Monday Poetry Stretch - Ekphrastic

Since it's Halloween, it seemed appropriate to suggest we write about this image.

Shapes of Fear by Maynard Dixon (1930-32)

Smithsonian American Art Museum

So, there's your challenge for the week. Please share a link to your poem or the poem itself in the comments.

Monday Poetry Stretch - List Poem for Fall

A list poem is a carefully crafted list, catalog, or inventory of things. Robert Lee Brewer of Poetic Asides writes this in his article List Poem: A Surprisingly American Poem:

The list poem was used by the Greeks and in many books of the Bible. But two of the most popular American poems, Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” and Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl,” are list poems. So what is a list poem? 

Basically, a list poem (also known as a catalog poem) is a poem that lists things, whether names, places, actions, thoughts, images, etc. It’s a very flexible and fun form to work with.

What is it about list poems that makes them so accessible? Perhaps it's because the list is so ubiquitous in our lives. Everyone makes lists, so finding them in poetry is not unexpected and makes them seem familiar.

In the book Conversations With a Poet: Inviting Poetry into K-12 Classrooms (2005), written by Betsy Franco, the chapter devoted to the list poem includes this background and helpful information.

The list poem or catalog poem consists of a list or inventory of things. Poets started writing list poems thousands of years ago. They appear in lists of family lineage in the Bible and in the lists of heroes in the Trojan War in Homer's Iliad.  

Characteristics Of A List Poem

• A list poem can be a list or inventory of items, people, places, or ideas.

• It often involves repetition.

• It can include rhyme or not.

• The list poem is usually not a random list. It is well thought out.

• The last entry in the list is usually a strong, funny, or important item or event.

Your challenge for this week is to write a list poem about fall, or Halloween, or something October-y. Please share a link to your poem or the poem itself in the comments.

Poetry Friday is Here Today!

**Apologies, folks. I set the schedule as I always do for 12:01. Apparently, this time around I hit PM instead of AM. I'm here and ready to go!**

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“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” (Anne of Green Gables, chapter 16).

Today I'm sharing Frost.

October 
by Robert Frost

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
Tomorrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow.
Make the day seem to us less brief.

Read the poem in its entirety.

I'm hosting Poetry Friday today, so please leave your links in the comments and I'll round you up old-school style. Happy Poetry Friday all!

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Original Poetry
Matt Forrest of Radio, Rhythm, & Rhyme shares his book spine poem, Crossroads Chiropractic.

Buffy Silverman of Buffy's Blog is sharing two recently published poems.

Ruth of There is no such thing as a Godforsaken town shares an original poem entitled Why I Can't Look Out the Window.

Kiesha of Whispers from the Ridge shares an original poem entitled Twilight October.

Keri of Keri Recommends shares her original poem for the DMC entitled Silent Guidance.

Violet Nesdoly shares an original poem entitled Just an ordinary walk.

April Halprin Wayland shares an original poem entitled AGENTS ~ in three part harmony.

Brenda Harsham of Friendly Fairy Tales shares two original poems for her mothers.

Elaine Magliaro of Wild Rose Reader shares an original poem entitled TRUMP: A Verse about the Worst EVER Presidential Nominee.

Diane Mayr of Random Noodling shares a number of haiga about her mother

Bridget Magee of wee words for wee ones shares a poem for her 50th birthday. Happy birthday Bridget!

Linda Mitchell of A Word Edgewise shares two haiga for fall.

Anastasia Suen started a new blog and today shares an original poem entitled Sunrise, Sunset.

Alan Wright of Poetry Pizzazz shares two poems in a form he's calling Flip Poems.

Tara of A Teaching Life shares an original poem entitled For My Son, Reading Harry Potter.

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater shares an original poem entitled October.

Kathryn Apel of Kat's Whiskers shares a bit about epigrams and a few poems to boot!

Margaret Simon of Reflections on the Teche shares student heart maps and an original poem.


Poems and Words of Others
Becky Shillington of Tapestry of Words shares Autumn Fires by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Carol Varsalona of Beyond Literacy Link shares Home Thoughts by Odell Shepard.

Kortney Garrison of One Deep Drawer shares The Salt by Ursula K. Le Guin.

Doraine Bennett of Dori Reads shares The Gift by Li-Young Lee.

Elaine Magliaro of Wild Rose Reader shares a collection of Halloween poems from an assortment of children's poets.

Karen Edmisten shares Spring and Fall by Gerard Manley Hopkins.

Little Willow of Bildungsroman shares A charm invests a face by Emily Dickinson.

Tabatha Yeatts of The Opposite of Indifference shares The Soul selects her own Society by Emily Dickinson and some other related poems.  DON'T MISS THE INVITATION TO JOIN THE WINTER POEM SWAP!

Diane Mayr of Kurious Kitty's Kurio Kabinet shares some quotes from Coleridge on poetry.


Interviews and Book Reviews/Excerpts

Michelle Heidenrich Barnes of Today's Little Ditty reveals the cover of her new publication, The Best of Today's Little Ditty 2014-2015, and shares an interview with the illustrator.

Laura Purdie Salas shares the poem Ambush from Jane Yolen's new book, THE ALLIGATOR'S SMILE AND OTHER POEMS.

Robyn Hood Black of Life on the Deckle Edge shares some poems from Charles Ghigna's new book STRANGE, UNUSUAL, GROSS & COOL ANIMALS.

Jama Rattigan of Jama's Alphabet Soup shares a review of NO FAIR! NO FAIR! AND OTHER JOLLY POEMS OF CHILDHOOD by Calvin Trillin and Roz Chast.

Irene Latham of Live Your Poem shares thoughts on cows and MOO by Sharon Creech.

Jane of Rain City Librarian shares MY VILLAGE: RHYMES FROM AROUND THE WORLD collected by Danielle Wright. 

Sylvia Vardell of Poetry for Children shares Janet Wong's interview with ARE YOU AN ECHO? author David Jacobson and translator Sally Ito.

On Teaching and Students
Heidi Mordhorst of my juicy little universe shares some book-inspired phenomena from her week in 2nd grade.

Jone MacCulloch of Check it Out shares the art and poetry of students in her school.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Rondeau Redoublé

The rondeau redoublé is a French poetic form composed of 25 lines with only 2 rhymes, whole repeating lines, and a hemstitch.

The lines of the first stanza reappear in order as the final lines of the next four stanzas. The hemstitch appears as a half-line at the very end of the poem. Each stanza rhymes either abab or baba. 

Here's one example of the form.

When I'm first working with a new poetic form, I use a guide like this. You can download my template if you want to try it.

Want to know more about the roundeau redoublé? Check out this comprehensive bit of background Kelly Fineman shared at Writing and Ruminating.

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

Monday Poetry Stretch - Rondeau

The rondeau is a French poetic form that uses only two rhymes and hemstitch. Here are the basic guidelines:

• Composed of 15 lines
• Lines of 8 syllables, except the refrain, which is 4 syllables
• Refrain (hemstitch) is the first 4 syllables of the first line 
• Two rhymes with three stanzas and rhyme scheme of:
• quintet - a, a, b, b, a
• quatrain - a, a, b, R
• sestet - a, a, b, b, a, R

Here's an example of a rondeau.

We Wear the Mask

by Paul Laurence Dunbar

We wear the mask that grins and lies, 

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,— 

This debt we pay to human guile; 

With torn and bleeding hearts we smile 

And mouth with myriad subtleties,

Why should the world be over-wise, 

In counting all our tears and sighs? 

Nay, let them only see us, while 

     We wear the mask.

We smile, but oh great Christ, our cries 

To thee from tortured souls arise. 

We sing, but oh the clay is vile 

Beneath our feet, and long the mile, 

But let the world dream otherwise, 

     We wear the mask!

You can learn more about the rondeau at Shadow Poetry.

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

Poetry Seven Write Poems for Arlequin

This month the poetry gang wrote poems to images selected by Kelly. The piece is by René de Saint-Marceaux and is titled Arlequin. Kelly took the photos at the Musée des Beaux Arts in Lyon, France.

 

 Photographs © Kelly Fineman

I've been experimenting the last few weeks with the Magic 9, a relatively new 9-line poetic form. Here's what the Poets Garret wrote about its invention.

Typing too fast is often the cause of spelling mistakes and one day abracadabra was typed as abacadaba and right away a poetry form appeared. 

So the Magic 9 is a 9-line poem with a rhyme scheme of: a/b/a/c/a/d/a/b/a.

This piece creeped me out just a bit. In my brainstorming and early drafts I wrote about Zorro, the Phantom of the Opera, Batman, and a few other masked men. This is what I ended up with.

As You Wish

Masked men have always frightened me

the Dread Pirate Roberts the only exception

I can get behind a little piracy

a nom de guerre and a ship named Revenge

swashbuckling his way into infamy

all for the want of a woman

dreams of Buttercup kept him at sea

leading a life of deception

until love brought him home, set him free

Poem ©Tricia Stohr-Hunt, 2016. All rights reserved.

You can read the poems written by my Poetry Seven compatriots at the links below. Andi's been under the weather, so she's not sharing a poem today. Here's hoping she's feeling much better now. She's with us in spirit and we'll happily welcome her back for our next poetry challenge.

• Tanita Davis
• Kelly Fineman
• Sara Lewis Holmes
• Laura Purdie Salas
• Liz Garton Scanlon

I do hope you'll take some time to check out all the wonderful poetic things being shared and collected today at Violet Nesdoly's place. Happy poetry Friday friends!

Monday Poetry Stretch - Magic 9

The Magic 9 is a relatively new 9-line poetic form. Here's what the Poets Garret has to say about it's inception.

Typing too fast is often the cause of spelling mistakes and one day Abracadabra was typed as abacadaba and right away a poetry form appeared. 

So that's it. This week the challenge is to write a 9-line poem with a rhyme scheme of:
a. b. a. c. a. d. a. b. a.

I hope you'll join me this week in writing a Magic 9. Please share a link to your poem or the poem itself in the comments.