Category: poetry

poetry

A New Poetic Form?

carolyncordon

 A Tritern? I’m not sure if the poetic form of today’s poem I wrote today for the #poemadayfeb challenge, has an actual name, but Tritern is my attempt at giving it one, if it doesn’t already have one. It is a poetic form based a little on the Quatern (details for that style below)

Tritern:

9 lines, broken into 3 stanzas of three lines each
Each line has 9 syllables

The first line of the poem is the refrain,

In second stanza the refrain is the second line

In third (final) stanza refrain is final (third) line.

Rhyming or non rhyming as poet wishes.

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This is the Quatern: it has 16 lines broken up into 4 quatrains (or 4-line stanzas).

  1. Each line is comprised of eight syllables.
  2. The first line is the refrain. In the second stanza, the refrain appears in the second line; in the third stanza, the third line; in the fourth stanza, the fourth (and final) line.
  3. There are no rules for rhyming or iambics.

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OK, now onto my poem for the 20th of February 2019, based on/inspired by, thinking about people who are good people, but have been beaten down by life. They will brush themselves down, get up and give it another try, because they want to be the kind of person they would like and respect.
Life’s journey can be a difficult one, a marathon of rough terrain, but crossing the winning line in front of others is a fail, if you cross the line in a helicopter.

 

The theme is ‘Last’

 

Who are the Losers?

 

Coming last, losing, beaten by all,

humiliated, defeated, but

isn’t just trying, better than not?

 

If you won’t try, you shouldn’t mock those

coming last. Losing, beaten by all,

but winners ‘cos they gave it their best.

 

Life isn’t fair, and many will cheat,

& cheaters all fail at being good –

coming last, losing, beaten by all!

poetry

Not Sure About This Poem

carolyncordon

So cleanse is the poetry prompt for this, the 19th day of February. I don’t have time to actually write my poem yet, too many other things to do this morning, but I know that prompt will be wandering around the back of my mind, as I’m busy doing other things. The brain is an amazing thing, and we should all take care of it, as much as we can. Yeah, we should, but often don’t …

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Sometimes a poem may not always go the way you were expecting it to go, and you have the choice, follow the poem, or stick with your original thoughts. Today’s poem was quite like that, and now I have a mish-mash of thoughts, the general idea of cleansing our lives through good works, but then the addition of some quite different thoughts, which, though still on the theme of ‘good’, maybe don’t really fit together. I began in one direction, and then turned in another one …

I don’t feel as objective as I need to be to sort this one out to my absolute satisfaction. It may be the problems I have today are part of the whole poem a day thing, where there isn’t enough time for more considered thought. It isn’t a terrible poem, and I am happy enough to post it here, knowing I can always edit it further before the poem ever goes to print, rather than simply being displayed on this blog …

Every piece of writing can be a work in progress, even after the first print run, after all. I’m more or less happy that I have used metaphor in this poem, and stuck with it rather than mixing the metaphor. So I guess this poem could be labelled as a metaphor poem, and for that I thank John Malone, for all he has shown me over the years we’ve been friends.

Any ‘metaphorical’ failings in this poem my own, certainly no fault of John, who is a fine writer of metaphor in his poetry!

 

 

Dining Well for a Good Life

Thinking on past filth dumped on me by life

the wrongs, the jibes, nasty ‘jokes’, strife,

blame laid where none should’ve been given –

claims of my laziness, that were ego-driven …

 

The stories I tell of my life, are my own –

the truth is in what I’ve said, and I’ve shown –

I prefer to do good, whenever I can,

& wish all felt the same, child, woman & man.

 

But all of us have our own ways to go –

it’s up to each one, the results that will show.

I can’t say how each person should be

and the way I go, that may only suit me.

 

But it works for me, so I’ll go on the way I do.

My main meal of life – a good & creative stew –

starting with lemon water to cleanse my palate

then political dishes that suit my ballot –

 

an entree filled with environmental assistance,

next course a salad of ‘Green’-leaning persistence,

main course, that stew of help, for the needy,

& dessert to end, a small one, & don’t be greedy!

 

The ‘meals’ forced on us when we were younger,

ones that sickened us, not feeding our hunger –

we know more now, eat more of what is nutritious,

desserts too, just a little, and life is delicious!

poetry

Tanka & Other Japanese Forms

carolyncordon

I was pleased today, to see that the poetry prompt for the #poemadayfeb event was the Tanka form of poetry. I have spent many years trying to perfect the writing of Haiku, and the similar style of Tanka, and am still trying to perfect them.

I suspect this will continue for the rest of my life, knowing that managing to write one good one, certainly does not mean you’ve ‘got it’! In my life, I think I’ve written a mere handful of fine Haiku, and I’m not sure I’ve every written a Tanka I would call fine …

But today, I am going to do my best at writing a good Tanka, because I’d like the poems I put up here to be all good poems, of various forms, and following the various given prompts for February 2019. A Tanka has a syllable count of 5/7/5/7/7 syllables, or fewer, and a Haiku has a syllable count of 5/7/5 syllables, or fewer. There is a lot more to these poetic forms, but that would be for another blog post …

This has been a wonderful month for me, I feel my poetry is really getting to a higher level, to some extent, and I am ever so grateful to Kathy Parker, Paul Kohn, and Laura Greaves for putting these words together for poets to use as prompts. The more I write poetry, the better I feel I am getting, and the more inspired I am feeling about my writing in general.

Yesterday I wrote my #poemadayfeb poem, and another poem, and the text for a picture book too, all in one inspired day. I don’t know if that picture book will ever become an actual book, but I like it, it’s a sweet little story about friendship, and I’m wishing I could draw well enough, to finish it off!

I’m going to have a bit of a go at doing illustrations for this picture book, just to see how it would look, and whether it might work. That’s a task for me, after I finish this blog post, by posting the Tanka I have now finished writing. It is based on what I heard this morning, and what I remember from other times. I’ve written it down here, and fiddled with it for about ten minutes, still not completely happy, but happier than I was, so it will have to do.

That’s the thing with writing, there’s still something else you might do to make it better, but editing has to stop somewhere if others are going to read your work, and having written that, here it is:

Tanka for the 18th of February, 2019
________________________

Gentle breeze blowing,

wind chimes, and sparrow song,

bring peaceful moments,

before my husband brings home

a cacophony of sound …

 

 

 

 

 

poetry

A Poetry Competition

carolyncordon

One of my roles with the Adelaide Plains Poets is to be the competition secretary. I have carried out this role for as long as the group has been going. There has been a different theme for the competition every year, and this year, the theme is “Location”.

Winners of this competition will be announced during the Adelaide Plains Festival of Words 2019, at the end of July, when there will be a variety of different workshops and other words and writing related events. All interested persons are most welcome! The program of the Festival will be launched in May 2019, in Gawler.

 

These are the Competition Entry form and Guidelines:

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ADELAIDE PLAINS POETS Inc.      POETRY COMPETITION 2019      ‘LOCATION’

1st, 2nd & 3rd cash prizes, plus Highly Commended & Commended certificates as awarded by judge. Total prize pool over $700

ENTRY GUIDELINES

Work entered in this competition must be original, in English, unpublished and not have won a prize in any other competition. Authors retain copyright.

Theme ‘Location’ – Poems entered must in some way refer to the theme

Open Class – poets 18 years & older

Junior sections – Primary School student (one poem only), Secondary School student (one poem only)

To maintain anonymity, entrant’s name should appear on entry form only, not on poems. Entry forms are to include entrant’s name, address, phone number, titles of poems submitted.

Entries should be typed, on one side of paper only, one poem to a page

Poems to be no longer than 60 lines

Entry fees: Open class $10 for first poem, $5 for every poem entered thereafter

Junior classes – no entry fee, only one poem per student

Cheques/money orders to be made payable to Adelaide Plains Poets Inc

Or electronically using these details: BSB 105-009 Acc 105 954 340 (please give poet’s name with electronic payment)

Entries to: Competition Secretary, 1594 Germantown Rd REDBANKS South Australia 5502

Entries to be received by close of business  5 July 2019 – entries received after this date may not be considered for the competition.

Authors should retain a copy of their work

For further details contact: Competition secretary, Ms C Cordon

at 0418 806 490, kittycordo@gmail.com

or

http://carolyn-poeticpause.blogspot.com.au/

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ADELAIDE PLAINS POETS Inc. POETRY COMPETITION 2018 ‘LOCATION’

ENTRY FORM

Name……………………………………………………………..…..……………………Phone…………………………………

Address……………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Email……………………………..……………………..

 

Title of poem/s – ……………………………………………………..…………..………………….……

……………………………………………………..…………..………………….…………………………

……………………………………………………..…………..………………….…………………………

(use back of page for additional entries)

Entrants’ names or other details must not appear on poems

Declaration by author: I agree to comply with the Entry Guidelines and declare that the written work submitted in my name is my own original work and has not been copied in part, or in full, from any other source.

Author’s signature………………………………………………date…………………………..……..…………

Date of birth (if entering a junior section) ……………………………….…………………………

Secondary School or Primary School – Circle to indicate which section, for Junior sections

Name of school (if entering junior section) ……………………………………..……………………………..    

Entry fees: Open class $10 for first poem, $5 for every poem entered thereafter

(OPEN CLASS ONLY – NO FEE FOR JUNIOR ENTRIES)

CLOSING DATE FOR ENTRIES – 5 July 2019

Cheques/money orders to be made payable to Adelaide Plains Poets Inc, and sent with entries to Competition Secretary, 1594 Germantown Rd REDBANKS South Australia 5502

Or electronically using these details: BSB 105-009 Acc 105 954 340

Authors should retain a copy of their work, entries will not be returned without provision of a stamped self-addressed envelope, and a written request.

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poetry

My Most Political #poemadayfeb Poem

carolyncordon

This poem came from the Facebook conversation that happened earlier today, combined with my own thoughts, (of course), triggered by today’s #poemadayfeb prompt of “Veil”. As I wrote this poem, I was remembering things seen on my television, and my thoughts and feelings at some of what I saw and heard. I’m not naming who the person is that prompted the ‘Lizard-tongue’ comment, but if you saw it on TV, you know who it refers to.

This is my most directly political poem, for this month of poetry, and I certainly don’t apologise for that. All of us must think on what is happening in our home, our community, our country, and our world, otherwise we will remain captive to those who would do us wrong, for their own benefit.

If this poem can help to open a few minds to the dangers of always simply ‘going with the flow’ even when the flow is headed to the sewer. Beware of what is being offered to you, but be open to honest offers too. There is much good in the world, some of it working quietly in the background, with self-less volunteers doing remarkable good things.

If you have a yen to do some good things in life too, look around, there is bound to be a volunteer group that would welcome you in to help them in their work. I gain much joy from all of the things I do with and for my various ‘communities’ and you can get the same, if you’re prepared to help out.

Here is my poem, feel free to leave a comment here, I’d love a discussion happening!

 

Unveil the truth

Strip back the veil, what will I see?

Purity exposed, humbling me?

Or ugly lies, with lizard-tongue poke

with sideways glance from a privileged bloke?

 

The truth is there, is it too well hidden,

from populace sheep, who do what is bidden

by Murdoch’s liars, tricking them all,

kicking down triers, keeping hopes small …

 

But we have minds, thoughts, ideals –

we give to strangers, prepare extra meals,

volunteers build strong community,

bring together like-minds, in friendly unity.

 

Hope is around, if you get out and look –

but if mainstream media was the news you took,

and never looked further, the lies would choke –

truth in media? With Murdoch, a sad joke.

 

But there are other sources, if want to know,

if you’re not sure where, give Twitter a go.

Choose your sources, from people you trust

and judge what they say, always a must.

 

Some people lie, have their own agenda,

don’t always believe them, just cos they ‘friend’ ya –

believe what they do, not what they say,

bad people may sneak up, fool you, betray …