Welcome to my April 2024 Great and Powerful Blogging from A to Z Challenge!

I’ve revealed my theme (A poem a day…with picture), and of course, I am unashamedly blogging my theme letters on the fly.  So, here goes nothing!

So, without further ado, the final day, the final letter, the final poem for National Poetry Month!  Z is for…Zappai. “Zappai poems are like haiku, but not. Or maybe more appropriately, they’re like senryu, but not (or maybe they are). This poetic form definition may sound kind of wishy-washy, but zappai are poems that have a 5-7-5 syllable pattern that do not contain the seasonal reference expected of haiku. In other words, zappai are all those haiku people write that haiku poets recognize as not being haiku. Again, senryu could fit this definition as well, but senryu also can have a looseness with the syllables, much like haiku, so that 17 syllables are not mandatory. Zappai should still be poetic, but they’re 5-7-5 poems that don’t include the seasonal reference. Final answer. I think.“

I actually explored a few Z forms for this post (unlike many topics in past A to Z challenges, there are MANY Z options) and each one was more convoluted than the next. I will have to go back and try some of them though – I have discovered in this challenge that the complicated forms are actually a lot of fun, kind of like big word puzzles. Anyhoo…here we go!

The End

Today marks the end
of poetry challenges
Time to move along

Thanks for visiting my 2024 A to Z Challenge – Letter Z.

Guess I’m kind of going rogue too…although I do like using the “official” letters…