Success Saturday: I Wrote my First Double (Mirror) Acrostic

This week I succeeded in writing my first double (mirror) acrostic. I also succeed in writing several other form poems. In addition, I attended my grief counseling meeting on Wednesday, which helped alleviate the stress, worry, and depression I have confronted for the last few weeks. I have several things to do next week, but I am going to put off worrying about those until after Sunday.

This week I succeeded in writing a ballad, a rondeau, a saraband, a decuain, a free verse, a kyrielle, and a Shakespearean sonnet. I still have one more challenge poem to write before September 7 at 11:59 pm Eastern Daylight Time. I need to work on that today  because I only have one line; I have been working on it all week, but I keep changing the first line. Once I change the line I have to start all over again because the rest of the first stanza does not make sense when I change the first line.

Website Wednesday: Poetry Forms

A good place to find different poetry forms is at shadowpoetry.com under Types of Poetry.

If you are looking for a rhyme then check out RhymeZone.

A daily poetry contest

There is a daily poetry contest on writing.com called “A Poem a Day”. Each week prompts are posted for six days, while one day there are no prompts. The challenge for the participants is to write a poem about at least one of the prompts. One of the prompts is a poetry form.

The forms for this week are (1) Triolet, (2) Monotetra, (3) Balassi Stanza, (4) Le Sizain Hétérométrique, and (5) Candlelight Poem. The forms are challenging enough to push the poet and short enough to finish the poem in a single day. I want to attempt to enter the contest every day. This is the third or fourth week I have attempted this challenge. Even though the poems are short, sometimes it is difficult to write a poem every day.

The poems I write for the contest I post in my writing.com portfolio under Contest Submissions. The poem I wrote for today is a Triolet titled “A Cloudy Sunday Morning”. It rained in Las Vegas last night and early this morning. When I woke up, I washed some bed linen with the intention of hanging the sheets on the line; I had to change my plans. This was the inspiration for the poem.

Visit My Portfolio @ Writing.Com

Book Review: A Haiku

As I read the book
The action held me spellbound
This is worth keeping

Writing a Haiku String

A haiku string is a series of haiku stanzas in the same poem. All this week, I have attempted to write this type of poem. I have written other haiku strings, but this one seems to be the most difficult. I am not sure why it is giving me problems.

Nature has attempted to provide inspiration. It rained last night, on Friday I saw a nightingale sitting on a neighbor’s fence, and on Wednesday morning, I heard a nightingale singing. In addition, one of the neighbors’ dogs, one that does not normally bark, has barked periodically all week. I have received plenty of inspiration; I simply cannot get the poem together. Sometimes it goes this way when I write form poems.

This week I am writing Etheree

Etheree Taylor Armstrong created the Etheree poetry form. This is a 10-line form, with each line based on syllable count. The first line begins with one syllable, with the poet adding a syllable to each succeeding line. The syllable count of each is 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 and the total syllable count of the poem is fifty-five.

There are three variations to this form. Fist, the single Etheree consists of ten lines and a syllable count of 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10. Second, the reverse Etheree, which also consists of 10 lines and a syllable count of 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. The third variation is the double Etheree consisting of twenty lines and a syllable count of 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. The poet can include rhyme in all of these variations, but rhyme is not necessary.

Reviewing the past week

It is Saturday, May 22, 2010, the end of good and a bad week. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I spent approximately eight hours each day in a paid training class. On Tuesday, I came home and found my mother has lost her hearing aid. It fell out of her ear when she lay down on the couch. Thursday, we took the hearing aid back and the docotor ordered her a larger hearing aid, which we will pick up next week.

On Friday, I went to the pharmacy to pick up one of Mom's medications. When I came home, I found one of the cats had died. I took his body to the animal shelter to let them cremate Spot. Next week I am taking the other cats to the vet for their shots and senior wellness exams.

I am starting a series of form poems about all the animals, mostly cats and dogs; I have encountered in my 63 years of life. I think poems are the best way to remember pets, at least for me.

Thirty form poems in ten weeks

The Poetry in Motion challenge ends on Saturday, May 22. I finished the three forms for this week and post them on May 17. The forms I used this week are

1. Paper lantern/Little Lantern/Lanterne
2. Kyoka
3. The Spenserian Sonnet and Iambic Pentameter

 

The forms used in the past nine weeks are listed in Twenty Seven Form Poems in Nine Weeks, Twenty-four Form Poems in Eight Weeks, Twenty-one Form Poems in Seven Weeks, and Eighteen Form Poems in Six Weeks.

 

Twenty-Seven Form Poems in Nine Weeks

One more week to go in the Poetry in Motion challenge on writing.com, then I can begin discussing the forms. I want to include a new example of the form I am writing about in my blog entry. Some of the forms I am working with are difficult, so it takes a while to write the poem.

The forms I worked with this week are

1. Jánakú
2. Onzain Neerlandaise (New)
3. The Grossblank and Iambic Hexameter

and the poems I wrote are found in Poetry in Motion Poems when you Visit My Portfolio @ Writing.Com. The other blog entries in this series are Eighteen Form Poems in Six Weeks, Twenty-one form Poems in Seven Weeks, and Twenty-four Form Poems in Eight Weeks.

Twenty-One Form Poems in Seven Weeks

I have now written twenty-one form poems in seven weeks. The first eighteen forms are listed in Eighteen Form Poems in Six Weeks. The three new forms are

1. Meriaku
2. Sijo
3. Saraband Sonnet

There are three more weeks to go in the challenge and nine more form poems to write. The poems are located in Poetry In Motion Poems at Visit My Portfolio @ Writing.Com.

Eighteen Form Poems in Six Weeks

On Sunday, March 14, 2010, I began a ten-week poetry challenge called Poetry In Motion on writing.com. Each week I have three different forms to choose from, but it is only necessary to submit one form poem. So far, I have written poems using all the forms. That is eighteen form poems in six week, four weeks remain in the challenge with three different forms each week.

I am placing the poems in a book called Poetry in Motion Poems located in My Port on writing.com. The forms I have used are as follows.

1. The Doublet
2. Tri-fall
3. The Swap Quatrain and Historical Research
4. The 160
5. Acrostic Monorhyme
6. Ninesquare
7. Triolet
8. Ae frelighe
9. The Sestina
10. Fox Septet
11. Le Sizain hétérométrique
12. Dorsimbra
13. Cyhydedd Naw Ban
14. Naani
15. Englyn Unodl Union
16. The Fibonacci
17. Tanka
18. The Hendecasyllabic

Over the next few week I will discusses these forms with an example poem and links to find more information on these forms.

Form poems are challenging

Form poems challenge a writer because they force the poet to work with a pattern. Some poetry forms are more challenging then others, but all poetry form exercise a writer's mind and muse. Form poems are also fun to write because you have to work within the form.

Write within the form
Count syllables watch the rhyme
This is not a box

I wrote a Burns Stanza this morning

A Burns Stanza is made up of six iambic lines rhyming a-a-a-b-a-b, The lines containing the a rhyme are iambic tetrameter, which is four meter feet of eight syllables. The b rhymed lines are iambic dimeter, which is two meter feet of four syllables.

I like the Burns Stanza because it focus my mind on the poem's subject. The form is like a recipe because it dictates how the poem is written and leaves the subject or theme up to the poet. I encountered this form while reviewing on writing.com.

Since this is my first Burns Stanza, I am posting the poem in my writing.com port Prosperous Snow. I want to get some reviews of this poem and perhaps enter it in a contest on writing.com.

A Poetry Day

Today is a poetry day
when everything I read or do or see
inspires a poem.

I see the form of poetry
in the green needles of a stone pine tree
or hear it in the voice of my mother
as she makes her plans for the day.

This is a poetry day
when my muse sees inspiration
in the mundane
disasters of daily life.

October is here

October is here and I have a busy writing month. I'm taking a class on review, not that I don't already know how to review short stories and poetry. It's just that I think I could improve my reviewing method. I need to learn the finer details of writing a review that is both encouraging to the author and points out spots for improvement in the writing.

I'm also working on a series of poems about the days of the week. I've posted two of the poems in this blog. The finished poems are for Sunday and Monday. I still have the rest of the week to do. I got to the Tuesday poem and decided I needed a different form. I'm still looking for a form for the Tuesday poem. I want a form I haven't used before because the first two poems were written in forms I've used.

Monday Poem written September 29, 2008

When is the moon's day?
Monday the workweek begins;
another hour's sleep.

NOTE: Haiku is 5 7 5 syllables. Monday was originally dedicated to the moon.

Sunday Poem written September 28, 2008

Sun's Day;
Under a partly cloudy sky
Notice the temperature rise
Degree by degree toward
Another triple digit Las Vegas day;
Yearning for cooler weather.

NOTE: The first letters of each line of an acrostic poem spell out a word or phrase. Originally, Sunday was the day dedicated to the sun.

Monday, September 1, 2008 is Labor Day

Monday, September 1, 2008 is Labor Day, which means the schools and banks are closed. In addition, there will be no postal deliveries. However, United Blood Services are open; you can donate blood on Labor Day. This is precisely what I am going to attempt to do.

I have changed this appointment several times, so this time I am going to go to the donation site. There are several United Blood Services in Las Vegas; I am going to the one on East Charleston. I have donated blood for several years, which is surprising since I used to be afraid of needles. Obviously, I do not have that problem any more.

Donating blood is easy, all though not quick. I am usually at the donation site about two hours. I give the blood and then I wait for about fifteen to thirty minutes before leaving. I eat and drink some of their refreshments, while reading a book. All though, I think on September 1, I will work on a poem about donating blood.

I have wanted to write a poem about this subject for some time now. The problem is I cannot seem to find an approach. This time I am going to use a form poem and write about donating blood. I am not sure which form I am using, but I will know before I go on Monday. I will research poetry forms and see if I can find a form I have never used before.

I find that using a specific poetry form helps focus my thoughts when I want to write a poem, but cannot find an approach. There are many forms to choose from and poets are creating new forms all the time, so it should not be difficult to find an appropriate form.

Earth Day Approaches

‘Idál (Justice), 1 Jalal (Glory), 165 B.E. – Wednesday, April 9, 2008 about 10:17 PM PDT

Earth day approaches
time to celebrate mother Earth.

I am working on an Earth Day poem; the problem is I have not figured the approach yet. Since Earth is on April 22, I do have some time. I think I will write a form poem, celebrating mother Earth and Earth Day. I like form poems because I can focus on the poem template rather other aspects of the poem. Once the poem is written then I can rewrite, but if I am not sure about what to write a poem template helps me focus on the subject and the form.

Poetry Forms – Part 2

A Garland Cinquain is a form poem composed of thirty lines divided into six stanzas. The syllable counts of the lines are 2, 4, 6, 8, and 2. The poet creates the last stanza from lines taken from the preceding five stanzas. In this form, the poet takes the fist line in stanza five from the first line of the first stanza. The following lines come from stanzas 2, 3, 4, and 5 in that order.

This is a challenging form because the lines in the last stanza makes the knowt and come from lines in the other five stanza. It is challenging to write the poem so that the last stanza fits and makes sense. The part about making sense is a personal preference.

For more infomation on the Garland Cinquain and other types of Cinquains see A Cinquain Glossary by John Daleidan. For examples of garland cinquains see Garland Cinquains by John Daleidan.

Please note that I will be posting two or three of my own Garland Cinquains in a few days. I am in the process of writing and rewriting these poems now.