Blank canvas is my laptop screen,
Where seedlings of ideas might grow,
Unfolding action to be seen.
My characters act out a show,
On a different sort of screen,
And to the cliff’s edge sometimes go.
Though they dangle close to danger
And sometimes they fall into it,
To complete demise, they’re strangers.
This, my love for them, won’t permit,
A happily ever after
Must resolve every conflict.
© Susan Joy Clark 2021
This was written for Linda Kruschke’s Paint Chip Poetry challenge where we were challenged to use three of the words or phrases below in a terza rima form poem. I found quite a few of these worked perfectly for a poem on storytelling.
Here is an explanation of the terza rima from Linda’s page and the poetry dictionary.
TERZA RIMA (tare’-tsuh ree’-muh; Italian, “third rhyme”) Tercets with an interwoven rhyme scheme, invented by Dante Alighieri for The Divine Comedy: aba bcb cdc ded efe fgf, etc. The poem (or individual section, called a canto by Dante) usually ends with a single line or a couplet, rhyming with the previous tercet’s middle line. But it may also end with a tercet, it’s middle line rhyming with the opening tercet’s first and third lines, making the form circular.
I love how much you care about the characters you create. Lovely terza rima about them.
Thank you. 🙂 I thought these were good word choices for such a poem. “Golden” and maybe “whirlpool” might have fit if I made it longer. I’ve been writing mystery comedies, but there is sometimes danger involved. If my main guy has any complaints, it’s that I put him into too many awkward, embarrassing situations. 🙂