Voodoo
Snake
eyes
watch me
from afar,
this voodoo magic
courses strongly through my blood stream,
my soul vibrates with the distant beating of their drums,
dancing in a state of possession and opiate, come Papa Legba, come unto me.
Printable View
Voodoo
Snake
eyes
watch me
from afar,
this voodoo magic
courses strongly through my blood stream,
my soul vibrates with the distant beating of their drums,
dancing in a state of possession and opiate, come Papa Legba, come unto me.
Deadline in less than a week.
A Week Away
One
by
one the
blue mornings
come, each clutch of five
and trailing pair like trippers on
the promenade. Kids run ahead, grasping their pennies,
while mum and dad breath seaside air and send a card to
remind themselves of who they’ll be
should they be spared. The
post's on time,
but no
one's
there...
Veinte Poemas de Amor
Oh!
Live,
If not
For someone,
For the book lying
On the old table unopened,
On the same table where you will write your last letter
About things that make you sad, about things you hate, about ugly things not in that book.
cacian: A unique take on the form.
Pendragon: I love how you expanded it into several stanzas, it helped the overall flow. Your thoughts were very well explained.
Dark Muse: Stunning and dark, very beautiful.
MarkBastable: I like your simple rural style.
miyako73: Very beautiful. Loved the last line.
This was a difficult form and there were many excellent entries, but the winner I have chosen is Pendragon. Congrats.
Congrats Pendragon
Thank you moonbird and congratulations Pendragon!
Thank you one and all! Next form is:
Rondeau
A lyrical poem of French origin having 10 or 13 lines with two rhymes and with the opening phrase repeated twice as the refrain.
EX:
Untitled
Anonymous Woman Poet (12th century)
I walk in loneliness through the greenwood
for I have none to go with me.
Since I have lost my friend by not being good
I walk in loneliness through the greenwood.
I’ll send him word and make it understood
that I will be good company.
I walk in loneliness through the greenwood
for I have none to go with me.
Best of luck to you all!
The example didn't fit the description, Pendragon. Did you mean the form that was described here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rondeau_%28poetry%29
Sure, whatever, go for it, etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by YesNo
I'm very sorry folks, it's been hell being me this last month. Pray forgive me.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pendragon
actually, I went here: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5789
I seem to have chosen a poem from the wrong place however, (Good catch, YesNo!)
Here's a good example to go by, showing how to vary the repeating line and still keep form:
John McCrae’s 1915 wartime poem,
"In Flanders Fields":
In Flanders fields the poppies grow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place, and in the sky,
The larks, still bravely singing, fly,
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead; short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe!
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high!
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Forgive my lassitude and please enter the contest.
Love to you all and God Bless
Pendragon
Summer
Around the yard the children played,
All small, with tiny feet to wade
Through green that sparkled in the sun
And tickled legs to jump and run
While parents on the side-lines stayed.
When restless dreams must be delayed
And pain insists it must be paid
Some doubt, but life has always won,
And honors, and abandons none
Around the yard.
Warm summers with their pleasures made
Fresh flowers open others fade
To rest when their brief tasks were done.
Let others rush to join the fun
And laugh with life through sun and shade
Around the yard.
The Black Queen
Black clouds gather as the storm begins to rise,
in shadows I watch you plan my demise,
my soul quakes in perverse delight,
the tempest I'll bring upon you in fright,
your mask cracks, and I see through your disguise.
Once I trembled with your twisted lies
now I'll topple you from abysmal skies,
Lucifer falling in thunder's light,
Black clouds gather.
Without remorse I close your dead eyes
and leave you behind with the worms and flies,
empty smiles in the waning night,
the darkness was mine to smother your plight,
no others will be mislead by your guise
Black clouds gather.
the air is dense
with forest fence
the rivers's pale
with too much hale
everything else if paused and tense
the skies are blend
with something trend
the cooling of the breeze and ale
dissipates fast somewhere to rise.
fountains churn colours of sense
beautiful daisies lay intense
reflections of a day immense
the view is a fascinating tale
the moment of a captive dale
dissipate fast somewhere to rise.
I'm going to give the contest until Wednesday week from now. I'll be back from Nashville to see my daughter (who is pregnant with my grandson, Logan Michael Kohari) by then. Keep the poems coming!
Hanging On
If our paths cross sometime tonight
Beneath these humming argon lights,
In the hour we’re both around
When my breath's lost and yours is found,
I’ll feel I did just one thing right.
The quacks make sure I’m out of sight,
As Annie yells with all her might.
I’ll tell you how to calm her down,
If our paths cross.
And, by the way, your mom’s alright.
She’ll make a man of you despite
A dad who was a drunken clown.
I'm proud of her. I guess I’m bound
To tell her so. I will, tonight,
If our paths cross.
I apologize for the late judging, my laptop was stolen when my son's home was robbed. Lost a lot of data I had failed to back up. You live, you learn...
Now then:
YesNo. Love it, reminds me of childhood!
Dark Muse: Always at your morbid best, well done!
cacian: Interesting choice
But the winner is:
MarkBastable
That repeating line "If our paths cross" evokes memories of old friends, old flames, and old enemies... What would I do "if our paths cross"? Hummm...
Congrats. MarkBastable
Pendragon very sorry to hear about your laptop.
Robbery seems to be a daily act.
I was just talking to my son yesterday telling me his friend got robbed in his home whilst he was asleep. It happened in the early hours of the morning. His laptop also gone.
Thank you for the feedback and MarkBarstable congratulations!!
Thank you. I'm chuffed.
Okay, let's do a limerick. Limericks needn't necessarily be comic, but they almost always are because the rhyme scheme and the metre just strike the ear as funny. When limericks fail, it's often because not enough work has been done on getting the metre right.
Wiki is forthcoming in this area.
The standard form of a limerick is a stanza of five lines, with the first, second and fifth usually rhyming with one another and having three feet of three syllables each; and the shorter third and fourth lines also rhyming with each other, but having only two feet of three syllables. The defining "foot" of a limerick's meter is usually the anapaest, (ta-ta-TUM), but limericks can also be considered amphibrachic (ta-TUM-ta)[dubious – discuss].
However, from a rhythmic point of view, lines 1, 2 and 5 have a silent accent at the end, making 4 accents per line. Lines 3 and 4 combined also have 4 accents, making four lines with an overall total of 16 accents (i.e. foot tapping "beats" ). Reading, or reciting, naturally follows the rhythm of 6/8 time, making eight bars of two triplets per bar. A triplet represents a "foot" of 3 syllables.
Er, yuh. Whatevs. The point is, it has be dead-on...
T'boppeter boppeter bopper
T'boppeter boppeter bopper
T'boppeter bip
T'boppeter bip
T'boppeter boppeter bopper
(The bips can be bippers, but it's more difficult to keep the rhythm smooth if you take the bipper option.)
There's also the question of subject matter. Wiki has this to say...
Gershon Legman, who compiled the largest and most scholarly anthology, held that the true limerick as a folk form is always obscene, and cites similar opinions by Arnold Bennett and George Bernard Shaw, describing the clean limerick as a periodic fad and object of magazine contests, rarely rising above mediocrity. From a folkloric point of view, the form is essentially transgressive; violation of taboo is part of its function.
Magazine contests, huh? Well, I do tend to Legman's view that a limerick should be, if not obscene, certainly risqué - which is not easy to do. However, the censor software on this forum notwithstanding, I say, "Contestant, if you got dirty down, get down and dirty."
Here, for instance, is a limerick I penned this morning, to get us all in the mood...
There once was a ******** from ******
Who ****** with a ****** up her ******
When she ******** in a ******
It was ****** ** *******
And her **** ****** sticky and ********
If you plan on writing this kind of limerick, I suggest mailing it to me as well as posting it here.
Deadline: October 26th. Good luck.
Rose and Billy
There once was a lady named Rose,
Very nice from her head to her toes.
Billy's dreams weren't that pure.
Rose don't mind. She is sure
He won't mind if some more of her shows.
*$#@ *@#
The cacophony of voices, pleading, begging…
Bugger off, I say before I @!# ^%&* &*(^ing
Do to you what I would…
Erm…I mean what I should
Have done to you you *(&^%(% ^%$&ing…
The once was a man of such fame
That all knew his wealth and his name
Death came to call
In the end, after all
Worm food is all he remains
in a far away town called seville
lived a man called neville
he did not care for dreads
nor did not speak in swears
but the one thing he dwelled
was his crown and his tan
this is long over due.
Judges anywhere?
For hitting the metre and going against the usual limerick subject matter, the winner is Pendragon.
Thanks, Mark.
As many of you know, I am very partial to the villanelle form. Make that your assignment for this next round. Here's a good example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Girl's_Love_Song_(poem
Advice: Choose your repeating lines carefully. They are most of the challenge, to keep them flowing as they repeat.
Good luck
Pen
Don't pet the werewolves in the zoo.
They say their teeth are sharp and bite.
Don't let the mermaids cuddle you.
They tease with lies until they're true
Insisting what they did was right.
Don't pet the werewolves in the zoo.
The past might break with what is new.
The future won't stay out of sight.
Don't let the mermaids cuddle you.
They say you'll die, though, if you do.
Don't feed the ogres. They might fight.
Don't pet the werewolves in the zoo.
Don't breathe the fairy dust blown through
The bars that hold these creatures tight.
Don't let the mermaids cuddle you.
You did? I know. I did it, too.
Some rules are made to cage delight.
Don't pet the werewolves in the zoo.
Don't let the mermaids cuddle you.
Broken Love Song
He sang a broken love song
another melancholy Autumn day,
the lone bird flew away, so long.
The wind braces me to be strong
like fallen leaves I dream of slipping away,
he sang a broken love song.
His fragile beauty was so wrong
yet silently I wished he could stay,
the lone bird flew away, so long.
Thunder claps like a gong
while in the rain to and fro I sway,
he sang a broken love song.
In the cage of my heart he did not belong
I watched him disappear in skies so gray,
the lone bird flew away, so long.
Why this agony do I prolong?
the bitterness of my soul in decay
he sang a broken love song,
the lone bird flew away, so long.
Anyone else got a poem? Between two fine writers now, but who knows you could still win if you enter...
Give me the weekend, I'am struggling to get my head round this.
Tuesday.
There is nothing on the telly for tonight,
Just twenty seven channels all the same,
And the evening stretches on out of sight.
I know what we could do to make it right,
We could try some conversation if you're game,
Cos there's nothing on the telly for tonight.
I'll try to keep my chatter nice and bright,
Though an answer would be good now and again,
For the evening stretches on out of sight.
And though I think my words deserve requite,
you just sigh and say you think it is a shame,
that there's nothing on the telly for tonight.
If we've naught to say at least we'll be polite,
We never talk and no one is to blame,
And the evening stretches on out of sight.
So it seems we cannot talk and cannot fight,
How ever did we come to be this tame,
And the evening stretches on out of sight
And there's nothing on the telly for tonight.
After much consideration, I think YesNo had the best flow of rhyming words which is the essence of the villianelle. You're up, YesNo!
YesNo congratulations!!
Thanks, Pendragon and cacian!
The next form is taken from the Four and Twenty short form poetry site: http://4and20poetry.com/
Basically, the poem has to have 20 or fewer words on 4 or fewer lines. There are no other constraints.
Deadline: Sunday, December 23rd.
They Fall
Your eyes melted into the sky
as jellyfish illuminate the night,
cosmic bodies, they fall to earth
becoming alien beauties.
In the blackness of space
Time means nothing
Here inside my heart
Time means everything
Pendragon
life a quick swirl of water
splashes and rises whenever
you're tired
water is life only for your eyes
MESSENGER Probe
Mercury polar water ice found
No signs of life noted
Administration has yet to acknowledge
Global warming there affects Earth
11/30/2012
Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY
Quote:
Originally Posted by cacian
...you might want to wipe your eyes and re-count.
Oops thanks Mark!Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkBastable