form invented by poet and publisher Eileen Tabios, who launched the first Hay(na)ku challenge to the world at large via the web on June 12, 2003 (Philippine Independence Day). The “traditional” form of a hay(na)ku entails:

• A tercet: 3 lines.
• A total of 6 words: 1 in the first line, 2 in the second line, and 3 in the third line.
• There is no restriction on syllables, stresses, or rhymes.

Then, in 2007, Tabios issued an online invitation to poets to join in groups of three or more to create “chain” hay(na)ku with each tercet moving between voices as in a conversation or a traditional “parts” song. “Our Rowdy Pack Song” is a poetic duet that loosely interprets the form.