Thursday, November 12, 2009

Poetry Stretch Results - Rictameter

The challenge this week was to write in the form of rictameter, and unrhymed, 9-line poem with a syllable count of 2/4/6/8/10/8/6/4/2 in which the first and last lines are the same. Here are the results.
Jane Yolen left this poem in the comments.
    Today
    I am trying
    a brand new form of poem.
    It is known as rictameter.
    Who is it makes up these poetry forms?
    Some clown with a post box in Maine?
    Or was it just someone
    who had a dream
    Today?

    © 2009 Jane Yolen
Kate Coombs of Book Aunt shares a poem entitled Snail.
    Snail

    Gypsy
    hauls his round brown
    caravan behind one
    smooth trotless horse up and down small
    country roads. When he's gone, so is the green
    laundry from the garden's clothesline.
    Festooned in lettuce, he
    rides on--bold-eyed
    gypsy.

    --Kate Coombs (Book Aunt), 2009
Laura Purdie Salas shares a poem entitled Bear Attack.

Kelly Polark left this poem in the comments.
    Autumn
    Is so cool. He
    Showers us with vibrant
    Colors. Our children race and jump
    In the pile the size of a Volkswagen.
    We sip cider while we watch the
    Breeze scatter leaves on the
    Yard yet again.
    Tyrant.

    ---Kelly Polark, 2009
Carol Weis left this poem in the comments.
    Mind fog
    Creeps shamelessly
    Blurs judgment inside brain
    Key decisions lost in its midst
    Bleary vacillations picking up speed
    Yearning for sun to blaze away
    Thick overhanging clouds
    Obscuring view
    Mind fog

    © Carol Weis, all rights reserved
Harriet of spynotes left this poem in the comments.
    Walking
    Over the hill,
    Past the long-necked horses,
    Thumping the fence with a fat stick
    Just for the wooden sound of it,
    I wade into the grass
    To hush my feet
    Walking
Andy of Life Allegorical shares two rictameters at her web site. She also left this poem in the comments.
    Harvest
    moon is slouching
    lazily in the sky.
    Her belly is too full to rise
    just yet, so she lounges right above the
    horizon, peers over the broad
    shoulders of farm workers,
    and inspects the
    harvest.
Easter of Owl in the Library shares a poem about gifted kids.

Julie Larios of The Drift Record shares a poem entitled Late Night Thoughts.

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater left this poem in the comments.
    A cat
    comes to a door
    looking for food and drink.
    He finds this. And he finds children
    kissing him before they even name him.
    Small hands remind him how to purr.
    Soft laughter fills the porch.
    This home needed
    a cat.
Andi of a wrung sponge shares a poem entitled Swine Flu with Asthma.

Bec of Re: Becca plays along for the first time and shares a poem about Scotland, complete with pictures. Welcome!

Mary Lee of A Year of Reading shares a rictameter that serves as a clever review of two books.

Jone of Deo Writer shares a rictameter in honor of Friday the 13th.

Denise Doyen left this poem in the comments.
    Tricky,
    Arbitrary:
    Writing rictameter
    Peters out my inner reas’ning,
    ‘Til my poetary clockworks slip gear,
    Catch, and whirr, then keep on ticking,
    Picking out syllables
    Like live lobsters.
    Tricky.
I agree with many of the writers this week who said that this form was particularly difficult to work within. I found it darn hard to make the first and last lines work seamlessly. Here are two of my drafts.
Acorns
drop among fall
leaves, littering the ground
with jauntily capped messengers.
Securing fertile ground is a challenge
when pestered and sequestered by
bushy-tailed tree climbers,
gathering up
acorns!

-----

Lucky
number seven,
four-leaf clovers, horseshoes
crickets, ladybugs, dragonflies
rainbows, falling stars, wishing wells, coins in
a fountain—not superstitions,
but dreams. Make one big wish.
Maybe you’ll get
Lucky.
It's not too late if you still want to play. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll it to the results.

5 comments:

  1. This is my first time participating. You can find mine (with pictures!) here: http://busterbec.blogspot.com/2009/11/not-quite-just-like-rabbie-burns.html

    Or just read it right here:
    Scotland.
    Spent two days in
    Edinburgh, where we
    followed a Royal footpath from
    the Castle to Holyroodhouse and scaled
    Scott's Monument to get a view
    of this old and charming
    city, star of
    Scotland

    ReplyDelete
  2. This are fabulous!!! You all have inspired me. I am posting mine today for Friday Poetry. It's about Swine Flu & Asthma.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It is Friday the 13th. I was inspired:
    thirteen
    unlucky number
    Friday the thirteen scares
    a vast population
    who avoid black cats and walking on cracks
    six years before it comes
    around again
    thirteen

    And can be found here:

    http://deowriter.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/poetry-stretchrictameter/

    ReplyDelete
  4. Late in the day. But I'll play:



    Tricky,
    Arbitrary:
    Writing rictameter
    Peters out my inner reas’ning,
    ‘Til my poetary clockworks slip gear,
    Catch, and whirr, then keep on ticking,
    Picking out syllables
    Like live lobsters.
    Tricky.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Okay, I somehow missed that the first and last lines were the same! ARGH! I'll get it right next time! :) I enjoyed reading the rictameters!!

    ReplyDelete