Write of Passage

For Day 9 of Intro to Poetry, the prompt or topic to address is “landscape.” The poetic device suggested is apostrophe. An apostrophe is like a passage directed at a specific person or thing. The poet speaks directly to Harry or the cat or even a spoon.

The poem below came a bit too easily, and I admit to spending too little time making it flow smoothly. While trying to describe the island, I directed my words to it. So, I used apostrophe, I suppose. Whether or not I got things right… well, you be the judge.

*

My Island Smile

Upon mattress of wave-washed, rounded crushed shell

You welcome my beach towel and warm it well.

Your cerulean skies meet turquoise and emerald

Waters off-shore as I read through the Herald.

In winter, you cool my skin with your breezes.

In summer, the ‘fridge barely ice cubes freezes;

Yet you cool me e’en at the crest of mid-day

With the salt-kissed air flow you send my way.

Your palm trees wave gently as though they sway

To Caribbean music, so soft from the bay.

Thirty-se’en beaches, each unique on your mantle

Lay like rough gems on a jewel-cloth of samples.

Your flowering vines and shrubs and trees

Dance to music bare heard. Yet I feel

The pounding of waves eighteen miles away–

From Orient Beach to Lagoon’s inner bays.

Hummingbirds flitter around your crown

Of flower-strung hills that circle around.

Isle of St. Martin, you are home to me now.

Continue to smooth my old wrinkled brow.

Continue to warm me in sun-drenched embrace;

Continue to hold me with tension-free days.

Continue to be a bright, friendly isle.

Continue to be the lithe curve of my smile.

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For Day 8 of Intro to Poetry, the topic is Pleasure. The device to employ is either anaphora or epistrophe. Both involve word repetition–anaphora at the beginning of lines, epistrophe at the end of lines. 

In the poem below, I have set aside the anaphora and epistrophe for another day. It was difficult enough to come up with things to say about a series of books by a very funny author who passed away over a year ago. His name was Terry Pratchett. These books have given me a great deal of pleasure over the years, and have provided me with humor when there was little to smile about. My poem attempt is a lowly little tribute to the art of a great writer, the Discworld he created, and the pleasure he has brought me.

*

The Discworld’s Stories

The smiles they elicit, the laughter they breed,

Every disaster a lesson indeed.

The magic is subtle, the living is rough.

More than 40 great books, but still not enough.

Terry Pratchett is gone now, no new Discworld tales,

Though his books live forever in readers’ regales.

There’s Granny and Rincewind,  and wiley Ridcully,

Befuddled old Death, and dark Vetinari;

Old Nanny, Tiffany, Grebo the cat,

There’s The Luggage, also a “wizzard”-ly hat.

There’s Watch Captain Vimes and his wife, Lady Sybil,

The Librarian, Cut-Me-Own-Troat Dibbler,

Adopted dwarf Carrot, and Colon and Noby, 

And werewolves and vampires, and zombies. There be

Goblins and dwarves and fairies and spirits,

Old-fashioned chores and failures and merit.

A world flat as a pancake with a river of slurry.

Many more characters, so many stories.

The knighted satirist has long gone away,

Yet left us his stories to pass merry days.

RIP, Terry Pratchett. 

##

Topic: Flavor

Suggested form: Found Poetry

Today is one with little time left for personal pursuits. Found Poetry, or recreating words, phrases, sentences, verse lines from one or many available sources to create a new poem using these, … well, I just don’t have the time to research and cobble today. So I will keep things short. 

My poem about flavor:

Vanilla Ice Cream

Cool and creamy–

hint of nougat,

pin dots of vanilla bean,

sugar bursts suspended in cream–

melt together

on the desert

of my summer tongue.

Heaven in a waffled cone.

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The definition of Enjambment as a poetic device is a bit more complex and interesting than expressed in this class’s resource page. But the overall meaning is essentially the same. For some good examples from classic poets, click on the link in the quote below.

Functions of Enjambment

Enjambment can be used to surprise the readers by delaying the meaning of a line until the following line is read. Some writers use this technique to bring humorous effects to their work. It is good to use in verse in order to create a sense of natural motion.

In poetry, the role of enjambment is normally to let an idea carry on beyond the restrictions of a single line. Another purpose of enjambment is to continue a rhythm that is stronger than a permanent end-stopping wherein complicated ideas are expressed in multiple lines.

[From Literarydevices.net ]

The topic of today’s poem is “screen” in any of its usages. 

Although I am getting braver in my poetry, I continue to be startled–like a deer caught in headlights–by either the topic or the format. If you’ve read my previous poetry, however, you’ll find I use “Enjambment” a lot. It’s just a function of the way poetry was studied at my high school so many decades ago. Here is today’s attempt.

*

On Screen

Old photos stop, then disappear

On the TV screen. It is clear

That much of my life has swiftly flown,

Like the images–bright, full-blown–

In a flicker before my eyes,

As memory lives and dies.

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