Category Archives: Meeting the Bar

So Cold

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7

Oh so cold | my soul breaks

Your sweet warming touch | slick shards that shatter though my heart

Now fills with trepidation | the shrapnel of all your lies

Where it was once welcomed most fondly | leaves me with harsh truths

Breaks my soul | oh so cold

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The “Tonequain” is a poetic form created invented by Tony Meade. It is based on the classic cinquain form, then breaks it by adding an extra syllable to each line, giving a five-line poem with lines of 3, 5, 7, 9 and 3 syllables in that order. In addition where the classic has strict use of iambs, because of the odd number of syllables you cannot write an iambic poem in this form (you could try writing in dactyls, amphibrachs and/or anapaests if you want). You are free from of the iambic tyranny!

You can reverse the order of the lines, write a two stanza poem where the form of the stanzas mirror each other, or you could write a garland or even a coronet.

I had a little fun here where I wrote two Tonequains side by side. The first in 3, 5, 7, 9, 3 syllable order, the second in reverse with a 3, 9, 7, 5, 3 order. Each a Tonequin on its own, together creating a Super Tone if you will.

Enjoy

dVerse ~ Poets Pub | Meeting The Bar : The Cinquain … Expanded

Luna

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23

woman_in_the_moon

Loquacious as stone she

Looks soft to the lonely

Listens to deep confides

Lifted in to the night

Likens their tears to tides

Lingering in the heart

Lost where to end or start

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Today at dVerse our host for this week, Vandana, asks us to create a Pleiades poem.

A Pleiades, invented in 1999, consists of seven lines of six syllables; each line starting with the same letter as the title. The title is a single word.

And as further challenge, our poem should reference to a celestial body in honor of the form inspired from a heavenly object.

dVerse ~Poets Pub | Meeting The Bar: Pleiades

Winter Is Soon

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10

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In summer’s time I think of you
In summer’s time I think of you
I know your touch is soon to come
I know your touch is soon to come
I think summer’s come to know of you
Your touch in time is soon

Foreign and yet familiar, I feel the thoughts break in
Foreign and yet familiar, I feel the thoughts break in
Still I do not wish to give them form
Still I do not wish to give them form
And the familiar thoughts I feel break the wish
I, in foreign form, still do not give to them yet

Drifting, they skip and tumble my soul
Drifting, they skip and tumble my soul
A piercing fall of chills in the midst of Sol’s sultry hold
A piercing fall of chills in the midst of Sol’s sultry hold
Drifting of sultry Sol’s hold, they skip, tumble,
And chills a piercing fall in the midst of my soul

I do know I feel Sol’s familiar touch
Yet foreign thoughts come drifting
And break my wish to not think of you
They skip the fall time and give to them form
Still in the midst of summer’s sultry hold
A tumble of piercing chills is soon in my soul

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Because when it comes to forms I am a masochist and Brian over at dVerse finds one of the most convoluted ones out there for us to take a whack at.

Welcome to the Paradelle

Invented by Billy Collins as a parody to the strict structure of most form poetry, the paradelle is a 4-stanza poem, where each stanza consists of 6 lines.

For the first 3 stanzas, the 1st and 2nd lines should be the same; the 3rd and 4th lines should also be the same; and the 5th and 6th lines should be composed of all the words from the 1st and 3rd lines and only the words from the 1st and 3rd lines.

The final stanza should be composed of all the words in the 5th and 6th lines of the first three stanzas and only the words from the 5th and 6th lines of the first three stanzas.

Thanks Billy, and Brian, this was fun! <– SARCASM

dVerse ~ Poets Pub : MeetingTheBar ~ FormForAll: Paradelles (i have obviously lost my mind)

One Chance

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I watch her walk away
Admire her hips’ swing
The heat of her strong gait
The clink of her bracelets
Her back solid and straight

I watch her walk away
Her dress I guess is silk
It melts like second skin
Then vales in gentle folds
Accents all held within

I watch her walk away
Her looks water my knees
There’s one chance left to take
“Miss Wait!” I want to yell
Instead hear my heart break

I watch her walk away
And do not say a word
Inside I start to cry
Too shy to say hello
I’ve sealed the deal goodbye

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My take on the dVerse prompt on when words fail…

dVerse ~ Poets Pub  | MeetingTheBar ~ When Words Fail

At a Slant

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23

I do not understand this slant
The course of which to rhyme
For my natural flow of banter
Escapes its rhythm binds

Is it on consonant or vowels
In which diction should rule?
Syllable counts have me scowling
In fret of lines I’ll misconstrue

Erato and I scratch our heads
And ask a boon of Calliope
For even Euterpe deeds
This may better suit Melpomene

Above lined paper my pen pauses
To wit my brain cells are not bent
I’m feeling like a poetic pauper
No, I do not understand this slant

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So at dVerse Poets Pub, Karin/Manicdaily has us using slant rhyme in poetry. Well, others are using, I’m weakly attempting, as I cannot seem to grasp my cranium around the concept. Still, The Little Engine That Could in me never says die. So as I’m wont to do when I don’t get it – I had some fun with it instead and hopefully my frustration becomes your enjoyment.

dVerse ~ Poets Pub | Meeting the Bar at a Slant

To Know That Kind

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7

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I watch the moon so cold and pale
As to the dawn it starts to vale
Its glow reflecting in the dew
I can’t decide what plight is worst
In sun or moon should a heart burst?
As I recall the warmth of you

Your inner hue, not just your touch
‘Tis such and I miss it much
The deep rumbled “je t’adore”
When without fear your soul sprang free
And laid its care in none but me
And how it blessed me to my core

In these times sore I question so
To know that kind of love once more

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At dVerse we asked to do a sonnet.  I decided to give a go at one of the much lessen known Jeffreys Sonnet.

A Jeffreys Sonnet was created by Scott J. Alcorn. It is isosyllabic (only 8 syllable per line), 2 sestets with a cross rhymed couplet (the cross rhyme is in the 2nd to 4th syllable in each of the two lines of the couplet). Also there is a cross rhyme in the first line of the 2nd sestet (between the 2nd to 4th syllable), tying the 1st sestet to the 2nd. So the rhyme scheme would be: aabccb, (b)ddeffe, (e)g (g)e. The letters in ( ) are the cross rhymes.

dVerse ~ Poets Pub | Meeting the Bar ~ Rhyme and Sonnets

I Offer

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5

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I offer unto you these hands

Their hold is strong, but never tight

I offer unto you these arms

To keep you close both day and night

I offer unto you this heart

The broken shards that you made whole

I offer unto you this grace

That you complete body and soul

And all I ask of you is this;

To answer ‘Yes’ with one sweet kiss

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National Poetry Month – 2014-4

Breaking the rules using a rhyming Sonnetina Uno while Meeting the Bar at dVerse.

dVerse ~ Poets Pub | MeetingTheBar– Emotion in poetry

For You Know…

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28

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We embark upon this life
Go through the stress and strife;
We fall in queue for our brief time here
For no matter how long we last,
It won’t be as long as our past
And it’s all but a token homage my dear

For this gem of a love
Above all others love
Yet we know nothing’s perfect and only God is truly divine
Some say love is just a sell
That heaven is as well
But I know both are real when your hand is holding mine

For you know, I give all of my love to you
From now until our time on earth is through
Because I know you give all of your love to me
And that’s all there ever needs to be
That’s all there ever needs to be

Some days are just hell for us,
Some days all we do is fuss
Some days we cook, other days we freeze
Some days we can’t do without
Some days all we do is pout
Some days we’re brought right down to our knees

Some in big mansions live,
Some inside hovels give
Their all in all to get through the day
Some love’s an orchard to share
Some love’s a cupboard bare
But our love’s beyond what mere words can say

For you know, I give all of my love to you
From now until our time on earth is through
And I know you give all of your love to me
And that’s all there ever needs to be
That’s all there ever needs to be

What I believe is this
We’re touched with heaven’s bliss
Living day by day in this Fool’s Paradise
This love’s where we live and die
This love between you I
At the end of day that’s enough to suffice

Sometimes it’s a slippery slope
Sometimes we can barely cope
But to know these joys we’ll risk pain’s chance
Day by day we grow old,
Others rust, we stay gold
Two left footed steppers in an intricate dance

For you know, I give all of my love to you
From now until our time on earth is through
For I know you give all of your love to me
And that’s all there ever needs to be
That’s all there ever needs to be

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dVerse ~ Poets Pub  | Meeting The Bar : Songwriting and its Relationship to Poetry

But You Hear Me

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14

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I can type in a cadence,
While I write some prose
Yet it is seen all in print or pixels,
What voice is given those?

I’m New York City born and raised,
Yet by southern women bred,
But rarely either of those things known
The first time my words are read

You don’t hear the rapid staccato
Of my native Harlem streets
Or when it’s breathy and drawled
Like a Carolina belle so sweet

But yet you hear me

No, my voice is then a rolling brogue
Or a clipped Queen’s English call
Or Any language that wants to be dVerse
Wait, do you know any Klingon at all?

Because for all my written verbiage
There is one major limitation
My voice is solely in province
Of you, the reader’s imagination

This when anger ravages, my throat’s rawness is real
When heartache tears my soul asunder, I choke then
Stillness brings my silence, while silliness peals laughter
And you know this, though not one word is spoken

Ah, but yet you hear me

Yes, you hear me

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dVerse ~ Poets Pub | Meeting The Bar ~ Hearth, Home and Common Speech

I’ve Been Here Before

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10

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I ride the dusk
Streaking across the infinite horizon
Clouds tinted in lines rubicund and indigo guide me
Into the deep, into the dark, the eventide of my heart
I don’t fret, I’ve been here before

I know this darkness, know it well
When it consumed more than the rays of daylight
When it consumed my hopes and dreams
When it consumed me
And then regurgitated
An empty shell back into the world

But this? This dark is different
I don’t fret, I’ve been here before

This time I am the consumer,
I enter into this willingly, knowingly
That this blackness has an end
That this blackness is indeed finite
That there is an other side

I don’t fret, I’ve been here before
The erstwhile hollowness
Restocking itself to whole
Into the dawn, into the sunrise, the reemergence of my soul
Horizon tinted in lines tawny and cerulean guide me
I disembark as dawn streaks across the infinite horizon

My trip done, my voyage beginning
I don’t fret…

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dVerse ~ Poets Pub | Meeting The Bar – The Beat Poets and their Poetry