Poetry, stories and strange odds and ends from the desk of a writer
Form: Quatrains The air tastes fresh and clean after the stormWith skies still violent red in nature’s rage.As clouds gather into a thunderous swarmWe rush to seek shelter from the carnage. Who sees the butterfly, she’s lost alone,A flutter of wings as rain starts once more.She is battered by speed of the cycloneCrushed, she falls … Continue reading Storm of Death
Pathya Vat is an interesting SE Asian form that has a short syllable count. Each stanza consists of four lines of four syllables with lines two and three rhyming. There is no stanza limit. Rhyme scheme: xaax xbbx xccx and so on A French influenced variant for multiple stanzas is to rhyme the middle lines … Continue reading Pathya Vat Notes
The last goodbye, a doctor said It felt good walking home The snow guiding my way ahead...
The Quatern consists of four four-line stanzas. As is common with French forms there is a refrain, but, unusually no rhyme scheme is specified. Typical of French poetry it consists of eight-syllable lines and no meter is specified.The Refrain is the first line of the first stanza, which becomes the second line of the second … Continue reading Quatern Notes
Using tetrameter or eight-syllable lines , the Redondilla is a quatrain that offers the poet a variety of rhyme schemes. An envelope of couplets, alternating couplets or conventional couplets, or even a combination of that.The rhyme scheme possibilities are: abbaabababab In the following example Ryter uses a combination of the three rhyme schemes Example To … Continue reading Redondilla Notes
Form: Endecha That morning I first heard itHaunting my senses at dawnEchoing deep in my soulAnd to that recognition my soul is drawn I heard it again todayAnd my senses again frozeA soulful, deafening cryA passioned call; that sound the wilderness knows Spirit brother I hear youYour heart calling to my wholeEvery part of me … Continue reading Morning Call
Form: Ballad If you go down the lakeside way,There is a fairy ring,So come and watch the fun this dayAnd see the Elfin King. The fairies dance with steps so small.And pixies waltz in pairs.The night of nights, the elfin ball,A time to lose all cares. The tiny folk adorned in silkOf finest weave and … Continue reading The Wedding Wand
Form; Ballad As shards of blue the rays reach outThe stars of Yuletide night.The midday moon reveals a poutHere is the winter's light. I call my love as Yuletide comesAnd hold his hand in mine.We dance to winter’s beating drums,Around the season's pine. As shards of blue the rays reach outThe stars of Yuletide night.The … Continue reading The Winter of Light
Form: Quatrains Death is here and Death is with me,Dark angel I alone can seeShe surrounds, inside, below,She is Death and I shall go. Death has her hand upon my skin,On all I am in my own sin.This I know and this I feel,Death my lady - you are real. First, my desires pass to … Continue reading In the Quatrains of Death
Form: Quatrains As moonlit midnight skies drift in wonderTo the dawn of the new sapphire sunrise,My dreams turn to the muse that lies yonder,My brush seeks out her cerulean eyes. The artist lost to her cold heart of steel,As paint so creates the cloudless figures.My indigo tears flow, each stroke I feelOf portrayals, she greets … Continue reading Playing the Blues
Form: Sapphic Stanzas In silver lunar, light divine,As by the Ancients cast foreseen,A message I could not decline,Hail Holy Queen! In one with Mother Nature’s lightThe Balance I have found in YouMy trust and fate I give tonight,May I walk true To use Your power as a giftAnd only ever with Your good will.For the … Continue reading Hail Holy Queen
Form: Heroic Stanza Each morning I stare her straight in the eyeHer dark eyes waiting to tear me apartShe’s daring me to resist as she callsMy name again I deny her my heart Oh lady of destiny I know youI know your touch as if it was love’s kissIt’s not today; today you wait in … Continue reading Facing Her Down
Form: Quatrains The world of stars I see,Above the Earth each night,Is where I find my dreams,Before the dawn’s daylight. The kiss of dew tastes sweet,The gift of nature’s rite,Awake the spites of life,Before the dawn’s daylight ©JGFarmer2009
Form: Quatrains For July 8th I have just one wishTo spend an hour with Percy ByssheTo hear him speak and share a whileMaybe even see my hero smile. His works of beauty, I have them allWords from a romantic that often call.Magic images that release my mindSo much inspiration for a painter to find. Verses … Continue reading July 8th
A foolish age, sixteen She wanted pics of me For her bookshelf display...
A variation of Common Measure, Long Measure consists quatrains of iambic tetrameter lines with a rhyme pattern of abcb defe and so on, or abac dedf and so on. Example Beneath the Willow Tree by Jez Farmer My words are naught but summer rainwhen met with acrid clouds of doubt.Each time the hurt denies my … Continue reading Long Measure Notes
From winter’s bough a lonely song Echoes across the empty field She chirps her song the whole day long...
While talking with December late one night A glass of whiskey in my hand I sure he smiled in the firelight...
Limericks come from an old custom of each person at a party singing a nonsense verse off the top of there head followed by the chorus which included the line ‘ Will you come up to Limerick?’ Light and humorous in nature, Limericks can be more difficult to write than they seem. Usually Limericks come … Continue reading Limerick Notes
Texte: Education costs money. But then so does ignorance – Sir Claus Moser
Dating from the Middle Ages the Kyrielle was once a very popular French form. Written in quatrains with the last line of each quatrains as a refrain. Each line consists of eight syllables. The rhyme scheme is aabB ccbB ddbB and so on Example Jamie’s Song by Jez Farmer We walked through the gilded gatewayTowards … Continue reading Kyrielle Notes
Brilliant skies of surrealistic winter days, Shades of grey lacking in cheer or delighting ways, Mingle with vivid sighs, spring is arriving soon...
Form: Rannaicheacht Bheag Blessed ploughman, the god of fields dressedDivine child of a goddess, blessedOf prodded earth his hands sealed questTo yield harvest gods’ blessed ©JGFarmer2020
A love found in nature’s glory, A passion freed me from the pain, The kiss that started our story In summer’s rain...
Stricter than Common measure, Hymnal Measure consists of alternating rhyming couplets over iambic tetrameter and trimeter. This gives a rhyme scheme of…abab cdcd efef … and so on Example: Hymn to Beauty by Jez Farmer It is an art this kissing thing,A portrait drawn by love;When lips embrace the heart shall singAnd speak desire thereof … Continue reading Hymnal Measure Notes
I long to cast magic’s spell, know thee well in autumn’s night. A wish just for thee, my heart...
In winter’s white, as angels cry for early spring to warm the wind, to bring to life with gentle sigh...
In circle dance from left to right Around the Pagan flame From right to left eternal light...
For all those years you sat in pose, your love endured to meet my art. My muse you were, I saw no rose...
In blue moonlight where Lady Ophelia drifts the whispered streams in winter's beauty, her eyes reflecting starlight vaguely float and fade...
She waits in shadows on edges of life Her scythe to gather souls at rest beside. Angel of death, how we resist her knife...
In the season of paradox cowards slink, The world in ambiguity is enslaved. The writer’s quill flows with contrary ink...
Roses, a gift from me heart to show in art I love ye. Each bloom presents part of me...
A variation of Common Measure which gives the poet two choices of rhyme scheme. Both consist of four-line stanzas in iambic trimeter or hexasyllabic lines. The first has a pattern of two alternating rhymes and in the second lines two and four rhyme. abab cdcd efef and so onabcb defe ghih and so on Example … Continue reading Half Measure Notes
A wild Pagan heart that beats strong And dances to flutes of Pan. The way of Old turned me from wrong...
Somewhere sings a lover’s song Beneath sheets of velvet dreams Fantasy and love gone wrong...
The warmth of sun-kissed upon the earth To welcome a new bloom Beautiful face kissed by the gods...
My love of words easy to see The ever-growing pile Is just waiting to be read...
Long nights of darkness are coming to an end. Spring is marching in, warming the world with life. Bleak landscape expanses of sombre grey shadows...
What does she do with all the teeth that she finds? White, tiny teeth from under the soft, feather pillow. Where does she take them as you lie in dream sleep...
Form: Clerihew On the Scrabble board words are a game But the play in poetry isn’t the same When twisting words to give some meaning And the eyes scream from the screening ©JGFarmer2020
Form: Clerihew For that woman he gave up a throneFor love his days of glory blownHis reign over a sad circumstanceWith Windsor’s Duke left in France ©JGFarmer2020
Probably created by Francesco Petrarch when he moved to the Sicilian court, Envelope stanzas are building blocks for the Italian, Spanish, and French octaves. However, it is a poetic form in its own right and the latter Spanish and French have set the precedence for the meter of eight syllables, or Iambic Tetrameter with the … Continue reading Envelope Stanza Notes
She's rhythmic; swaying, swinging hips gyrate, Her finger bends - come closer - drawing me, expose black lace, entice my eyes to fate...
Um err what! I think maybe I have lost the plot. Been trying to battle with that damn writer's block. Looking everywhere for a spark, a smidgen not a lot...
I'm caught in her trap of intricate lies, Ensnared by the promise of silken sighs, A liaison between pale velvet thighs...
With eyes that shimmer moonlight's dawn, reflect desire with senses torn, at love's caress from head to toe...
At dawn the first rays of sun light, That chase the shadows of the night To keep the joyful spirits bright...
Forces of nature, hail to Thee, From here on bended knee. The Earth Mother graces us with life...
She sings to me in silver tones She calls the merry tune The maidens dance before the crones...
