luc bat poetry form | Reflections on the Teche

Posts Tagged ‘luc bat poetry form’

This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Flower Girl

Posted in This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged flower girl, luc bat poetry form, This Photo Wants to be a Poem on May 1, 2024| 25 Comments »

One of my students brought a small photo album to school and shared with me this photo of her as a baby, probably between 18 months and 2 years old. She was a flower girl in a wedding. There are so many things to love about this photo. The facial expression, her rosy baby cheeks, and the celebration of love. So I took a photo of the photo, which doesn’t make for great quality, but you get the idea. May Day is a time for celebrating the warmth of spring and the blooming of flowers. (I do not have permission for the use of the photo.)

To honor the Asian tradition, I wrote a Luc Bat. The syllable count is 6, 8 (luc bat translates to six, eight) and in the 8 syllable line, the 6th syllable rhymes. There is no limit to the number of lines, but it typically ends on the 8 syllable line.

Our song begins with praise
fills temple as we raise our one
voice. Flower-scented hands
held together by bands of love.
Margaret Simon, draft

Please respond to this photo with a small poem in the comments. Encourage other writers with your comments.

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Poetry Friday: Luc Bat Inklings Challenge

Posted in Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged Ethical ELA, Inklings, luc bat poetry form on December 1, 2023| 19 Comments »

The Poetry Friday Roundup is with Anastasia Suen

The first day of December is here and it is raining, raining, raining. We’ve gone months without rain, so I guess it’s catch up time to meet our rainfall for the year. But I’m not happy about it.

Back in October I learned a new poem form, the luc bat, Vietnamese for six-eight. Wendy Everard posted a prompt on Ethical ELA. The form is quite easy in that each line alternates between 6 and 8 syllables. It’s free with no limit on the number of lines. However, there’s this twist of rhyme. The last syllable of the line of 6 becomes the rhyme for the 6th syllable in the line of 8. Then the word at the end of 8 becomes the next rhyme for 6:

xxxxxA
xxxxxAxB
xxxxxB
xxxxxBxC

Molly Hogan challenged the Inklings to write a luc bat for our December challenge. I’ve written a few of them now and I love how the internal rhyming is both challenging and satisfying.

I wrote a short luc bat for this week’s This Photo Wants to be a Poem. I also tried the form on a previous Photo post here: Ancient Door.

Today I am posting the poem I wrote in response to Wendy’s prompt. I used one of her lines to get started. This poem reflects on the process my husband and I went through during my illness this past summer. We’ve made it through and are stronger together for our resilience. “In sickness” is one of the hard places in a marriage.

When leaving words unsaid,
our shared trauma wed and silent,
fears become resilient.
Illness causes consistent stress,
silence under duress.
Feelings close off, repress our love.
Searching within, whereof
words we can speak with love to heal.
Find our way back to real and us.
Margaret Simon, with a line by Wendy Everard

If you want to read more amazing responses to this form, here are the links to my Inkling friends.

Linda Mitchell
Molly Hogan
Heidi Mordhorst
MaryLee Hahn
Catherine Flynn

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Perspective Moon

Posted in This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged #poemsofpresence, #smallpoems, luc bat poetry form, moon poems, This Photo Wants to be a Poem on November 29, 2023| 44 Comments »

Leigh Anne Eck has been naming moons. I was taken by this photo she posted and her commentary about it:

I have been naming skies for a few months now. Typically I capture the morning sky on my way to school. Tonight I captured this one on my way home from a basketball game.

I have named it “perspective.” Sometimes when we look at something from another perspective, our eyes and hearts become open to new possibilities! I hope you see something with new eyes this week!
Leigh Anne (Facebook post)

When I was walking in the early morning on Tuesday, the sky was a deep blue with the moon glowing its heart out before the sunrise. We are often mused by the moon, I know, but I hope you will write another time and another about this mysterious and magical being. Leave a small poem in the comments and write encouraging words for other writers. Your vulnerability is safe here.

I’ve been listening to The Book of Common Courage by K. J. Ramsey. She writes poems and prayers as she is going through a healing journey. I loved the term “holy margins” and borrowed it here to write a luc bat short verse.

Sometimes clouds bloom above
clouding the image of your light.
An orb of love this night
you fold in my tears, tight and true
with holy margins blue.
Margaret Simon, draft

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Ancient Door

Posted in Photography, Poetry, Spiritual Growth, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged #poemsofpresence, #smallpoems, Jefferson Island, luc bat poetry form, Rip Van WInkle Gardens on November 8, 2023| 16 Comments »

Garden Door, by Margaret Simon (located on Jefferson Island, Rip Van Winkle Gardens)

Last Saturday I attended a silent retreat at Jefferson Island. I wrote about the retreat here. This photo is an ancient doorway to nowhere. It is set in the gardens near an old wishing well. There is not much need for context today. Meander in your mind and find this doorway. Where does it lead you? Is it a place of rest? Is it a challenge to pass through? Is it guarded, or left open?

I recently came upon a new to me form called a luc bat.

The luc bat is a Vietnamese poetic form that means “six-eight.” In fact, the poem consists of alternating lines of six and eight syllables. This poem is interesting in its rhyme scheme that renews at the end of every eight-syllable line and rhymes on the sixth syllable of both lines. You can find a graphic on the Writer’s Digest. My own model draft took longer than usual to write. Rhymezone is my friend.

Retreat Door

Today I release need–
Unmet purpose to feed my worth.
This ancient door will birth
new sight into our earth’s strong care.
Inner eyes long to share
wisdom carried from there to here.
Look in my new seer,
a vision that is clear and pure.
Margaret Simon, draft

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