Poetry – Page 2 – Susan Joy Clark

Creative Life, Poetry

Artists of Yore, #Paint Chip Poetry, #Ubi sunt

Where are the artists now of yore,

Talent oozing from ev’ry pore,

Who made out of Scripture’s pages,

Art that lasted through the ages?

With great skill and brushes of gold,

In manuscripts rare and now old,

they worked out illumination,

which now with much rumination,

we wonder in awe at their craft,

Studying letters’ fore and aft.

Anonymous Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Where now are the Renaissance men,

Like Leonardo was back then?

Even his sketches in graphite

Are an extraordinary sight.

Now, his drawings of his machines,

his Vitruvian Man long and lean,

Are kept under glass for our view,

Preserved in peachy sepia hues.

They then continue to amaze,

All those who upon them will gaze.

Leonardo da Vinci, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

This was written for Linda Kruschke’s Paint Chip Poetry challenge, where we were challenged to write an ubi sunt poem featuring three of the paint chip words. A few of these words like “octopus” were a bit strange this time, but the words “illumination” and “graphite” immediately struck me as having artistic applications. I thought I could work “peachy” in there too.

Below is a paragraph taken from Linda’s page, which she took from John Drury’s poetry dictionary on the ubi sunt poetry form.

UBI SUNT (uh’-suhnt’, “uh” pronounced as in “put”; Latin, “where are”) Poetic theme in which the poet asks “where are” certain people, where have they gone. The theme began in Medieval Latin, with the formula ubi sunt used to introduce a roll call of the dead or missing and to suggest how transitory life is.

The best-known ubi sunt poem [is] François Villon’s ballade whose refrain is “But where are the snows of yester-year?”

Creative Life, Dog poetry, It's a Doggy Dog World, On the Funny Side, Poetry, Short funnies, anecdotes

Choc’late Bliss, #Laugh-Along-a- Limerick

A dog found a big choc’late kiss

That’s toxic to dogs; despite this,

The dog, he survived,

Besides which, he thrived,

And didn’t regret choc’late bliss.

I sometimes hear stories from dog owners that their dogs survive with little ill effect after eating something which is toxic for dogs. Even so, be very careful to protect your dog from eating things that will harm him. If you’re in this situation, call your vet.

This was written for Esther Chilton’s Laugh Along a Limerick challenge, using the word “bliss.” I thought I’d join in, although I may be a little late to the party.

Creative Life, Poetry

Summer Swim, #Poem,#Rimas Dissolutas

Cool blue water engulfing me,

Makes me feel weightless and light,

Floating, flowing, reflective blue,

Summertime pool, a source of joy.

Now have your choice of lake or sea,

Rippling, trickling, sparkling bright,

Fluid movement created new,

Entertaining now as a toy.

Shifting, wobbling and sliding free,

Spectrum of blue hues to the sight,

Circling you and caressing you,

Nature’s playland for a lithe koi.

Like that fish, it is my realm too,

Bobbling and floating as a buoy.

This was written for Go Dog Go Cafe’s challenge to write a rimas dissolutas form poem. Below is a quote from Go Dog Go Cafe’s page which was taken from Brewer’s poetry dictionary.

“Popular with 12th and 13th-century French poets, rimas dissolutas is a poem that rhymes and doesn’t rhyme. For instance, each stanza contains no end rhymes, but each line in each stanza rhymes with the corresponding line in the next stanza–sometimes employing an envoi at the end. There are no rules for meter, line length, or syllables–except that it should be consistent from stanza to stanza.”

Creative Life, Poetry

Overflowing, #Tanka Tuesday, #Arkquain Swirl

My only photo of family dining on the Fourth didn’t turn out so well in the original,
so I tried out a few artsy filters.

gather

as a group,

our family.

we are eleven.

though we are missing a few,

we celebrate as we do,

with food, love and fun.

table is full

to the brim,

homemade

love,

filling

our tummies,

filling our hearts.

eleven members

of our now extended clan,

with two dogs joining the span,

adding to the love.

we talk and play,

as one team,

puzzling

and

planning,

uniting

all our talents.

our cup runs over,

and, likewise, our dinner plate

shares with the cup, the same fate,

from work of different hands.

our love and faith

together

will bind

us.

This was written for Colleen M. Chesebro’s Tanka Tuesday challenge. This week it’s poet’s choice, but Colleen pointed out a list of syllabic poetry forms at Poets’ Collective.

I went to the link at Poets’ Collective and tried an arkquain swirl, a different syllabic poetry form than I have tried before. An arkquain swirl has this syllable count pattern — 1234~5775~4321234~5775~4321234~5775~4321. It also has end rhymes on the seven syllable lines.

I was inspired by my recent July 4th celebration with family, which included a few family members I haven’t seen in quite a while. Our celebration was characterized by lots and lots of food, and playing a game which, just as the poem suggests, had us helping one another rather than opposing one another.

Creative Life, Poetry

For Love of My Characters #Paint Chip Terza Rima

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.

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.