A Choka
colors of sunrise
bell out across the ripples
boundless reflections
unbound possibilities
selves observe themselves
through reality's membrane
between above and below
flickers of visions
turn perceptions on their heads
bodies wake come morn
with many left uncertain
as to whether life's a dream
Choka?
The most intricate Japanese Poetry form is the Choka, or Long Poem. The early form consisted of a series of katauta joined together. This gives a choice of form structures of 5/7/5/5/7/7… etc., or: 5/7/7/5/7… etc.
The Choka could be any total line length and indeed many exceeded 100 lines. Looking at this, it is easy to see why Poetic Historians believe the katauta is the original basic unit of Japanese poetry using either the 17 or 19 unit onji.
‘What do you see’ Prompt #156
For Sadje’s weekly #WDYS prompt, she offered the photo below as inspiration for writers to produce art.
Mohamed Nohassi @ Unsplash
d’Verse Quadrille #162
The above choka is my take on d’Verse’s Quadrille challenge.
The Quadrille is simply a poem of 44 words (excluding the title), and it can take any form. This week’s challenge was to use the word “bell” in a Quadrille.
Let’s write poetry together!
When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.
–Ben Harper (b. 1969)
Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!
The Skeptic's Kaddish 🇮🇱 
[…] David; Bells across the ripples or whether life’s a dream […]
🧡
Beautiful opening lines, David, and the ending rings true. ❤️
🤎🙏🏻 Punam 🙏🏻🤎
Never tried a choka…I like how well matched this one is to the photo. Good work.
Pat
💗🙏🏻 Pat 🙏🏻💗 ~ thanks!
[…] David; Bells across the ripples or whether life’s a dream […]
💙
A wonderful and clever poem, David.
🖤🙏🏻 Bill 🙏🏻🖤
How beautifully you attempt all the poetry forms. A dream for me.
💚🙏🏻 Indira 🙏🏻💚
🙏🙏🙏
Beautiful all the way around, David!!
💘🙏🏻 Karima 🙏🏻💘
You’ve given words to this beautiful scene David. Who knows what the day has in store for us, but we still wake up with hope. Thanks for joining in.
❤️🙏🏻 Sadje 🙏🏻❤️
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
loved it David!
💗
truly well done!
commented there..
🤍🙏🏻 Cindy 🙏🏻🤍
❤️💗
OH, this one is deeply disturbing. Wonderful, David.
🖤🙏🏻 KK 🙏🏻🖤
Thought-provoking poem, David. ✨
💕🙏🏻 Michele 🙏🏻💕
A interesting piece.
💖🙏🏻 Arcadia 🙏🏻💖