Sixku 1

The Sixku is a poetry form that I invented in 2019.

Sixku (pronounce ‘sis-ku’) are six-word, untitled poems based on the Haiku. Each piece must be inspired by and contain a photograph and include a reference (even implicit) to nature. For example: season, weather, month, time of the day, etc.

Three mandatory lines:

• Line 1 = idea 1 (one or two word(s))
• Line 2 = idea 2 (two or three words)
• Line 3 = twist, surprise (remaining words)

A seventh word is acceptable, only if it is an article or preposition (e.g. ‘a’, ‘the’, ‘up’, ‘down’…). Do not abuse this exception, though. 😉

Complete sentences and punctuation are optional and the use of the past tense is allowed.

Here is an example of Sixku below:

Stately mountains

within reflection

look troubled.

© 2019 Cendrine Marrouat

Listen to the audio-ku:

Interested in giving the Sixku a try? Check out the tutorial below:

Thank you for reading!

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Cendrine Marrouat is a writer, photographer, podcaster, blogger, anthology editor, and the co-founder of Auroras & Blossoms and A Warm Cup of Cozy. She has authored and co-authored more than 40 books, including The Train: A Short Story (2023), In Her Own Words: A Collection of Short Stories & Flashku (2022), After the Fires of Day: Haiku Inspired by Kahlil Gibran & Alphonse de Lamartine (2021), Rhythm Flourishing: A Collection of Kindku and Sixku (2020), Walks: A Collection of Haiku (2019-2020), and In the Silence of Words: A Three-Act Play (2018).

Cendrine's work has appeared in many publications. She is the creator of the Sixku, Flashku, Sepigram, and Reminigram; as well as the co-creator of the Kindku, Pareiku, Vardhaku, and Hemingku.