Category Archives: Challenges and Writing Prompts

April 17, 2016

April Poetry Month ~ A Poem a Day #17

By Kat Myrman

The Tetractys, is today’s poetry form. It’s an invented form by Ray Stebbing, consisting of at least 5 lines of 1, 2, 3, 4, 10 syllables (total of 20). Tetractys can be written with more than one verse, but must follow suit with an inverted syllable count. Tetractys can also bereversed and written 10, 4, 3, 2, 1. 

Double Tetractys: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 10, 4, 3, 2, 1

Triple Tetractys: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 10, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 10

and so on.

Ray Stebbing had this to say about his inspiration for the Tetractys: “Euclid, the mathematician of classical times, considered the number series 1, 2, 3, 4 to have mystical significance because its sum is 10, so he dignified it with a name of its own – Tetractys. The tetractys could be Britain’s answer to the haiku. Its challenge is to express a complete thought, profound or comic, witty or wise, within the narrow compass of twenty syllables.”

It’s a simple form with no rhyme constraints; just follow the syllable rules. It’s the perfect poetry form for a restful Sunday morning. I came up with a  few.

If there were spiritual advice columns…

“Soul
Seeking
Nirvana”
Find lasting peace
By refusing to entertain Ego.

yielding 

Trees
Extend
To heaven
And burrow deep
Extremes of longing, that bend on a breeze.

Digital Wet Blanket

You
And me
This moment
Eternity….
Love is in bloom; we must take a selfie!

kat ~ 17 April 2016

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April 16, 2016

Fear – A Few Haiku

By Kat Myrman

img_6595
It’s a wise person
Who trusts their intuition
Sometimes fear is good.

Using fear tactics,
Politicians count on this
To win elections.

kat ~ 16 April 2016

For Haiku Horizon’s Challenge, prompt word, “Fear”.

8 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Haiku, Poetry

April 16, 2016

April Poetry Month – A Poem a Day #16

By Kat Myrman

We are over the hump, day 16!  Today I am exploring the Terzanelle. For starters, isn’t it a lovely word to say…Terzanelle. 🙂 It is a combination of the Villanelle and the Terza Rima poetry forms.
A 19-line poem consisting of five interlocking triplets/tercets, the last stanza is a
quatrain with the first and third lines of the first triplet appearing as refrains. The middle line of each triplet is repeated, reappearing as the last line of the succeeding triplet with the exception of the center line of the next-to-the-last stanza which appears in the quatrain. 

Yikes! Sounds complicated, but it’s not. Seeing it in diagram will hopefully dispel any confusion. The rhyme and refrain scheme for the triplets is as follows:
1. A
2. B
3. A

4. b
5. C
6. B

7. c
8. D
9. C

10. d
11. E
12. D

13. e
14. F
15. E

Ending Type 1:
16. f
17. A
18. F
19. A

Ending Type 2:
16. f
17. F
18. A
19. A

Each line of the poem should be the same metrical length.

IMG_4873

Spring Longing

I remember you in spring
When the rose bush bursts in bloom
I remember you in spring

Its sweet fragrance heavy looms
The soft breeze caressing me
When the rose bush bursts in bloom

Waves of longing crushing me
Your breath dusting my warm skin
The soft breeze caressing me

Breaking my heart once again
Do you ever think of us?
Your breath dusting my warm skin

Love’s refrain fades in the dust
Oh to hear your voice again
Do you ever think of us?

Can’t accept this bitter end
Oh to hear your voice again
I remember you in spring
I remember you in spring

kat ~ 16 April 2016

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April 15, 2016

April Poetry Month – A Poem a Day # 15

By Kat Myrman

It’s Friday!   A special treat each week is going out to a great little Asian restaurant that features Thai, Japanese and Chinese cuisine. It’s become my favorite place. And so for this day’s poetry form I am sharing the Epulaeryu with you. It’s an obscure little form developed by one Joseph Spence, Sr. inspired by the memorable foods he experienced on his Mediterranean and Far East travels. There is literally a poem and poetry form for everything it seems!

Here’s are the details of a proper Epulaeryu:
-First and foremost it is all about delicious food!
-7 lines with 33 syllable
-The syllable scheme is: 7/5/7/5/5/3/1
-It may or may not rhyme
-Each line contains one thought describing the featured course with the last 1 syllable word expressing the writer’s feelings about the dish. To add drama, an exclamation point is always called for at the end.

I dedicate this one to all my foodie friends! 🙂

my-drunken-noodles-ivillage_380

This photo is from Pinterest

Drunken Noodling

Pepper infused, savory
veggies lightly tossed
drunken noodles sweating steam
aromatic pot
culinary treat
slippery
hot!

kat ~ 15 April 2016

7 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Essays, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings

April 15, 2016

Poet-Speak

By Kat Myrman

IMG_3961

some see the world in syllables
they speak in an iambic tone
solitary souls, but not alone

a stanza’s pause, invisible
punctuated space in between
crystalline waves of  lucid dreams

brain soft-wired ethereal
meters mingled in rhyme explored
engaged in trysts with metaphors

delightful musings, lyrical
syncopated rhythm flowing
poet’s tender voice bestowing

visions of all things beautiful
in syncopated streams of words
twenty-six letters, nouns and verbs

kat – 15 April 2016

For Jane Dougherty’s Weekly Poetry Challenge, a Constanza, consisting of five or more 3-line stanzas. Each line has a set meter of eight syllables. The first lines of all the stanzas can be read successively as an independent poem, with the rest of the poem weaved in to express a deeper meaning. The first lines convey a theme written in monorhyme, while the second and third lines of each stanza rhyme together.

Rhyme scheme: a/b/b, a/c/c, a/d/d, a/e/e, a/f/f………etc.

25 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings