Category Fiction

Back to Basics – dVerse Form for All

freyathewriter 37 Comments

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Rabbie Burns fell upon his sword they say

But I knew he was pitchforking hay

Literally, I took their words

Because he had only wanted herbs.

 

Herbs to make his food more savoury

For he was sick of bread and gravy

But bread it is the staff of life

Saving the stomach from hungry strife

 

He had eschewed his wife’s basic meal

Then worked on the farm, his void purse to heal

He dropped down dead, empty and vague

All for his obsession with parsley and sage.

 

Oh, Form for All, how I enjoy you! Here’s my thought process.

“Dammit, it’s 8pm (here in the UK), I’ve not long got home from work, I’m tired, I just want to put my feet up… Noo! dVerse! Why do I have to work out how t write a new poetry form? Why isn’t it Open Link Night?… Hmm, I could have some fun with this… Oh! I have an idea…!”

Tonight over on dVerse, Gayle has invited us to write a Clerihew. As Gayle explains ‘A Clerihew is a comic verse on biographical topics consisting of two couplets and a specific rhyming scheme of aabb that was invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875-1956) at the age of 16.’

I hope you enjoy my attempt – I have no idea where the story came from (not unusual, to be honest)!

Why not have a go yourself? It’s fun!

** Gayle kindly pointed out I forgot to include the name of a famous person in the first line of my poem… So I have used Rabbie Burns, the Scottish poet who was the son of a farmer. Thank you, Gayle!

To arms – dVerse Quadrille Monday

freyathewriter 52 Comments

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“Push the door, just a little

and stride into the unknown beyond,”

my brave heart urges, insistent, strong.

I shake my head, in time with my quivering hands,

fight-flight pushing and pulling me

every-which-way.

I think I want to cower.

But I go.

Forward.

 

It’s time for the dVerse Quadrille Monday, where this week Victoria invites us to wrote on the theme of ‘open’ in any manner we choose, as long as we use the quadrille form.

The picture above is the coat of arms for Birmingham (UK), the city of my birth. The lady on the left is holding a book and an artist’s palette, representing art, and the man on the left is a blacksmith, representing industry. It gives me a feeling of strength and determination, very much how the people of Birmingham were, and how I see them (us) still.

I’ve been taking a little breather from writing to regroup, and it’s good to ease myself back in with a quadrille, a form I really enjoy writing in.

Please do head on over to dVerse to read… and take part – why not?

Edge – TJ’s Household Haiku Challenge

freyathewriter 10 Comments

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Knife glitters under

moonlight, buried in velvet

with no soft heart. Pause…

 

Think, reconsider

do not take that final step.

Turn back from the edge.

 

It’s time for TJ’s Household Haiku Challenge, where this week our prompt is ‘edge’. This is also the prompt for the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge, so I’m also entering there too!

The photo above is of Beachy Head, a beauty spot on the Sussex coast, and also, sadly, a magnet for those who feel that life is too much for them. The cliffs are just too irresistible.  A local charity, the Beachy Head Chaplaincy Team patrol the clifftops in order to give as much help and support to those in distress as they possibly can and save many lives in the process.

By the way, I am not on that precipice, please don’t worry! It was just the first thing that came to mind when seeing the prompt word…

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