Monday, August 06, 2007

Monday Poetry Stretch - Bouts-Rimés

I've been writing poetry every day for the last few months and have been experimenting with lots of different forms, aided by The Teachers & Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms. I have also been inspired by the much more colorful A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms.

As part of this writing, I exercise my poetry muscles every Monday by trying out a new form. This week I am starting with Bouts-Rimés. The Handbook of Poetic Forms defines bouts-rimés in this fashion.
A bouts-rimés poem is created by one person's making up a list of rhymed words and giving it to another person, who in turn writes the lines that end with those rhymes, in the same order they were given.
You can read more at Wikipedia and learn a bit about the history of this form.

For today's stretch I asked a friend to generate a word list for me. Here it is.

nest, rest, flight, sight, flower, hour, wing, sing

I set the timer for 10 minutes and wrote one poem. I have posted it in the comments section so as not to prejudice writers as to the content of their poems. So, do you want to play? What kind of poem will you write? Post your creation on your blog and then leave a link in the comments. Once we have some poems, I'll link them all here.

Let the games begin! If this works, I'd like to post a poetry stretch every Monday. What do you think? Can we write some poetry together?

6 comments:

  1. Here's my poem! Please keep in mind that it is a first draft!

    Fledglings huddle in their nest
    Enjoy the morning’s dewy rest
    While mom takes flight
    Not far from sight
    She flits and floats among the flowers
    Returning to feed her brood each hour
    Tiny and fragile on the wing
    Just listen as they beat and sing

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  2. I've given it a shot, Tricia. I love the challenge. Can't wait for next Monday!

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  3. I couldn't resist... thanks for helping me procrastinate packing!

    a very fun little game -- I like.

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  4. I'd be game to do this on a regular basis. I'm sorry I missed out on last Monday's gig. I'll keep an eye open for it and promote it on Saints and Spinners next Monday, if you're still doing it. I'm sure things will pick up once Autumn rolls around. I used to do poems like this all the time with The Book of Forms by Lewis Turco.

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  5. I missed this week but I'll play next time.

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  6. I just found your site through Mother Reader, so didn't know about the challenge. I have now bookmarked you so I can check back and perhaps participate in the future.

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