Wednesday Poetry

Day 45 – Valentine’s Day (Photo credit: Karin Beil)

Good afternoon, everyone. It’s med-week, which means poetry for me. Today has an interesting combo package. First up is Poetic Bloomings with its poetic form challenge of the week. This was a doozie, but not unworkable. It did present me with surprises, though.

My Muse is a perverse little girl. She allows me to begin where I want and then hijacks the verse to take it where I’d never envisioned. She was in fine form this morning. Enjoy my poem Pictures before going on with my entry for Poetic Asides.

IN-FORM POET WEDNESDAY – OVILLEJO
An OVILLEJO (the name comes from the Spanish, meaning “tight ball of yarn”) is a verse that consists of ten lines. There are no specific line lengths required, but the shorter lines (numbers 2, 4, and 6) are usually no more than five syllables long, and the other seven lines no more than eight syllables long. The rhyme scheme reveals the mystery of the form:

1. a, Longer line
2. A, Short line
3. b, Longer line
4. B, Short line
5. c, Longer line
6. C, Short line
7. c, Longer line
8. d, Longer line
9. d, Longer line
10. A+B+C <— This line combines Lines 2, 4 and 6 to complete a thought.
Many Ovillejo devotees suggest having the last line or phrase in mind before writing, to help set your theme. (But flying by the seat of your pants offers some interesting variations!)

Here is my attempt for follow form. It always amazes me when Muse allows me to begin where I want and then takes me on a detour to places unanticipated to a parking lot where I sit and wonder how I got there.

Pictures

From time’s massive camera
Come ephemera;
Photos shot in slow motion,
Leaving emotion
To run with tide’s lingering doubt,
Creating devout
Thoughts of time’s overall meaning
Within life’s framework built of clocks,
Daily acts made as building blocks
Ephemera’s emotion creates devout.

For Poetic Asides Prompt #210, we’re asked to write a Valentine’s Poem or an Anti-love poem. I had only to think back to those days in school–oh, so many years ago–to find examples for this poem and thoughts that followed them. Enjoy. And Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone.

Red Heart Day

It’s come again,
That red heart day
When children cringe
And face rejection.

It’s come again,
When lovers swoon
Over choc’late and wine,
Over past times of love.

It’s come again,
With cards, flowers
And general good feelings;
It lasts but this one day.

Should it not be our daily compass?