Chickadee Is First (Gogyohka but a titled one)

An empty feeder

is a lonely place it's true.

Eager beaks await

the man who fills with new seed.

Chips and chirps and calls

explode from the trees and ground. 

He's finally done!

But Chickadees come back first.

They will always come back first.

A Phish Tale (comparing syllabic vs phonemic counts in English versions of Japanese poem forms)

Disclaimer: I am not an expert in this or poetry in general. I just ponder and play a lot.

I was reading some of Enta Kasakabe's book on the Gogyohka 5-Line poetry form that he defined in 1983.  He, like others before him, was describing the difference between Japanese sound units, used in forms like Haiku and Tanka, and Engling syllables. That got me wondering if English Phonemes would be a closer match. I thought I'd give it a try. Phonemic counting instead of syllables is more difficult but shorter which is both good and bad I guess. Here is a Haiku done both ways.

Phonemic  

The phish

hook's set

No cash

The phonemic breakdown is as follows.

Th/e ph/i/sh

h/oo/k/'s s/e/t

N/o c/a/sh

Syllabic  

The phish took the bait

The scammer's hook has been set

No cash left for phish.

The syllabic breakdown is as follows.

The/ phish/ took/ the/ bait/

The/ scam/mer's/ hook/ has/ been/ set/

No/ cash/ left/ for/ phish/.