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Sunday, February 17, 2008

Cribbage and the Sherku...

First of all, what the heck is a sherku? The explanation can be found at Steve Sherlock's blog on poetry (link below). But the short answer is written in sherku format, which I quote here:

seventeen is not enough but
two more makes nineteen
still an impossible goal


After you read more below you will see that there should be 19 sylables... I count 20 in the sherku explaining what a sherku is. Perhaps this is irony... if so I find it funny... if not; bewildering. Read on...

From Quiet Poet:

"The initial answer is:
Well, it is somewhat "tongue in cheek" but very much like haiku. It differs in that is my spin on creation. I add my "2 cents worth" to it. I follow the standard form and convention somewhat and deviate as necessary.

For example, while convention calls for 17 syllables, I prefer to recommend 19.
Why 19?
Well, 17 is confining, 19 provides more (recall 2 cents). 19 is also a number from a card game called "Cribbage" where 19 is an impossible score to achieve.

Trying to condense a feeling, an image to some number (19 in this case) is an impossible task (recall Cribbage score) to try but try we must."


Full post


So, here is my own attempt at a cribbage sherku. Forgive my desire to always rhyme... it's my plebian need for gaudiness:

If cribbage is poetry,
pegging is rhyme,
19 morphs from nil to sublime


Cool. I'm a poet and didn't realize.
:o)

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