I am feeling like my newsletter titles are getting out of control and I'm very interested to see where they go. In other words, hello. Howdy. Hey. Hi. Bonjour. Happy Wednesday! Today we gon get our math and poetry on. Like, not too much but let's do a little exercise for fun. As usual I'll keep it brief here and do a subscriber post going into detail at some point. Also let's keep these newsletter strictly text because that seems really weird and I dig it.

Random line break. Okay, so we're going to be writing… (insert drum solo gif here) SIJO POETRY!! I know some of you are all like, WTF is Sijo poetry?! But fear not I am here to help guide you. As always, I'm going to do a dumbed down version because I am assuming not everybody has the time to be worrying about every little rule. In its most simple of form, Sijo poetry is a three lined form with 14-16 syllables per line. Typically, the first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five and they are mostly written on spiritual or romantic theme. However, don't worry too much about all that just write a three lined poem with 14-16 syllables on any topic and have fun.

Here are two examples that aren't mine and one example that is.

The first one is by Hwang Chin-i from the 1500s.

Oh that I might capture the essence of this deep midwinter night

And fold it softly into the waft of a spring-moon quilt

Then fondly uncoil it the night my beloved returns.

And this one is Yun Seon Do from the same period:

You ask how many friends I have? Water and stone, bamboo and pine

The moon rising over the eastern hill is a joyful comrade.

Besides these five companions, what other pleasure should I ask?

And then one from me which is pretty modern day, it was written in the era of this morning.

What we define as victory determines happiness.

For we woke up this morning and merely called it morning.

Instead of buckling under the weight of our gold medals.

I ignored everything but the three lines and syllable count but if you do want to delve deeper, I'll put something up soon. As for today, all that's left is a 3x3. Let's get lovey dovey. I think I read too much old school poetry and it came out all mysterious and a very traditonal poetic language.

Labelled our love

‘only in fairytales’.

Defined this, impossible.

Have the best of Wednesdays Substackers. See you tomorrow with my YouTube set and some in depth dive into Sijo poetry. Love y'all.

Ash.