Tag Archives: Poem a Day

April 11, 2016

April’s Poetry Month – A Poem a Day #11

By Kat Myrman

crazycat

Photo Credit: pixabay.com…It’s been a day!


Happy…happy? Monday? Sometimes Mondays are…MONDAYS! Oh I’m being polite. Sometimes Monday’s are a BITCH! Today was one of THOSE Mondays!

But I made a commitment to try a new poetry form each day this month, and so I shall! I give you the “Lai”. It’s French for “Lai”. At least that’s what my translator says. Original eh?!

The Lai is at least one stanza of nine lines with 2 rhymes between lines “a” and “b”. The rhyme sequence is: aabaabaab. And just to make it interesting, the “a” lines have 5 syllables and the “b” lines have 2 syllables. Got it?

It’s a challenging little form. If you’re adventurous, there is a variation called the Lai Nouveau with similar rhyme sequences, 16 lines and repeating lines! Yikes! I think I’ll save that for a day when I have a brain! Today all I got is a lai poem about a lai!

The Lai

This form is called Lai
one stanza, nine lines
Let’s see…
It follows strict rhyme
Line “A” rhymes six times
“B” three
“A” syllable’s five
Two “B”
A challenge to try
This I can’t deny
Oh me!!!

kat ~ 11 April 2016
(I’m even more confused!!!!)

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

April 10, 2016

April Poetry Month-A Word a Day #10

By Kat Myrman

Happy Sunday and Happy 10th day of Poetry Month. Today’s poetry form is a perfect blend of left and right brain…the poem itself, a blend of elements, seasons, earth and sky. It is the perfect poetic storm…at least in my own mind! And you will recognize an old friend, my fairy tree lady.

Because she was so near an oak tree when I first noticed her, I assumed that she was an oak sapling. But this spring I discovered she is, in fact, a dogwood tree!

Serendipitous! Don’t you think? What better form could there be, but the Fibonacci…expanding cyclically into infinity! The whole idea of it makes me smile!

A Fibonacci Poem is a 6-line poem that follows the Fibonacci sequence for syllable count per line. It is expandable if you are mathematically inclined…alas, I am not. So I will stick to the basic form. But for those who want to give the expanded version a try, I’ve included the equation sequence to give you a start! The standard version syllable sequence is 1-1-2-3-5-8. The expanded version is calculated as such:
0+1=1
1+1=2
1+2=3
2+3=5
3+5=8
5+8=13
8+13=21
13+21=34
and so on and so forth…to infinity and beyond

Here then is my take:

 

Photo Credit: Kat Myrman 2016


The Dogwood Lady

She
whose
bare limbs
weathered winter,
now adorns herself in
a flowing gown of dogwood blooms.

kat ~ 10 April 2016

7 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Spirituality

April 9, 2016

April Poetry Month – A Poem a Day #9

By Kat Myrman
IMG_5200

..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

8 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Humor, Poetry

April 8, 2016

April Poetry Month – A Poem a Day #8

By Kat Myrman

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…:)

img_5612-1

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

 

14 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings

April 7, 2016

April Poetry Month – A Poem a Day #7

By Kat Myrman

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

8 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings