It's April, so the Blogging from AtoZ Challenge is in full swing. My theme is Watercolor and Words. This year I am painting a watercolor to go with each letter and composing a poem to accompany it with a type of poetry that starts with the letter of the day. I am mostly experimenting with the watercolors still, so don't expect perfection....
Clicking on the letter of the day will bring you to the main site which has links to get to other participants if you would like to go on an alphabetical adventure!
Oh, my goodness! I decided to try to paint an iguana for I... Why not? It came out better than I imagined. Not as well as I'd like, but better than I expected. I've never seen an iguana, so had to go exploring online to see what they looked like.
Then I had to search for some form of poem that begins with an I. There are not a lot of poem formats for the letter I, but I did find the Imayo.
It is a 4-line Japanese poem that has 12 syllables in each line. There is a caesura (or pause) between the first 7
syllables and the final 5 of each line.
The imayo was originally written to be sung, but that's not a requirement, so I won't be singing it today. Feel free to sing. Also, poets have free range on subject matter, which is handy because a love poem to an iguana would be difficult to write.
My Imayo to an Iguana
Iguana high above us – contemplating lunch
Leafy greens a camo screen – privacy to munch
Water far below you know – stage left exit plan
Predators won’t make the leap – they’d prefer you ran
By Donna JT Smith ©2025
I have nothing for J yet. I'm thinking jaguar. But a jack o'lantern would be easier, or a jar of jam. I guess I'll see how much energy I have for it.
Love the painting!! Looks just like the ones I've seen in Aruba!! They are very gentle, and your poem describes them perfectly.
ReplyDeleteI never knew there were so many types of poems. Thank you for the explanations,. This one seems like it would be a challenge, but you nailed it!!!
Jamie (jannghi.blogspot.com): Yet another form of poetry I did not know.
ReplyDeleteSo great! What a sly looking iguana.
ReplyDeleteI love iguanas and lizards - just please don't paint a spider for the letter 'S'.
ReplyDeleteDonna: Click for my 2025 A-Z Blog
That's a good painting!
ReplyDeleteI also love iguanas and lizard. I didn't use to, but then I had a son who loved them, and I adjusted then enjoyed having a lizard or two as pets. :) Lovely drawing and poem!
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