Stephanie Says So

Monday, April 13, 2020

Day 13 ~ “Tricube Poem” for “30 Poems in 30 Days” #NationalPoetryMonth

I’m always on the lookout for poetry forms that are new even to me. I happened across this one ~ let’s give it a try!! Oh my!!

It’s called a TRICUBE and the premise is

3 + 3 + 3 =

Three stanzas

Three lines each

Three syllables per line

RHYMING DOES NOT MATTER . . . but watching your syllables does!! So COUNT THEM OUT!! Three syllables per line!

How hard can that be? You might be surprised. Here are a few I came up with but I’m expecting better offerings from all of you! Cheers!!

A new day

Rising sun

Hope eternal

List of chores

I’ll get done

Later on

Nightfall comes

Chores not done

Not surprised

~~~~~~~

Baby boy

Toothless grin

Wants grandma

Hug my boy

Here’s a toy

What a joy

Baby boy

Cries nonstop

Go see mom

~~~~~~~

My kitten

Heart smitten

‘Til bitten

Mean ol’ cat

What a brat

None of that

Sad kitty

Not guilty

Still picky

For what they are worth – all three of these silly little examples are nevertheless, copyrighted by me:

PLEASE REMEMBER ~ any poetry found on this blog, written by me, is my personal property and may not be used without my permission, other than sharing it as an example in a lesson or to read it to someone. The same goes for any poems that are shared in the comments of this blog or elsewhere online as a result of this challenge. They are the creative property of the person who writes them. These poems are their original work and no one may use them without their permission. It is understood that they own the copyright to them as soon as they post them. Thanks so much!

Also, if you choose to post your poems on your own blog ~ that’s awesome. But PLEASE don’t just copy and paste my daily instructions, but rather post your poem on your blog or your FB wall or wherever AND LINK BACK TO THIS BLOG POST for others to come here to read the instructions. I’ve spent considerable time researching the poetry forms and writing them up to share with you. Thanks for respecting my work.

Sunday, April 12, 2020

Day 12 – EASTER SUNDAY ~ “Free choice” poem or prose for National Poetry Day

So, today is Easter for some, Passover for others and could have any other type of meaning (or not) for still others. Let’s just abandon all the rules (as some of you fabulous poets out there prefer to do anyway) and write a free verse poem (or any style) about Easter or anything at all that you choose to write about. Use any poetic form you wish, or prose, or a journal entry. Share it only if you wish – I imagine some work will feel too personal to share today and some work will be just what the rest of us need to hear (well, to read, technically).

Free verse is basically random, without any fixed metrical patterns of any kind and while there is no need to rhyme, it’s totally fine if you wish to use rhyme, but there is no need to count syllables or to worry about much of anything – just let it come. But free verse is actually tricky to make it feel cohesive, but once you get it just how you want it – you will be most happy with it. Free verse poems can be long, short or anything in between, as long as it seems to have a good flow, then you are good to go.

Prose is pretty much any literature; the written word, containing sentences and paragraphs, rather than the form, lines, and stanzas found in most poetry. Both are great. Write away ~ on whatever is meaningful to you today. Nature, family, life, love, religion, Easter, whatever comes to mind ~ go for it.

Here are some of the random thoughts I have had today – more of a reflection, but for what it’s worth:

Easter 2020, the most unique Easter I can remember in my lifetime. It’s certainly the first Easter where I literally could not attend church, even though I want to. Instead, we will have our own service in our home.

On Friday I participated in an International, Interfaith Day of Fasting and Prayer for the healing of the pandemic, prayers for the caregivers, the economy and for life to normalize again.

It was one of the easiest fast days I have experienced. When the need is so large, the sacrifice feels very small. Despite what was going on in the world, my heart and mind felt peaceful and calm all day long. It’s a feeling I want to hang on to.

This Easter I want to be with all of my family members and loved ones but it looks like that can’t happen yet. I don’t know when things will get back to anything resembling a “normal, typical” day.

Some family members are so close and yet just out of reach. It makes me reflect on how Heavenly Father and the Savior must feel sometimes. They can see us, They want to heal us, to help us and yet sometimes we remain just out of Their reach. I don’t want to ever be out of Their reach. What will I do differently to be close to my Savior and my Heavenly Father?

PLEASE REMEMBER ~ any poetry found on this blog, written by me, is my personal property and may not be used without my permission, other than sharing it as an example in a lesson or to read it to someone. The same goes for any poems that are shared in the comments of this blog or elsewhere online as a result of this challenge. They are the creative property of the person who writes them. These poems are their original work and no one may use them without their permission. It is understood that they own the copyright to them as soon as they post them. Thanks so much!

Saturday, April 11, 2020

Day 11 ~ “Terse Verse” for “30 Poems in 30 Days” #NationalPoetryMonth

We have had SO much fun with this the last several years that I thought it would be perfect for your busy Saturday – maybe sheltering at home you aren’t all that busy – then you can make up a bunch of these!! And for those of you who are new this year - you are in for a fun treat! And we could all use that about now, right?

And – I’m just going to double-check and/or update a few things but basically post the same guidelines and examples as last year, because even though I never left the house on Friday, it was THAT kind of a day. Phew. Glad it’s over.

OK, here ya’ go ~

It will put a smile on your face!! It takes a bit of figuring things out at first, but once you hang of it – it’s hard to stop creating them!!

A “Terse Verse” is usually funny. It’s actually a riddle with a two-word rhyming answer; basically a synonym . . . The tricky part is that the two words in the answer must also have the same number of syllables. So, if you use a one-syllable word for the first word, then the second word also needs to be a one-syllable word, or both need to be 2 syllables, etc.

Here are a few of my examples:

RIDDLE QUESTION: What do you call a joke-telling rabbit?

TERSE VERSE (answer): “Funny Bunny”

What do you call a miserable cat?

“Crabby Tabby”

What do you call a cucumber that can’t make up its mind?

“Fickle Pickle”

What do you call polite frozen water?

“Nice Ice”

All of the above terse verses © Stephanie Abney

I think the Rhyme Zone tool would come in handy for this – it might be easier to approach this poetry form backwards by finding a double rhyming two-word phrase with equal syllables and then create a question or riddle for it.

Here’s the Rhyme Zone tool link: http://www.rhymezone.com/

And here are a few from some of the participants of “Poetry Month” – they gave me permission to use in my book (still forthcoming) so I’m pretty sure they are good with me sharing their cleverness here!!

What do you call a dog that writes?

Blog Dog

What do you call an antique tire?

Rare Spare.

What do you call a donut on social media?

Twitter Fritter

What do you call laughing pennies?

Funny Money

~ © 2017 Peggy Barker

IF YOU ARE ON FB ~ come join us in our private FB group - we share our poems from these daily posts - there's some amazing poetry writing going on - you're sure to be inspired: A Month of Poetry "30 poems in 30 days"

Friday, April 10, 2020

Day 10 ~ 5Ws Poem for #NationalPoetryMonth and "30 poems in 30 days"

Wow! Poetry Month is going SO WELL. Many people who are participating have joined us on our FB group where we can share our poetry with each other. Poet retains copyright, of course. If you are interested, you may request to join here:

A Month of Poetry "30 Poems in 30 Days"

WOW! DAY 10 ~ Friday, April 20, 2020 = Good Friday and the start of Passover. Today is also a “Worldwide Interfaith Fast” (and Prayer) Day for relief from the COVID19 pandemic, to bless and protect caregivers, strengthen the economy, and for life to be normalized. So I suspect a good number of poems will be written with this in mind.

Today’s poetry form is called the 5Ws – it features the good ol’ “Who, What, When, Where & Why” ~ the only thing it leaves out from a journalist’s viewpoint is HOW ~ but for the sake of the poem, we will concentrate on just the 5 Ws.

This is an obvious poem. It can be sweet, silly, serious, etc., depending on what you fill in. This poem answers the 5 W’s: Who, What, Where, When & Why.

These poems have no need to rhyme, nor are the lines any particular length or meter. So, it’s a pretty simple poetry form to follow:

Line 1: WHO (or what) is the poem about?

Line 2: WHAT action is happening?

Line 3: WHERE does the action take place?

Line 4: WHEN does the action take place?

Line 5: WHY does this action happen?

Here are a few quick examples:

Poems for National Poetry Month

Are being crafted and written down,

Everywhere and anywhere,

During the month of April,

Because our words beg to be given wings.

The fat green frog

lunged deep

into the smooth blue pond

during the silence of the morning

to avoid the probing beak of the hungry Blue Heron

(used with permission)

Our loving Heavenly Father

Prepared a plan of Happiness,

In the heavens,

Before the world was,

So we could return and live with Him.

My children

Laughing, wrestling, creating

Tumble through the living room

Every day after school

Because they feel safe and loved

Have fun!!

PLEASE REMEMBER ~ any poetry found on this blog, written by me, is my personal property and may not be used without my permission, other than sharing it as an example in a lesson or to read it to someone. The same goes for any poems that are shared in the comments of this blog or elsewhere online as a result of this challenge. They are the creative property of the person who wrote them. These poems are their original work and no one may use them without their permission. It is understood that they own the copyright to them as soon as they post them. Thanks so much!

Thursday, April 9, 2020

Day 9 ~ “Pleiades Poem” for for #NationalPoetryMonth and "30 poems in 30 days"

Today’s poetry form might be very unfamiliar. I discovered it a couple of years ago.

It’s called a Pleiades Poem! It was created in 1999 by Craig Tigerman, Editor Emeritus of Sol Magazine, which appears to have been a poetry journal that is no longer in publication. At any rate, he named it for a star cluster in the constellation Taurus, “The Pleiades.”

It has some interesting requirements. You can ONLY use ONE word for the title of the poem. It ONLY has ONE stanza that is SEVEN LINES - any length - (so don’t go creating additional verses – this form only has one).

AND here is the TRICKY and FUN part ~ VERY specific!!

The FIRST letter of each of the following 7 lines MUST start with the same letter as the first letter of the title of the poem. Kind of reminds me of those families who named every one of their kids with names that begin with the same letter. So, the sentence can be any length, as long as the first word starts with the same letter as the title

So this poetic form lends itself to a lot of alliteration!! Fun stuff!!

We will write ours as Craig Tigerman first designed it (others have tried to add syllable requirements, etc.) but Tigerman only said it had to be a single word title, with seven lines, each line beginning with the same first letter as the title.

If you want some help coming up with words that start with the same letter you can go here and choose your letter and find lots of words that start with that letter:

Find Words that Start with the Same Letter

Another useful site: Dictionary of Unusual Words ~ just click on the letter of your choice and you get a plethora of unique words with brief definitions.

Oh, the examples I saw online have the first line start with a capital letter and the rest start with a lowercase letter and the final line ends with a period. (You can insert commas where needed).

Here are a few examples: the first two are contrasting viewpoints of the Coronavirus and the 3^rd one shows how simple they can be, about basically anything – it’s one I wrote about cucumbers a couple of years ago:

COVID19

Cunning coronavirus has

closed businesses, cancelled school, trips, graduation,

choir concerts, prom and more, as

captive, crying, frightened citizens, stay

completely away from others, covering their faces with masks, causing

concern, sadness, fear, and discouragement as our

constitutional rights, health, loved ones, and careers are in jeopardy.

COVID19

~ Challenging the creativity and endurance of officials, heathcare workers,

~ caregivers, first responders, families and, teachers, who are

~ creating online curriculum and classrooms, activities, and connections,

~ capable of bringing students and loved ones together,

~ cherishing time to think, reflect, and draw families close

~ completing long over-due projects, while finding time to read, draw and make beautiful art

~ completely content to be at home, hoping and praying together for the best and quickest outcome, while consuming chocolate and unusual culinary creations made from whatever is on their shelves.

Cucumbers

Crinkley edges,

crucnchy, crisp and

creeping vine bearing

cucumiform fruits,

cultivated plant,

comes from the gourd family,

cucurbitaceae.

PLEASE REMEMBER ~ any poetry found on this blog, written by me, is my personal property and may not be used without my permission, other than sharing it as an example in a lesson or to read it to someone. The same goes for any poems that are shared in the comments of this blog or elsewhere online as a result of this challenge. They are the creative property of the person who writes them. These poems are their original work and no one may use them without their permission. It is understood that they own the copyright to them as soon as they post them. Thanks so much!

Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Day 8 Octopoem for #NationalPoetryMonth and "30 poems in 30 days"

An “Octopoem” is a fun little poem that has 8 lines, perfect for Day 8!

Yes, I have used this form on previous Day 8’s ~ it’s a fun choice for the 8^th

Pick a topic (usually a person) of your choice and describe them in EIGHT lines.

Wait! Don’t start yet!

HERE ARE THE RULES FOR AN OCTOPOEM:

Each line can be as long as you choose, BUT use only one sentence per line.

This poem does not need to rhyme, nor do you need to count syllables.

BUT you do need to follow the order of the descriptions you use for each of the 8 lines.

You can give your octopoem a title or just start right out with line 1.

It seems to be best suited to describe people, but you can get creative and describe a pet, a literary character, or even an object, etc. ~ just be aware, one of the lines is about clothing style.

And, for fun, this year I wrote one about myself and that worked too!

Have fun!!

An octopoem has 8 lines describing a person, or a pet, or whatever:

line 1: must include a color
line 2: must name a season
line 3: must state a place
line 4: must mention the weather
line 5: must describe their clothing
line 6: must mention some type of furniture
line 7: must name a TV show
line 8: must have a type of food

Here’s an example poem I wrote about my dad last year:

I Miss You, Daddy

My dad’s eyes were blue, his favorite color

He loved to garden in the spring and summer

In what used to be our backyard lawn

The Southern California weather was perfect

He wore comfortable clothes to garden in, often rolling up the cuffs of his pants

He could sit outside on the lounge chair for hours enjoying life at that moment

Unless it was time for “The Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy”

He’d close each day with a bowl of ice cream

And then, here is one I wrote this

year and I even decided to write it

about myself - so, that's kind of new:

My studio is bursting with every color of the rainbow.

It usually feels like summer here.

That’s because I live in the Arizona desert.

I love the sudden showers during monsoon season, although they can be destructive.

I’m most comfortable in pants with an elastic waistband.

I’m content if I can get my feet up once a day while in my recliner.

That’s a perfect excuse to watch TV, especially if it is a K-Drama or Hallmark movie.

If I can eat salmon and broccoli, I am a happy camper.

PLEASE REMEMBER ~ any poetry found on this blog, written by me, is my personal property and may not be used without my permission, other than sharing it as an example in a lesson or to read it to someone. The same goes for any poems that are shared in the comments of this blog or elsewhere online as a result of this challenge. They are the creative property of the person who wrote them. These poems are their original work and no one may use them without their permission. It is understood that they own the copyright to them as soon as they post them. Thanks so much!

Photo courtesy of Stephanie Abney

Stephanie Says So

Monday, April 13, 2020

Day 13 ~ “Tricube Poem” for “30 Poems in 30 Days” #NationalPoetryMonth

Sunday, April 12, 2020

Day 12 – EASTER SUNDAY ~ “Free choice” poem or prose for National Poetry Day

Saturday, April 11, 2020

Day 11 ~ “Terse Verse” for “30 Poems in 30 Days” #NationalPoetryMonth

Friday, April 10, 2020

Day 10 ~ 5Ws Poem for #NationalPoetryMonth and "30 poems in 30 days"

Thursday, April 9, 2020

Day 9 ~ “Pleiades Poem” for for #NationalPoetryMonth and "30 poems in 30 days"

Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Day 8 Octopoem for #NationalPoetryMonth and "30 poems in 30 days"

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