PlanetCatfish.com

For reasons too long to explain I've been trying my hand at this. The first one is by my boss, the second is mine and the final one is from Clare, my wife.

General:
Creature of shadows
Wrenched from its dark warm home
Splashes in my net.

African Catfish:
Dark is its warm home
Dim underwater shadow
Splashing us all

North American catfish:
Sleek fish elusive
Winters safe in quiet pools
Dark water provides

Are there any others out there familiar with this form of poetry who care to try their hand?

Jools

I've written a fair bit of Catfish Yahtzee haiku to send on postcards to my sister. Next time I'll post some. To make sense of it, it helps if you both keep catfish and play Yahtzee. I'd love to have a wider audience for my specialised poetic genre.

Sleek spotted syno's
trick cichlids in taking care
of spiny spotted fry

...can somebody clear me up how this type of poetry works...

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
but the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Haiku!"

With apologies to poets everywhere, it basically works like this.

There poem should contain 17 syllables. No more, no less. This is arranged in a 5 - 7 - 5 strcuture.

A good one should contain a word alluding to the season / time of year or if you're really getting carried away, age.

A really good one should have a pivot word which I haven't got the hang of yet.

Needless to say this skill is in doing all this within the boundaries of your own language while actually encapsualting something meaningful (or at least worth repeating) in the poem structue.

Jools

Couldn't have said it better. How about:

Autumn driftwood--my
Trachelyopterichthys.
Snow on Mount Fuji!

Probably all wrong!!

Searching in the cold
Anticipation is high
That cat I might find

Chrysichthys wrote:Autumn driftwood--my
Trachelyopterichthys.
Snow on Mount Fuji!

Do you normally have snow in Autumn? Maybe you do. I like using Trachelyopterichthys but is it 7 syllables. I only count 6, could be wrong mind you.

Dave Rinaldo wrote:Searching in winter
Anticipation is high
That cat I might find

The word used for the season etc can really be quite subtle. "Searching in the cold" might be nicer. The word high is an excellent pivot word in this haiku.

Jools

To all my Hypancistrus zebras:

Delicate beauty
Lying lazy in warm water
watching days pass by.

Jools wrote:I like using Trachelyopterichthys but is it 7 syllables. I only count 6, could be wrong mind you.

Well, I count seven, but who knows how it's pronounced. Is it a good pivot word?

State of sorrow. That
March morn my new Wallago
Ate all my neons!

Saara wrote:To all my Hypancistrus zebras:

Delicate beauty
Lying lazy in warm water
watching days pass by.

Nice Haiku, but I'm not sure how much of the day going by a zebra can see 10 metres down!

Jools

The pivot word is a link word between lines and should also have a double meaning. The problem is that Japanese is much richer in double meanings than English so its harder for us.

Japanese syllables also convey more meaning than an English syllable so cramming it all into the 17 allowed is tough.

By the way, the season word can also a metaphor for the stages of our lives.

Jools

Jools wrote:Nice Haiku, but I'm not sure how much of the day going by a zebra can see 10 metres down!

But when he is in my tank... Anyway, I didn't mean it quite so concretely... but the next one is a very concrete haiku about my Baryancistrus sp. LDA 33:

My mighty catfish
chased away other plecos.
Prize: nice zucchini.

I couldn't be bothered to think about any pivot words, references to states of life or seasons, sorry...

Saara

Ancistrus spawning!
A wintry quest through Sendai
For a camera.

Jools, is this how a pivot word would work: Spawning. Refers to youth. Links up with wintry on the next line. Winter equivalent to old age, in contrast. Or something like that.

Well, I couldn't resist... here goes...

Water's edge... look down...
Catfish's trails in the mud.
Gone soon, like the day.

Open catfish mouth
Pressed against the glass. Gaze in...
And see Nature's heart.

Spring water comes forth.
Catfish springs for dragonfly.
Winter yields to Spring.

Irate catfish, fins
Outstretched in indignation.
I smooth my own hair.

Winter roots exposed
At frigid bayou's edges.
Old Cat stays deep, safe.

Whaddya think?
Did I count right?

well, okay... shoulda been "catfish trails in mud", for starters......*sigh*

woops... nevermind... unfounded haiku anixety!!!!

not really the poetic type, but I fell this conveys my mood:

want some pictus cats
wife won't let me
poo!

probably not correct, but conveys my mood

cheers

Gladness! A visit
By Takashi Amano,
Much my elder. Tea.

My tank is not his
'Garden of Forgetfulness.'
(I hid my Sailfin!)

Embarrassment. My
Giraffe catfish had dug up
All my Cryptocorynes!

Not its fault, but my
Hemibagrus nemurus
Loves 'Amano shrimps.'

Tanganyikan cat
Hiding in the holey rock
Lophiobagrus

Feathers on whiskers
Big eyes watching everything
Shy Phyllonemus

Quest for the deep fish
Chrysichthys sianenna
Where can I buy one?

Sid

Can we do catfish limericks instead, Jools?

See http://vtvt.essortment.com/limerickpoetry_nug.htm for an explanation!

Something like:

There was a young catty from Niger,
Got eaten by shovelnose tiger...
Said keeper was dope,
For not going biotope
...

Can someone complete the last line for me?

Dinyar

But he certainly now is the wiser.

Nice finish, Chrys! I like that!

Dinyar

Here comes my attempt:

Strange as it may seem,
a Tunze Turbelle Stream
is rushing and bubbling
and Corys are swimming
against that powerful stream.

Hopefully this is what you meant, Dinyar. The pattern is A A B B A, as I think it is supposed to be. I might want to change some words to something similar but more suitable.

There once was a fry bottom-feeder,
In appetite, he was the leader.
When asked why he gorged
This answer he forged:
"To become a mature bottom BREEDER!"

Strictly speaking, all limericks must be ribald, if not obscene. Do we want this kind of thing in a family forum?....

There once was a pleco named Jim
Who (it must be said) was quite dim.
He couldn't eat algae (a
Sign of neuralgia)
And once tried to mate with a pim.

Returning to catfish haiku:


Ten million tons of
Catfish pellets, dropped in
The volcano Unzen.

Producing the huge
Algae wafers--half of the
Gross National Product!

One whole quarter of
Hokkaido, ploughed under and
Sown with cucumber.


Try this search on http://www.google.com: Japan Japanese catfish catfishes earthquake earthquakes

Any ideas as to what species the mythical beast is? Maybe an Acanthicus adonis which outgrew its tank?

I think it may be refering to silurus asotus.

Definitely <i>Silurus asotus</i>.
The legendary catfish was known as Namazu, the vernacular name still used by the Japanese for <i>S. asotus</i>.
Easily identifiable too, from the numerous netsuke (small, intricate carvings) that exist of Namazu.