Twelve By Five

ARTICLE THE 3RD
1308.10


When I was in elementary school, there were a couple of times when we spent a day or two on haiku.  I hated it.  Not so much the poetry form itself, but because my teachers had us all try our hands at writing our own haiku.  At the time, I just couldn't make anything fit the three lines, 17 syllables, and the 5-7-5 pattern.  And let's not mention the little fact that I had just as much difficulty coming up with a subject that was suitable for a haiku.  (The aforementioned teachers were insisting that our haiku have something to do with nature.  I think I eventually wrote one about magnets.)

Fast forward about a dozen years.  By then, I was in college, and in one of my courses, we had something to do with haiku at one point.  (I'm not completely certain, but I think it must have been SAT121 -- Intro To Interpretation.)  I don't know what happened, but everything clicked into place this time.  I think it may have been that my professor told the class to write on whatever subject we chose.

This time around, I found myself able to juggle syllables in my head.  It's something that has stuck with me, and I occasionally find myself committing acts of poetry in the strangest places.

Such is the case in the following haiku submitted for your approval.  I was on my bike, and I was musing on related matters when I realized that I had five-syllable word.  Could I use it in a haiku?  After a few minutes, I learned that the answer was yes.


TWELVE BY FIVE


Platonic solid,
Twelve pentagonal faces,
Dodecahedron.


-jc-


Copyright © 2013 Johnny Carruthers