Calm
Peaceful
I slumber
In morning void
Of unneeded noise
Crash!
Rumble!
Thump! Bang! Boom!
That which man builds
Brings with it much sound
I
Wake to
Cacophony
Of construction
Morning peace now gone
I begin National Poetry Month for 2021 whinging in poem as this morning I was once again startled awake by the sounds of construction happening around my block before my alarm clock had the honors.
A nonce poem created by friend and fellow blogger, GirlGriot, an Arun is a fifteen-line poem in three sets of five lines. Each set of five lines follows the same syllable structure: starting with one syllable and increasing by one syllable with each line. 1/2/3/4/5 — 3x. There are no other rhyme or structural requirements.
Tonight on dVerse Mish challenges us to get our Quadrille all in a knot. With the added incentive of “I dare you to use pseudoknot.” Naturally, I had to take that dare head on.
This Flash Back Friday where I revisit and share a post from the past on this day brings us to a poem I originally penned in 2013, “The Life”. It was written using the glosa poetry form where you take a stanza from another poet and use their lines to create a poem of your own. [There is a little more to it and you can read the rules here if interested: how to write a Glosa.] It is one of my favorite forms to use as I enjoy creating works that go in a different path from the source material.
My poem was based from the opening verse of the song “Moon Over Bourbon Street“, by Gordon Sumner. If the title seems familiar to some, but not the author’s name; it is because most of the world knows him by his stage name: Sting. Yes, that Sting, as in Sting and The Police.
There’s a moon over Bourbon Street tonight I see faces as they pass beneath the pale lamplight I’ve no choice but to follow that call The bright lights, the people, and the moon and all Gordon Sumner (Sting) / Moon Over Bourbon Street
Everyone seems to be in easy mode The corner’s quiet on this autumn’s eve Despite the first cuts of winter’s cold It’s happy smiles folks give and receive Setting a mood that makes me bold And my protector has me in his sight On the off chance all is not as should be And he may have to come rescue me But I know everything’s going to be all right There’s a moon over Bourbon Street tonight
Casting a cool light on this patch of street I start to flirt with some and have my say But walking in the sun is a different deceit The base rules change in the light of day I’m not acknowledged by all whom I meet I know they know who I am, as they nod so polite Those men pretending they don’t know my name And the wives who avert their head just the same Knowing their husbands are just faces in my night I see faces as they pass beneath the pale lamplight
Yes, I’m paid for the need of my company And more often than not, paid quite well I aim to please after all you see But I remember when things weren’t so swell At the beginning of this life for me Like babies, before I could run, I had to crawl Now I choose just how my night is spent But the truth of lies lay evident When my pockets hold no cash at all I’ve no choice but to follow that call
For all the company I have I am still alone And I watch time shorten the length of my employ I was young when I started and now I’m grown I slowly prepare for when I’m past giving joy But tonight, tonight my love’s my own On nights like this I’m standing ten feet tall Pretending I’m just like any other in the park Out on the town for another evening’s lark Just another guy walking in the leaves of fall The bright lights, the people, and the moon and all
The story goes that the inspiration for the song was reading Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice. However, it was the haunting visual of a person walking alone at night under street lamps in the lyrics that took flight in my mind. This above poem was the result. No vampires in this night.
In yesterday’s slice I briefly mentioned how my being a little cheeky while on the phone is what made me memorable and saved me some grief when getting my first vaccination dose. When the guy I spoke to on the phone saw me in person, his expression was one I’ve seen often. The quickly hidden surprise that the intelligent and funny woman on the phone is one with purple hair, who wore a Sherlock Holmes tee-shirt, jeans and rainbow mandala printed combat boots, also had a melanin enriched complexion. While the back-handed assumption it conveys annoys me, I am also always amused at shaking that assumption on their part.
It made me happy to discover this particular piece is what came up as my Flashback Friday as it also shook an assumption. I remember the first time I posted this, I had taken a couple of the readers by surprise with the second to the last line. One reader admitted to having his preconceived stereotype of the storyteller’s gender ‘jolted’. I liked that. Did I catch you off guard with that reveal as well?
Tonight at dVerse Merrill has the feel of autumn and wants to be blankest in a quadrille, a poem of 44 words, excluding the title. It can be in any form, rhymed or unrhymed, metered, or unmetered and must include some form of the prompt word – blanket.
Tonight Linda tends bar at dVerse where on this day 58 years ago The Rolling Stones released “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and tonight happens to be Open Link Night.
For this week’s Lucky Dip, the mystery bag gives us a Tableau.
The Tableau, a poetry form created by Emily Romano in October of 2008, consists of one or more verses, each having six lines. Each line should have five beats. There is no set rhyme scheme, although rhyme may be present. The title should contain the word tableau.
For this week’s Lucky Dip, the mystery bag gives us a Tableau.
The Tableau, a poetry form created by Emily Romano in October of 2008, consists of one or more verses, each having six lines. Each line should have five beats. There is no set rhyme scheme, although rhyme may be present. The title should contain the word tableau.
One dictionary states the word tableau means picture or representation; the poem should reflect this. A picture should come to mind as the poem is read.
Muse challenges with the representation of nothingness. Nothing to see here, but you can picture it.
Shades reflective of my soul – my heart wonders in hues felt,
Charcoal through silver – yellows through purples.
Dawn or dusk does not matter – the seconds, minutes, the hours
In the colors of mourning – are no means to measure joy.
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At dVerse, Frank Tassone, our pubtender for today’s Meeting the Bar, challenges us to delve into aesthetics of Imagism, where less verbiage is employed to produce more imagery. We’re also encouraged to use Japanese or Sappho Greek lyric to accomplish such.
I chose an ancient form of Japanese poetry called Tanka and used it as a Super Tanka.
Tanka are 31-syllable poems. In Japan, it is usually written as a straight line of characters, but in English and other Western languages, it is usually divided into five lines, with a syllable count of 5-7-5-7-7.
The key to the Super Tanka form is that it is two Tanka side-by-side. Each can be read independently, yet must also work together as a whole, in effect creating three poems in one.
Suppressing a desire
For centuries commuted
Ferried about
Twixt the rage
And the frustration
Via the complication
Of our blackness unheard and unseen
Except through
Crosshairs white and blue
Until control held sage
With fury slips out
Only to be persecuted
For the fire
Tonight at dVerse Linda challenges us to write a Quadrille, is a poetic form created here at dVerse, a poem of exactly 44 words (not counting the title) and including this challenge’s prompt word: SLIP
