7/5

In honor of the big occasion, we've been experimenting with poetic forms. We've found that the traditional English forms---sonnet, villanelle, rondelet, sestina---offer too limited a range of expression for our birthdaying purposes.

So tonight we proudly inaugurate a new poetic form derived from the Japanese tradition of haiku and senryu: call it "normyu." With a knowing nod to the 5/7/5 pattern of haiku, where the first line contains 5 syllabic stresses (or morae), the second line 7, and the third line 5, normyu playfully upends and truncates the pattern, arriving at a more direct and immediate two-line 7/5 form. And just as haiku may reference nature or the seasons, normyu often place Norm in natural settings.

Three fledgling normyu follow, inspired by a 2006 trip to Utah.

Red fleece, red rock; pinon sways.
Smile: cookies in pack.



An extra clipjoint card punch
to trim those eyebrows.



Creek, chair pulled out from under.
But parents stay dry.