Here is another way to define the Sijo:
More ancient than haiku, the Korean SIJO shares a common ancestry with haiku, tanka and similar Japanese genres. All evolved from more ancient Chinese patterns. Sijo is traditionally composed in three lines of 14-16 syllables each, totaling between 44-46 syllables. A pause breaks each line approximately in the middle; it resembles a caesura but is not based on metrics. You will also see this form broken from three lines into six-line format.
Best site for examples of Sijo poetry IMHO:
http://thewordshop.tripod.com/Sijo/masters.htmlYou also might wish to visit:
http://members.tripod.com/~Startag/IntroSijo.htmlI personally own two books of Sijo poetry - check them out when you have time:
This one has modern versions of the form -- "Modern Korean Verse in Sijo Form" - Selected and Translated by Jaihiun Kim
For the ancient poets - "Sunset in a Spider Web; Sijo Poetry of Ancient Korea" by Virginia Olsen Baron
I think this is my favorite:
Oh that I might capture the essence of this deep midwinter night
And fold it softly into the waft of a spring-moon quilt
Then fondly uncoil it the night my beloved returns.
...Hwang Chin-i (1522-1565) most revered female Korean classical poet
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Here are three I've recently written:
Sijo Sojourn #1
ZephyrAm I a zephyr in this lifetime...a temporal passing-by?
I have breezed through a few open windows...perchance touched some souls inside.
Upon my passing, push aside mourning shades...let this zephyr in.
WindsGentle winds lifted shades from pillowed view; now suspended, days slant.
Every sunlit morning thins; transparent rays promise finite warmth.
Translucent, the fabric of infinity has filtered my soul.
BreezeSome chilled breeze determined to claim my bones, blows the frail shades aside.
Feeling like the last leaf on an old tree, my days exhaled and sighed.
A hardened stone or flower in the leaves? My offspring will decide.
© Norman S. Pollack 10/2006
Norm