We stand, or: Our bodies tilt

A Sijo

the sun dips behind the ridge the light at day’s edges thins; we stand—maybe the ground gives way as Earth slips toward its earthset; our bodies tilt, though nothing shows all this we take for something still

What Do You See 339

For WDYS, Sadje offers us a NASA photo (Unsplash).

This photo was taken by astronauts on the Artemis II mission as they flew around the far side of the Moon. At 5:41 p.m. on April 6, 2026, they saw Earth going down behind the curved edge of the Moon.

As always, Sadje is eagerly awaiting our responses!

Sijo?

A Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka and comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, though the break need not be metrical. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five. Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure. Modern sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.

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!

#Boundaries #Earth #Illusion #Instability #Perception #Perspective #Poem #Poetry #Reality #Sijo #Space

What wounds, or: Finds welcome

A Sijo

mother still speaks in certainties each word sealed shut against replies; I turned and threw the doors wide let every voice enter and stay; now even harm finds welcome— I often don’t turn away what wounds

Reena’s Xploration Challenge 428

For Reena’s RXC prompt, she invites us to compose poems inspired by any of the following words:

• Dogmatism — emphasizes rigid, unquestioning adherence to one’s beliefs, often despite counter-evidence.
• Solipsism — the philosophical view that only one’s own mind is certain to exist; more loosely, a state of being confined within one’s own perspective.
• Monologuing — highlights one-sided communication, where one person speaks at length with little engagement from others.
• Cognitive rigidity — a psychological term for inflexible thinking patterns and difficulty adapting to new information or perspectives.
• Doctrinaire mindset — stresses strict, often inflexible adherence to a doctrine or ideology, sometimes applied without regard for nuance or context.
• Echo-chambered consciousness — a metaphorical phrase suggesting thoughts circulate within a closed system, reinforced without meaningful exposure to outside perspectives.

Sijo?

A Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka and comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, though the break need not be metrical. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five. Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure. Modern sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.

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!

#Boundaries #Certainty #Influence #Openness #Poem #Poetry #Reaction #Sijo #Uncertainty #Vulnerability

Bread, or: A breadth of taste

A Sijo

at the long table, hands place bowls, wind threads, and pluck the strings; a child tries a new word for bread steadies the bowl as someone pours; he asks which ones are theirs— he tastes from each one in its turn

W3 poetry prompt

For this week’s W3, Yvette encourages us to step away from reality and imagine something entirely new. We are to compose poems that explore a fictional world—utopian or dystopian, our choice.

Sijo?

A Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka and comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, though the break need not be metrical. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five. Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure. Modern sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.

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!

#Culture #Curiosity #Difference #Exploration #Learning #Poem #Poetry #Sharing #Sijo #Utopia #W3

Catch-22, or: The edge of reason

A Sijo

she walks the seam between; one side all mass, the other air-thin; my finger traces her path but the line slips loose at my touch; I almost catch what she is when she’s already beyond me

Tanka Tuesday: Romare Bearden

For Tanka Tuesday, we are encouraged to write ekphrastic syllabic poems inspired by Romare Bearden’s (1911 – 1988) artwork. I selected his mixed-media collage titled “Calm Sea.”

Sijo?

A Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka and comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, though the break need not be metrical. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five. Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure. Modern sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.

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!

#Boundaries #Comprehension #Confusion #Men #Mystery #Poem #Poetry #Relationships #Seam #Sijo #Women

Each waiting, or: The other to speak

A Sijo

two hands still share the same clock face
once aligned at the mark of twelve;
one ticks forward, one ticks back;
minutes gather soundlessly;
again, they meet at the six
each waiting for the other to speak

d’Verse: The seven ‘Grandfather Teachings’

At d’Verse, we are introduced to the Seven Grandfather Teachings—an interconnected set of Anishinaabe values (truth, humility, honesty, love, respect, courage, and wisdom) that guide living in balance with others and the natural world. The prompt invites us to write a poem in any form that engages with one or more of these teachings, exploring how they interact, conflict, or reinforce one another.

Sijo?

A Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka and comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, though the break need not be metrical. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five. Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure. Modern sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.

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!

#Divergence #Honesty #Love #Marriage #Poem #Poetry #Sijo #Silence #Time #Truth #Waiting

What forms, or: Friction

A Sijo

what must stay pure is kept so white stays unchanged behind glass; sealed off from all contact no entry, no exit allowed; but life requires some friction or else it never becomes itself

What Do You See 338

For WDYS, Sadje offers us a photo taken by Jay Sadangi (Unsplash). The image shows a bouquet of white roses seen through a dusty window.

As always, Sadje is eagerly awaiting our responses!

Sijo?

A Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka and comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, though the break need not be metrical. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five. Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure. Modern sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.

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!

#Afterlife #Belief #Death #Poem #Poetry #Proof #Reality #Religion #Sijo #Skepticism #Space

The ceiling of things, or: What holds

A Sijo

unproven, easily claimed unbound, they rise and draw all eyes; lies canopy the skies above us a fresco, fully formed; yet truth must labor, patiently to scrape away the coating

Sijo?

A Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka and comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, though the break need not be metrical. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five. Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure. Modern sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.

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!

#Authority #Effort #Illusion #Labor #Lies #Metaphor #Perception #Poem #Poetry #Sijo #Truth

Our thoughts, or: Structured accordingly;

A Sijo

the machines now set the terms our thoughts are structured accordingly; we are drawn into their systems integrated entirely; yet some human thing resists we miss the turn of pages

Reena’s Xploration Challenge 427

For Reena’s RXC prompt, she invites us to compose poems inspired by this image of a surreal figure with clock-like eyes sitting amid books, surrounded by interlocking gears and mechanisms that suggest a mind governed by time and systems.

Sijo?

A Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka and comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, though the break need not be metrical. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five. Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure. Modern sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.

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!

#Dystopia #Humanity #Integration #Machines #Nostalgia #Poem #Poetry #Resistance #Sijo #Technology

The post, or: The person

A Sijo

in mounting, those in power rise their shape met with trust and fear; others’ voices adjust themselves into something nearly rehearsed; yet what the mounted feel — bears a face nobody can name

d’Verse: Exploring the art of Gerard Sekoto

At d’Verse, we are encouraged to compose poems inspired by the art of South African artist Gerard Sekoto (1913 – 1993). I selected his expressionist painting titled ‘Police Man on a White Horse in the Fields’ (1959).

Sijo?

A Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka and comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, though the break need not be metrical. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five. Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure. Modern sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.

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!

#Art #Authority #Expressionism #GerardSekoto #Identity #Painting #Poem #Poetry #Power #Sijo #SouthAfrica

Blind stitch, or: How it seamed

A Sijo

as children, we knew them as sisters though miles lay wide, nothing gave; as milestones passed, strain appeared pulling along a hidden seam; at last, their binding split apart; the blind stitch showed its faint path

Tanka Tuesday: Sisterly love

For Tanka Tuesday, we are encouraged to compose syllabic poems on the theme of sisterly love.

Sijo?

A Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka and comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, though the break need not be metrical. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five. Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure. Modern sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.

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!

#Change #Fabric #Family #Linen #Poem #Poetry #Relationships #Seam #Siblings #Sijo #Stitching