Tag Archives: Poem a Day

April Poetry Month – A Poem a Day #9

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..This is Maxwell’s “Mom…MOM…wake UP MAAAMAAA…I have to go potty!!!” look…at 4 am!!!

It is day nine of National Poetry Month. I have chosen a Tercet Cascade for my poetry form today, prompted by a middle of the night wake up call…that has lapsed into early morning. No rest for my weary monkey brain.

I do love my very big puppy Maxwell…but 4 am Max??? Sheesh! Give your old mom a break! As I type he is blissfully snoring at my side. Yep…gotta love him!

At any rate, this poem won’t win any awards. Haha! A bit of whimsy, a touch of angst perhaps, but importantly, true to the prescribed form…hey, what do you expect at 4 am!

A side note…my router went offline in the middle of this, so most of the time was spent FINDING the documentation in order to reconfigure the blasted thing so I could log online to post today’s little ditty! I mention this in case you were wondering if this Cascade poem took me 3 hours to write! 🙂 I will need to revisit this poetry form one day and give it proper homage …but for now, I need coffee!

Here is a description of a basic Cascade. There are no hard fast rules regarding rhyme or meter. It involves taking a line from the first stanza, sequentially, to repeat as the last line of each additional stanza. The number of stanzas depends on the number of lines you use for the initial one. You can set it up as a three-line stanza (Tercet) or a four-line stanza (quatrain). You might even expand to a 5 line or 6 line..the sequence would be the same, looking something like this: for a Tercet – ABC-abA-cdB-efC / for a Quatrain – ABCD-abcA-defB-ghiC-jklD…you get the idea!


Potty Break

Roused awake at 4 am
for my puppy’s potty break
interrupted REM

Off to do our business then
half asleep and fuzzy brained
roused awake at 4 am!

How much longer must he take?
I am losing patience fast
for my puppy’s potty break

Those who call dogs “man’s best friend”
likely never lost a wink
Interrupted REM!

kat~9 April 2016


April Poetry Month – A Poem a Day #8

Today’s form is the Triolet. I like this form because it contains a repeating refrain throughout. It gives the piece a romantic flair. The form seems simple enough. A Triolet contains 8 lines, usually written in iambic tetrameter (the common way) – 8 syllables with four metrical feet (or as I like to call them ‘Heartbeats’…da-dum da-dum da-dum dadum).  Or if you’re looking for a challenge, iambic pentameter (the English version) – as it’s name suggests (penta), this version has 10 syllables per line with five metrical feet. The Rhyme scheme is ABaAabAB (with the capital letter lines repeating – or in other words, line one repeats at line 4 and line 7 and line 2 repeats at line 8)

Of course I like a challenge! 🙂 So I tried the British version. Repetition of the lines does make it rather melancholy. Or perhaps it was the topic I chose…Poor old sap fell head over heels only to be turned away.  It’s a quite common scenario you know. Such is the drama of love…:)

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Unrequited

you glowed so like a candle in the night
flashing licks of amber wooing me
like moth to flame is drawn into the light
you glowed so like a candle in the night
I tried to turn away with all my might
as I drew near, you swiftly set me free
you glowed so like a candle in the night
flashing licks of amber wooing me.

kat ~ 8 April 2016

 


April Poetry Month – A Poem a Day #7

It is Day Seven of Poetry Month! I have chosen the Ottava Rima form for my poem today. An Ottava Rima is an Italian poem that contains of eight lines that rhyme. Each line has eleven syllables and have the rhyme pattern: abababcc.

secret

Maxwell and Winston demonstrating the art of secret telling and keeping. You can trust Winston…he’s not much of a talker. Maxwell on the other hand…not a keeper…of secrets that is! Don’t know what I’d do without that love bug!   🙂

Secret Keeping

A secret to its keeper is a burden.
It’s an obligation true friends take to heart.
The teller of such treasure must be certain
they can trust their confidant to do their part.
For many have been burned by indiscretions
of a rogue who thinks of gossip as an art…
They say, in time the truth will be revealed,
but sooner if your “friend” is prone to squeal!

kat ~ 7 April 2016


April Poetry Month – A Poem a Day #6

It’s Wednesday…the in-between day of the workweek for many. With this in mind, I chose the Palindrome Poem form. It’s a tricky bugger. To pull it off requires tweaking and re-tweaking the words and lines; extraneous connectors and fluff just muddy the mirror image you are trying to convey. This form takes a bit of practice. This is my first go at the Palindrome.  I hope I did it justice! 🙂

A Palindrome Poem, also known as Mirrored Poetry, by definition, is a word, phrase, verse, sentence, or even poem that reads the same forward or backward. It stems from the Greek word palindromos: palin, meaning again, and dromos, meaning a running. Combining the two together, the Greek meaning gives us, running back again. The carefully placed words form the same sentence, whether it is read forward or backward. For example, ‘Mirrored images reflect images mirrored’ which includes a word in the center as a reversal point for the sentence or even the poem.

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Insomnia

sleep
is elusive
dreamless spinning mind
midst consuming darkness
restless weariness but
brilliance in-between
moments of clarity
insomnia…
clarity of moments
in-between brilliance
but weariness restless
darkness consuming midst
mind spinning dreamless
elusive is
sleep

kat ~ 6 April 2016


April Poetry Month – A Poem a Day #5

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Photo by Kat Myrman 2015

Happy Poetry Month. On the 5th day we will try the Shadorma. It is a Spanish poetic form made up of a stanza of six lines. (sestet) with no set rhyme scheme. Its syllable pattern is 3-5-3-3-7-5. It can have multiple stanzas, as long as each follows the syllable pattern.

Being Spring

drops of dew
descend like nectar
subtle sweet
lovers’ brew
nature’s aphrodisiac
new life on the wing

seedlings pop
bursts of vibrant green
blushing blooms
sweet perfume
not concerned with vanity
busy being Spring

kat ~ 5 April 2016