Creative Life – Page 3 – Susan Joy Clark

Creative Life, Dog poetry, It's a Doggy Dog World, Poetry

Rest Now, Little Doggies, And Sleep, #Poem, #Quatern

Rest now, little doggies, and sleep,

Find a nook that is safe and warm,

Perhaps in the crook of my arm,

Your furry head on my shoulder.

Silly doggies like to burrow,

Rest now, little doggies, and sleep,

Underneath the warm bed covers,

In the hollow between my shins.

Who will claim the favorite spot,

Snuggled next to your dear Susie?

Rest now, little doggies, and sleep,

You both should find a cozy nook.

Theo lies down along my legs,

Remy rests her bum against me,

Then moves to lean against my foot,

Rest now, little doggies, and sleep.

This was written for Go Dog Go’s challenge to write a quatern poem.

This poem has 16 lines broken up into 4 quatrains (or 4-line stanzas).
Each line is comprised of eight syllables.
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.
There are no rules for rhyming or iambics.

I wrote another poem recently about sleeping dogs, The Dreamers, but that one is more fantasy. This one is more reality-based, inspired by Theo and Remy, two French bulldogs I take care of from time to time. They are accustomed to sleeping with people, with their owners and then with me, when I am with them. Their sleeping positions amuse me. I am surprised Theo and I both slept with his head on my shoulder.

Creative Life, Poetry

What Honking is For (A PSA), #Tanka Tuesday, Specific Forms

my car didn’t move

right in the first half second

after the light turned green,

so you honk.

my car then slows down,

as I get ready to turn

into a parking lot,

so you honk.

my blinker was on,

you knew that I was turning,

I was doing no wrong,

but you honk.

in heavy traffic,

I am hesitant to merge,

I’m more cautious than you,

so you honk.

a person crosses,

ambling across the crosswalk,

while I am stopped for him,

then you honk.

you didn’t see him,

and you feel there’s no reason

to ever slow or stop

so you honk.

if when changing lanes,

I am about to hit you,

and I just don’t see you,

then you honk.

honking means “danger,”

it does not mean to “speed up,”

so do not be surprised,

when you honk,

if I slow or stop

at the sound then of the blast

to avoid the danger

at your honk.

This was written for Colleen M. Chesebro’s Tanka Tuesday challenge. This week, she challenged us to invent a new form.

From her page:

First, choose your favorite syllabic poetry form. Write your poem.
Next, give your poem some different characteristics to make it something different. You can change the syllable count, rhyme scheme (add or get rid of it), anything you want to create a new form. Write this poem.
Give your new syllabic poetry form a name.

This poem was halfway coming together in my head as I was driving and before I saw the specifics of this week’s challenge. So, I went about this backwards perhaps. I took my half-formed poem and made it fit some sort of syllabic format, and then tried to see how it fit the challenge. I’ll say this is a haiku, but the line count changed to four, and the syllable count changed to 5-7-6-3. The fourth line is a refrain or variations on a refrain. The stanzas in my new form can be repeated several times, so, in that sense, in length, it is similar to a renga or solo renga. Then again, like a tanka, this form can be on any topic, not necessarily nature. I’m calling it a hankenga. Ha ha! It really just worked out that way, without me even trying to be punny. By the way, the driving situation where someone honked because I stopped for someone in a crosswalk really did happen, just not in the past few days.

Creative Life, Poetry

Lost in a Painting #Laugh Along a Limerick

I once had a strange, wacky dream

Where lost in a painting, I seemed,

There an elephant goes,

With a horn for its nose,

Better this than Munch’s The Scream.

This was a response to Esther’s Challenge for a Laugh Along a Limerick, to write a limerick that included the word dream. At first, I was looking to Salvador Dali for inspiration, but, searching the Internet, I came across this surrealistic art by Vladimir Kush. Do you notice that the antelope has a lyre between its horns, the foliage is also made of horns and that there are musical notations in the cloud shapes? It is bizarre, fantastical and dreamy but not unpleasant. In fact, an explanation on Kush’s site talks about “a fresh, positive side of surrealism.”

Creative Life, Poetry

Midsummer Tanka Trifecta, #Haikai Challenge

the rain spritzes down,

leaving drops on lily leaves,

showering the plants,

providing wet nourishment,

shifting from spritz to downpour.

the strawberry moon

hovers majestically,

a giant pink orb

gleaming roseate brightness

in a purple-gray sky.

in her bright glory,

she looms peculiarly large

as seen just above

the ancient Acropolis,

seeming out of proportion.

sun glares light and heat

as moisture drips down my back,

car is now sauna,

dogs lie outside unmoving,

sidewalk is now frying pan.

This is a response to Frank J. Tassone’s haikai challenge, where we were challenged to write a haikai poem of our choice on one of three possible themes or a combination: midsummer rain, strawberry supermoon or smoldering heat. Perhaps, I did too much, but I wrote three tanka poems and one of them is a double tanka.

Creative Life, Poetry

Outside My Window, #Double Ennead

This month, for Carrot Ranch Literary Community, Colleen M. Chesebro challenges us to write a double ennead poem on a topic of our choice in 99 syllables, then reduce to a 48 syllable form, then 24 syllables and finally to a 12 syllable haiku. Here is my entry.

Double ennead form, 99 syllables

clouds like spun sugar in

periwinkle sky,

a tree’s outline in shadow in sunny grass,

white butterflies flying

above rose bushes.

golden yellow lilies

peeking out among

all of the green foliage in the garden,

red Japanese maple

branches wave gently.

a little brown sparrow

hops about in grass,

then flutters over to perch on the fence,

these are the sights I see

outside my window.

48 syllables, 4-7-5 stanza trio

spun sugar clouds

in a periwinkle sky,

butterflies flying.

yellow gold lilies

among the green foliage,

red maple branches,

small brown sparrow

flutters to perch on the fence,

outside my window.

24 syllables, (6-6-6-6,) 1 stanza

spun sugar clouds

in periwinkle sky,

butterflies and lilies,

sights outside my window

12 syllable haiku, short-long-short

spun sugar clouds

above white butterflies

and gold lilies.