napowrimo 2018 – day 24

Winter, thou art dead
perhaps you think we should mourn
– but Spring is here now!

~~

an “elegy” (in the loosest possible meaning of the word) for napowrimo.net
PS…my elegy is in the form of a “haiku” (also in the loosest possible meaning of the word)

Napowrimo 2018 – day 23

flood and pestilence
pollen dust and allergies
– ah Spring I love thee

Outside

outside
the snow is
nearly gone
the lawn remains
brown from
lack of rain
and somewhere
an eye seeks
for treasure
that shines
is there
wisdom in this?
perhaps,
for the crow
may have
something
that he knows

~~

Today is day one of (Inter)National Poetry Writing Month (napowrimo). At napowrimo.net, we have been encouraged to write in the style poet Kay Ryan. The above is my attempt

Spring is Here

I think I heard that Spring is here!
that lovely time when green things grow
and sun’s descent begins to slow

it is my favourite time of year
but still I wish to cry, here’s why:
there’s one thing that is far too clear

outside there’s still a foot of snow
…I thought I heard that Spring is here…

~~

at dVerse, Victoria has introduced us to a form called the Octain Refrain.  It comprises of 2 tercets and a couplet in iambic tetrameter or pentameter (poet’s choice).  Rhyme scheme is A-b-b, a-c/c-a, b-A.  Capital A denotes that the first line is echoed in the final line, and some variation is allowed.  The middle line of the 2nd tercet contains internal rhyme.

By the way, a “foot of snow” might be a slight exaggeration.

Spring Thaw

Sunlight kisses the land with warmth
and snow soon turns to
pleasure pools for
rubber booted children.

As the sun begins to sink,
shrieks of joy are replaced
by mothers’ calls to “come in!”

and soon those children
…melt
……to mud
………on the floor

~~

The word for dVerse Quadrille #5 is “melt”

Spring Romance

In their opening
flowers confess their love of
the sun’s warm kisses

~~

sharing this over at dVerse, where Anthony has asked us to write confessions

Hope

as we move
further from winter’s solstice
darkness is slowly releasing me
from its stranglehold
on my morning commute.

the eastern horizon
while not yet bright
is no longer so black
that earth blends with sky
but just a hint of greyish gold
tells me that

spring is surely on its way

Winter’s Not Done Yet

It may be warm for a winter’s day
but I know that spring is not here yet.
Winter winds are still going to blow
and there will still be chilly days ahead
Even if Wednesday was warm enough for a January thaw,
don’t get it into your head
that we’re completely done with snow
In fact I’m willing to bet
That winter is still going to show
that it certainly hasn’t fled
Before it releases us from it’s iron claw
We’re still going to see some serious cold!
You could put away your winter jacket and boots
but that might be prematurely bold.
Sure, the weather might see and it might saw,
and some days you might not want to get out of bed
Eventually, though…and this is nature’s law
this winter weather that we like to dread
will finally end, and we’ll see fresh green shoots
burst from the ground…and colour will finally banish the gray.

~~

I wanted to experiment a bit with form and create something new (as far as I know, this form has not been used before). I call this form “5 steps forward, 3 steps back”. There is no metrical requirements, and no set line length, but a strict rhyme scheme: five lines of “advance”, 3 lines of “retreat” (ABCDEDCB), and then the process repeats starting with CDEFGFED. This can continue indefinitely, but the poem must end on the five line “advance”, but the 5th line of the advance must rhyme with the initial “a” rhyme.

Enjoy It While You Can!

Spring has been quite slow in coming here
but fin’ly, buds are showing on the trees
and I can feel that there’s warmth in the air

I am relieved that if I look, I’ll see
there is some green when I look at the lawn
(I’d really rather not have to re-seed)

This weather has me thinking about plans
for holidaying with my wife and kids
we won’t go far, perhaps just down the lane…

there’s not much time before return of cold
and so I want to savour every bit
of spring and summer because I know I should!

So celebrate the warmth before the bite
of winter and it’s harsh and bitter nights

~~

at dVerse, Karin has us writing in slant rhymes (or near rhymes).  I decided I wanted to try using the slant-rhyme technique in a Terza Rima sonnet (aba bcb cdc ded ee rhyme structure).  I think that some of my rhymes are a little bit far, even for slant, but I hope that I got it close enough).  Not my best poem…I was certain that slant rhyme would be easy…after all, I wouldn’t need to find real rhymes, but I found this challenge to be deceptively challenging (and that is a good thing!)

Spring – New Form poetry for dVerse

Slowly it melts.  I wait for the snow
to go completely. I want growing
to start! Mowing the lawn…hoeing…aren’t
much fun, but knowing produce will be
ripe before long…OH…I can almost
taste a ripe tomato bursting with
flavour! Though I must wait, owing to
the frozen soil, I will keep coping,
hoping…soon I can plant the first row

~~

earlier this month at dVerse, Gay Reiser Cannon asked us to come up with our own form poetry. I had posted a poem at the time, but then, I came up with another idea, but didn’t have time to write a poem in time to post it for the link, so I have saved this poem for open link night.

Notes on the form:

Name: I haven’t quite decided between “X-Factor” or “Cross-Purpose”
Structure:

• pick any odd number of 5 or greater (I recommend between 5 and 11). That number is the total number of syllables in each line AND the total number of lines in the poem
• the poem should be non-metrical in feel
• 1st and last syllables of 1st and last line rhyme
• 2nd and 2nd last syllable of  2nd line and 2nd last line rhyme with the rhyming syllables of 1st and last line
• as the poem progresses towards the middle, the rhymed syllable moves progressively inward until the middle line.  The middle line has only one of the rhyming syllable, directly in the middle of the line.
• In other words, the rhyming syllables form an “X” in the structure.
• NOTE: the rhyming syllable does NOT have to be the last syllable of any given word.  For example, one of my words in the above poem is “tomato” where I’ve used the first and last syllable of the word as the rhyming syllables (so yes, you CAN use the same syllable more than once if necessary)
• The poem doesn’t necessarily have to be true (for example, I hate gardening)  🙂