Monday Poetry Stretch - Etheree

An etheree is a poem of ten lines in which each line contains one more syllable than the last. Beginning with one syllable and ending with ten, this unrhymed form is named for its creator, 20th century American poet Etheree Taylor Armstrong.

Variant forms of the etheree include the reverse form, which begins with 10 syllables and ends with one. The double etheree is twenty lines, moving from one syllable to 10, and then from 10 back to one. (I suppose a double etheree could also move from 10 syllables to one, and then from one back to 10.)

You can learn more about the etheree at The Poets Garret and Shadow Poetry.

I hope you'll join me this week in writing an etheree. Please share a link to your poem or the poem itself in the comments.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Septolet

A septolet is a 14-word poem written in two stanzas and connected by the same idea.

I've not seen any consistency regarding number of lines (I've seen 5, 6, and 7) or where the break between stanzas should be (some recommend between lines 4 and 5 if the poem is 7 lines long).

You can read more about the septolet at The Poets Collective and Super Forty.

I hope you'll join me this week in writing a septolet. Please share a link to your poem or the poem itself in the comments.

Thank You, Veterans

I've been privileged to know many veterans over the years, and I am eternally grateful to them for their service to our country.

Today I'm honoring a veteran close to my heart, my dad. Here are some pictures from when he was stationed at Kaneohe in Hawaii.

      

 

 

Here's a little something I found packed away with a letter to my grandparents saying that my dad was being discharged and would be coming home soon.

And here's a form letter from Truman.

Thanks to my dad and all the other veterans who have served. We owe you more than we can ever repay.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Epiphora

Early this year we wrote poems that used the device anaphora. Anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive sentences or clauses. Epiphora (or epistrophe) is the exact opposite, where this repetition occurs at the end of successive sentences or clauses.

Here are a few examples.

The Gettysburg Address
“… that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.“


From "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman
And am not stuck up, and am in my place.

(The moth and the fish-eggs are in their place,
The bright suns I see and the dark suns I cannot see are in
     their place,
The palpable is in its place and the impalpable is in its place.)


From THE MERCHANT OF VENICE by William Shakespeare
Bassanio: Sweet Portia,
If you did know to whom I gave the ring,
If you did know for whom I gave the ring
And would conceive for what I gave the ring
And how unwillingly I left the ring,
When nought would be accepted but the ring,
You would abate the strength of your displeasure.

Portia: If you had known the virtue of the ring,
Or half her worthiness that gave the ring,
Or your own honor to contain the ring,
You would not then have parted with the ring.


So, your challenge for the week is to write a poem that uses epiphora. Please share a link to your poem or the poem itself in the comments.

Poetry Friday - Acquainted with the Night

Last week for Halloween I was persuaded to post the rap from the song Thriller. What I really wanted to post was this.

Acquainted with the Night
by Robert Frost

I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.

I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

Read the poem in its entirety.


I do hope you'll take some time to check out all the wonderful poetic things being shared and collected today by Diane at Random Noodling. Happy poetry Friday friends!

Monday Poetry Stretch - Rondelet

I've been inconsistent in posting stretches this semester, so I'm trying to get back on track with a new form.

The rondelet is a 7-line French poetic form that contains a refrain, strict rhyme scheme, and distinct syllable pattern. The structure is:

Line 1 : A—4 syllables (refrain)
Line 2 : b—8 syllables
Line 3 : A—repeat of Line 1 (refrain)
Line 4 : a—8 syllables
Line 5 : b—8 syllables
Line 6 : b—8 syllables
Line 7 : A—repeat of Line 1 (refrain)

You can read more about this form at Shadow Poetry and LOTR Rondelets.

I hope you'll join me this week in writing a rondelet. Please share a link to your poem or the poem itself in the comments.