Tonight at dVerse Lisa challenges us to play ‘The Opposite Game’ and Flip the Meanings of poems.
I chose to create a poem using the Diamante form which goes as follows:
Line 1: Noun or subject Line 2: Two Adjectives describing the first noun/subject Line 3: Three -ing words describing the first noun/subject Line 4: Four words: two about the first noun/subject, two about the antonym/synonym Line 5: Three -ing words about the antonym/synonym Line 6: Two adjectives describing the antonym/synonym Line 7: Antonym/synonym for the subject
As its name suggests, a Diamante forms a diamond shape when done.
We rise now in this fateful hour Once in thorns, now is nimbus crowned For He is risen, the blood has power
Knelt in prayers and tears dour Those of us who are still earthbound We rise now in this fateful hour
Some stare in awe, others cower None can deny, the sight astounds For He is risen, the blood has power
From our knees we grow and flower New grains to sprout up from the ground We rise now in this fateful hour
On this third day to now shower A faith anew with life is found For He is risen, the blood has power
We cling to the Almighty bower Spread The Word with joyous sound We rise now in this fateful hour For He is risen, the blood has power
National Poetry Month for 2021 Day 4
And today Easter Sunday I offer a Lenten poem in the form of a Villanelle.
The Villanelle is a poetic form composed of nineteen lines. These are arranged as five tercets (three-line stanzas) followed by a quatrain (four-line stanza).
There is no established meter to the villanelle – modern villanelles tend to pentameter, while early villanelles used trimeter or tetrameter.
The most striking thing about a villanelle is that it has two refrains (“A1” and “A2”) and two repeating rhymes (“a” and “b”). The first and third line of the opening tercet are repeated alternately as the refrains, until the last stanza, which includes both refrains.
With this, the pattern of the villanelle can be illustrated as as
A1bA2 abA1 abA2 abA1 abA2 abA1A2
where “a” and “b” are the two rhymes, and the upper case letters (“A1” and “A2”) indicate the refrains.
All that I need is time
To smooth these nipped edges
How much more can I take
I’m living a nightmare
While standing here awake
All that I need is time
To help me muddle through
These dreams of yesterday
Like popsicles in sun
They come then melt away
All that I need is time
You're still very much here
Not like I have much choice
Each breeze ignites your touch
As the wind holds your voice
All that I need is time
Just take it day by day
Small comforts slowly grow
Nothing lasts forever
This urgent pain will go
The Monchielle is a poem that consists of four five-line stanzas where the first line repeats in each verse. Each line within the stanzas consist of six syllables, and lines three and five rhyme.
Spring came with a quickening Belies frost from days ago The verdant grass thickening Wraps this love in rays aglow
Summer raised up paradise Ablaze in tender poses Focus on the edelweiss Blinds this love’s thorns in roses
Autumn felt the forbidden Narrowed eyes that look away From tears that come unbidden Cools this love gone so astray
Winter brought down Xanadu Once filled with hope so pleasing In apathy’s residue Leaves this love interred, freezing
National Poetry Month for 2021 Day 2
Has me trying a brand new form (for me): Ae Freislighe Poems
The Ae Freislighe is an old poetic form from Ireland. It has a quatrain stanzas (4-line stanzas) of only 7 syllables per line. What makes is interesting (and somewhat frustrating) is its rhyme scheme.
Lines 1 and 3 rhyme together, but they rhyme as three syllables (xxa)
Lines 2 and 4 rhyme together as two syllables (xb)
A unique element of the form is that the final syllable of the poem should be the same rhyme as the very first syllable of the poem.
An Ae Freislighe poem can be as concise as one stanza, or scale out as far as a poet wishes.
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 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.
