Author Archives: Kat Myrman

Oviellejo #25

contrary to pop culture’s views
news is not news

the same mistakes, another when
repeat again

our past in sentimental haze
the good old days

weren’t all good for the hell we raised
we humans are a prideful lot
our hardest lesson’s long forgot
news is not news, repeat again, the good old days

~kat


The Oviellejo is an Old Spanish verse form (derived from ovillo, a ball of yarn). A stanza consists of 10 lines, with a rhyme scheme of AABBCCCDDC. The second line of each rhyme scheme, Line 2,4,6, is short line of up to 5 syllables. The last line is a “redondilla,” a “little round” that collects all three of the short lines.


Sunday’s week in ReVerse – 25 August 2019

The world is on fire. And I’m not speaking only of the combustion of carbon dioxide, water vapor, oxygen, and nitrogen that is decimating the Amazon rain forest. The casualties of this inferno are obviously the trees, and also the creatures that call the forest home, the people who live there, and the very air that we breath.

There are other fires though, that continue to rage out of control. It is the fire of hatred, of fear, of greed. I admit I often feel helpless to stop these fires; powerless to stand in the face of caustic rhetoric and the chasms formed in its wake. Cries of “do something” feel weak and futile against a force so dark. It is hard to see the light.

In times like these I am tempted to hide myself away in the hope that I can ride it out until the ugliness passes. But what good can come of letting a fire rage out of control unchallenged? We are ultimately left with nothing if we do nothing. Though I admit doing something often feels like spitting on a wildfire, I still have to try.

So I do what I can. Love when I can. Help when I can. It’s the very least I can do, and if others do the same we will end up not with nothing, but a few flickers of light, perhaps an unscorched seed amidst the embers; a glimmer of hope to start again. We always rebuild. Even when we have a mess to clean up. Peace all.


Sunday’s week in ReVerse – 25 August 2019

magnificence, adorned in grace,
amidst the scorch, shrouded in haze, nothing remains
we carry with us days
refusing to become undone
but no one seemed to have made the cut
there’s little time for vain regret
temperature are rising higher
squandering our greatest treasures
underneath gray smoke-choked skies

~kat


A ReVerse poem is a summary poem with a single line lifted from each entry of a collection of work over a particular timeframe and re-penned in chronological order as a new poem. Unlike a collaborative poem, the ReVerse features the words of one writer, providing a glimpse into their thoughts over time. I use it as a review of the previous week.


Oviellejo 23 & 24 – up in smoke

we should care that Gaia’s burning
it’s occurring

a thousand miles or more away
while leaders play

at governing to sate their glut
when is enough ever enough

what will it take to wake us up
as our great treasures slowly die
underneath gray smoke-choked skies
it’s occurring while leaders play, when is enough ever enough

~~~

meanwhile children rot in cages
hate’s contagious

others still, gunned down in schools
amendments rule

squandering our greatest treasures
all for pleasure

sins egregious, without measure
vain thoughts and prayers fall on deaf ears
for their small god’s been dead for years
hate’s contagious, amendments rule, all for pleasure

~kat


The Oviellejo is an Old Spanish verse form (derived from ovillo, a ball of yarn). A stanza consists of 10 lines, with a rhyme scheme of AABBCCCDDC. The second line of each rhyme scheme, Line 2,4,6, is short line of up to 5 syllables. The last line is a “redondilla,” a “little round” that collects all three of the short lines.


Oviellejo #22

earth’s a ball of crackling clay
in disarray

temperature are rising higher
we’re on fire

though fools deny it’s all a hoax
it’s not a joke

hope for the future up in smoke
from green and lush to ash to dust
before it’s too late, change, we must
in disarray, we’re on fire…it’s not a joke

~kat


The Oviellejo is an Old Spanish verse form (derived from ovillo, a ball of yarn). A stanza consists of 10 lines, with a rhyme scheme of AABBCCCDDC. The second line of each rhyme scheme, Line 2,4,6, is short line of up to 5 syllables. The last line is a “redondilla,” a “little round” that collects all three of the short lines.


Oviellejo #21

renaissance

there’s still some brokenness in me
others can’t see

crazy missteps and little deaths
the depth and breath

of every choice I’ve made, and yet
I can’t forget

there’s little time for vain regret
even in failure there’s a light
guiding my steps to get things right
others can’t see, the depth and breath I can’t forget

~kat


The Oviellejo is an Old Spanish verse form (derived from ovillo, a ball of yarn). A stanza consists of 10 lines, with a rhyme scheme of AABBCCCDDC. The second line of each rhyme scheme, Line 2,4,6, is short line of up to 5 syllables. The last line is a “redondilla,” a “little round” that collects all three of the short lines.