Prompted by Poet's Place Cafe

He Leads Us - Form of the Week Tanaga

He Leads Us

Master poet shows us how
to push the poetic plow
and compose tomes in the now.
Dave, please stand and take a bow.
                             ~~ Tinker

Note: ▼

Verse Form: The Tanaga   is a Filipino stanzaic form that was originally written in Tagolog which to my ear is one of the more musical of languages. (Kumusta ka? Mabuti salam at) The form dates back to the 16th century and has an oral tradition. The poems are not titled. Each is emotionally charged and asks a question that begs an answer. This form was found at Kaleidoscope.

The elements of the Tanaga are:
         1. stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains.
         2. syllabic, 7-7-7-7 syllables per line.
         3. rhymed, originally aaaa bbbb cccc etc., modern Tanagas also use aabb ccdd etc or abba cddc etc or any combination rhyme can be used.
         4. composed with the liberal use of metaphor.
         5. untitled. But in this poetic world we kind of have to title our poems for identity's sake.
"Form of the week: Tanaga"