Kabuki Poems | Examples


List of Member Poems

Izumo No Okuni

Behind the mask,  
only truth gets told

Its covering sacred
—eyes behold

(Kabuki Theater: April, 1973)

All the World Is a Stage

you aren't 
a geisha

you can't
be kabuki

we can
perform

together
with our

expressful
masks of
wood

if you want
you should
just say noh

Premium Member Buttcracks and Bellybuttons

Buttcracks and Bellybuttons

Buttcracks and bellybuttons
little people doin’ nuthin’
diapers drooping in the sand
stickysandwiches in hand
seagulls diving for frenchfries
children shriek at seagulls cries
skittering of sidewayscrabs
avoiding pudgyfingeredgrabs
sunscreen slathered Kabuki face
performing in a surfdancechase
sand and seashells, roundwarmstones
sunsetbeachdreams carried home


John G. Lawless
©6/2/2017


Kabuki Bizarre - Haiku

Kabuki Bizarre – Haiku

Exaggerated
Long red gown flows wild like swans
Girl drinks tea and sings

Western Horizons

Incarcerated soul in ribcage of slaughtered  fate
Obsessive saw penetrates secret catacombs of meltdowns
Poetic seascape showing radiations of a human skull -
A cranial Kabuki Mask spreads uncertainty over the Pacific...

Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.

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