The Fib and Cadae (short poetry forms)

It appears that new forms pop up all of the time now. In response to the great power of the Haiku many American writers have generated new modern terse forms. This has led to the Cinquain and the Pinoy inspired haiku form the hay (na) ku.

Seeing the relationship between proportion and beauty there are two form that have been inspired by mathematical equations, the Fib and Cadae.

The following is from wikipedia.

Fib is an experimental Western poetry form bearing similarities to haiku[1], but based on the Fibonacci sequence. The classic fib is a six line, 20 syllable poem, with as many syllables per line as the line's corresponding place in the Fibonacci sequence.[2] The only restriction on a Fib is that the syllable count follow the Fibonacci sequence. An example of a classic fib:

“ One
Small,
Precise,
Poetic,
Spiraling mixture:
Math plus poetry yields the Fib.
„
— Pincus, Gregory K. , GottaBook: The Fib. Retrieved on 28 July 2006

Cadae is an experimental Western poetry form similar to the Fib. While the Fib is based on the Fibonacci sequence, the cadae is based on the number Pi. The word "cadae" is the alphabetical equivalent of the first five digits of Pi, 3.1415.[1]

The form of a cadae is based on Pi on two levels. There are five stanzas, with 3, 1, 4, 1, and 5 lines each, respectively. Each line of the poem also contains an appropriate number of syllables. The first line has three syllables, the second has one, the third has four, etc


Both form lend their self to alot of experimentation and play.

The Haiku and Low Coup

One of the great things about terse poetic forms is that they help you sharpen your ability to choose powerful and appropriate words. This is a necessary skill in writing poetry. Making it part of your daily routine is a great practice for any aspiring writer.

For me one of the most beautiful terse forms is the haiku which on the surface appears simple; three lines, 17 syllables. In reality in the pure form it has 17 'sounds' and also has key seasonal words that need to be incorporated. There are whole dictionaries of these seasonal words. They are included in the text so that you know what season it is in the poem. For instance, by including cherry blossoms in the text one would know that it was spring.

Haiku is a form that has been adapted by many Black American poets, amongst them Langston Hughes, Sonia Sanchez and Richard Wright. One of the great masters though of this form no doubt is Kalamu ya Salaam. He has written a great overview of the African-American appropriation of the Haiku. All writers should definitely take time and check it out.

The Haiku is not a form that I have any great skill with at this point yet the insight given by Kalamus ya Salaam is great.

Any interpretation of the Haiku through the lens of Black America is by Amiri Baraka with his Low Coup which is a short, terse verse imposed on top of Black Folk Art.He actually wrote a whole book exploring the form. Definitely check it out. Something I want to explore for self in the future.