The last poetry in the classroom entry was a thematic list of books on poetry for kids. In it I included the book Fly With Poetry: An ABC of Poetry, written and illustrated by Avis Harley. I love this book because it often gives me inspiration when I want to try my hand at writing in different forms. This week I want to try rhopalic verse. Here's how Avis defines it.
So, your challenge is to write a rhopalic verse. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results later this week.
Rhopalic Verse: (from Greek "rhopalon"--a club which is thicker at one end)Here is an example.
Lines in which each successive word has one syllable more than the one before it.
TAPESTRIES
Small spiders filigree
the garden greenery
with silken precision. Delicately, definitively,
they network tapestries
that capture
more
than morning's glorious
dew.
Poem ©Avis Harley. All rights reserved.
Egg
ReplyDeleteEgg whitely incubating
its contents: intricate machinery, imaginary
innovation.
We're waiting.
But nothing emerges.
Not chicken, rattlesnake,
owl, swallow, platypus.
It's simple:
Eggs matter
when shattered
from within
by pipping, curious, oxygenated
new earth-kin.
--Kate Coombs, 2011, all rights reserved
I wrote one of the verses & posted it on my blog: http://teacherdance.blogspot.com/ Thanks for so many wonderful recommendations and reviews!
ReplyDeleteKate, that's beautiful! I love Avis' poem, too. I've never even heard of this poem. Will try one and be back later to share.
ReplyDeleteAnd I've got to get my hands on a copy of Avis' book. Thanks, Tricia!
Oops, I meant never heard of this form!
ReplyDeleteOK, this looked easier than it was, for me, anyway. Here's what I came up with, based on a lovely 15 minutes I just spent lying on our bare deck, warmed (finally) by sun. It all feels pretty forced, though. I don't use many big words, I think. Um. Grunt, grunt--that's me:>) And it got too long. Oh well, still fun to play!
The Deck in Spring
Grey, weathered survivor
of winter, fossilized
bones, backyard skeleton
Your secret compartment,
last summer’s Memorial,
held July’s thunderstorms
held August’s sunflowers
held even September’s disappearing
heat
safe during December’s
white, fluffy, beautiful
snowfall,
safe during exacting January’s
cold, stinging
blizzards
safe during demanding February’s
old, bitter hollowness
safe, waiting
for April
for
me
Breakfast
ReplyDeletecrisp bacon sizzling
hot atop mountainous
egg islands sunnyside
up, finger sausages,
toast, apple marmalade,
juice - orange, unsweetened,
all eaten happily, irregardless
of nasty calories.
Barbara J. Turner
Thanks, Laura! And I agree, this is harder than you would think at first glance. --Kate
ReplyDelete