Katauta is an unrhymed Japanese form consisting 0f 17 or 19 syllables in a 3 lined poem 5/7/7 or 5/7/5
These were usually lovers poems
Katautas were considered half poems

A pair of Katautas with syllable count 5/7/7
Is called a sedoka

Standing in your glow
In the aura of your smile
Makes me feel love in your light

Or

Embracing your heart
With each pound against my soul
Fills me with your love

Sedoka:
Your rose petal lips
Were so soft and full of love
Kissing me under the stars

Under the half moon
We stood together and stared
In the twilight of our eyes

my precious, my love
when will we know that our love
will continue forever?

keep the seedbed moist
sprout, take root, ready to grow …
caring relationships thrive





Mark Toney © 2022

Poetry form: Sedoka - My Sedoka poem is one lover's sincere question, followed by the other lover's discerning answer. The Sedoka is a two-stanza poem, each stanza having three lines, with five syllables on the first line and seven syllables on the second and third lines.

My dear, hear me out
They may shake you to the ground
But you own arms of a sword.

Strength to just dive in
Enough to rise above all
For every dent you soar high.

a longing for you
over took my pen tonight
for your voice was the night wind

and then with closed eyes
and full heart you came to me
your soft touch from miles away

open swinging door
oscillates gently in spring's
warm and moist respirations

hyacinth's odor
wafting in through the screen door
on reminiscence of you

Does a creek rock know
that it has been transported
from there to a distant here
then covered with paint
stationed to guard garden mulch
lest it escape to the lawn?

isn't it lovely
the moon is afire — can I
hold your hand, and stay

though the night is deep
and the moon is alight — please
hold my hand, and stay

sun-kissed valley wind
train to Madrid's not here yet
— want a cerveza

sit in the shadow
look at those pale, lovely hills
— let's have anisette