these duplicitous times

pay close attention to the marginalia
we all must learn to read between the lines
disseminating truth right now is mania
in this, the most duplicitous of times

we all must learn to read between the lines
sift through every boastful sciolism
in this, the most duplicitous of times
to thwart attempts at history’s revision

sift through every boastful sciolism
find the facts, elusive, they may be,
to thwart attempts at history’s revision
don’t believe in everything you see

find the facts, elusive, they may be,
check out all the blather that you hear
don’t believe in everything you see
until trust is restored, we’re lost, I fear

check out all the blather that you hear
disseminating truth right now is mania
until trust is restored, we’re lost, I fear
pay close attention to the marginalia

~kat

A Pantoum for today’s NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo 2020 Challenge. (See below for today’s challenge and information about the pantoum poetry form). I chose my words from the last 10 days of dictionary.com’s Word of the Day feature, because hey, I love learning new words! Then I gleaned five rhyming words for each from Rhymezone. I managed to use a half dozen or so words from the resulting “word bank”. Phew! Today’s challenge was a workout!!!

NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo 2020 Challenge Day 3 – make use of our resource (online rhyming dictionary) for the day. First, make a list of ten words. You can generate this list however you’d like – pull a book  off the shelf and find ten words you like, name ten things you can see from where you’re sitting, etc. Now, for each word, use Rhymezone to identify two to four similar-sounding or rhyming words. For example, if my word is “salt,” my similar words might be “belt,” “silt,” “sailed,” and “sell-out.”

Once you’ve assembled your complete list, work on writing a poem using your new “word bank.” You don’t have to use every word, of course, but try to play as much with sound as possible, repeating  sounds and echoing back to others using your rhyming and similar words.

The pantoum consists of a series of quatrains rhyming ABAB, BCBC, CDCD, ZAZA. The design is simple:

Line 1
Line 2
Line 3
Line 4

Line 5 (repeat of line 2)
Line 6
Line 7 (repeat of line 4)
Line 8

Last stanza:
Line 2 of previous stanza
Line 3 of first stanza
Line 4 of previous stanza
Line 1 of first stanza