Vardhaku: Earth

In a recent post, I mentioned the Promptly Written publication, as well as its writing challenges on Medium.

At the beginning of this year, Christine Graves, a member of the PW editorial team, asked us to write poems inspired by the following concept: "The first sunset after a winter freeze."

A wonderful prompt, don't you think? It was perfect for a vardhaku.

Earth

Bare trees

salute early new light;

the distance between shadows grows relentlessly,

releasing the trapped mistiness of bleak bygone days —

earth’s handwriting lives between land and sky too.

©2022 Cendrine Marrouat

What Is the Vardhaku?

The Vardhaku is a poetry form I co-invented with linguist and short story writer Justin Smith in 2021, as an invitation to reflect on one’s personal growth.

The Vardhaku is a portmanteau word consisting of the following elements:

• “vardha”, a Sanskrit word meaning ‘the act of increasing, giving increase or prosperity; augmenting; gladdening’ or ‘cutting, dividing’ (Source: Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary)
• “ku”, as in ‘haiku’

The Vardhaku is an expanding five-line poem divided into two parts: The first four lines describe a problem or situation, with the fifth line offering a positive / inspirational resolution. Title and punctuation are optional.

Using a combination of syllables and words, the Vardhaku mainly focuses on conciseness to deliver an impactful message to the reader. It must be composed in one of the following formats:

• 1, 3, 5, 7 words (lines 1–4) / 10 syllables (line 5)
• 1, 3, 5, 7 syllables (lines 1–4) / 10 words (line 5)
• 2, 4, 6, 8 words (lines 1–4) / 11 syllables (line 5)
• 2, 4, 6, 8 syllables (lines 1–4) / 11 words (line 5)

That's it for today!

Thank you for reading! Feel free to share your thoughts about this article with me on Twitter. I'm @haiku_shack.

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