A small challenge for the syllablically inclined

I have failed to get people to write sestinas in the past, but here are some much shorter poem challenges for you:

http://www.everydaypoets.com/call-for-submissions-japanese-short-form-poetry/

They are looking for English language haiku, tanka and haibun. Counting syllables is always fun - if you're an English teacher get your class writing. If you're an English student, tell your teacher.

I might even have a go myself, having spectacularly failed to write a poem a day during April for NaPoWriMo (http://www.napowrimo.net/)...

Ah well, back to marking.

Sharing the knowledge

Courtesy of Rowan's mum, an awesome piece of information (and off the top of her head, something which my teacher trainees might refer to as 'mad skills' (they're so hip and down with the kids)):

Wezand in Shakespeare is from the Middle English wesand, and before that the OldEnglish wǣsend, and means "throat" or "gullet", and Spenser called it a "weasand-pipe".

Fab.