Mrs. Hudson's Poetry Page: The Valley of Fear, Pt. 2, Chaps. 1-4

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Welcome once again to my poetry page!

I hope each week you will read Dr. Watson’s delightful narrative and then go on to write a poem related to it in some way. All forms of poetry are permitted, and further down the page there is a selection you might like to consider using over the coming weeks.

Rachel is still away fighting crime (I have received a telephone call. She mentioned being “slightly” kidnapped and having to escape from a first floor window. I do not think I have ever heard her so cheerful) and so here instead is this week’s new poetry form to try.

In tribute to my housemaid, and to Miss Ettie Shafter, my featured form is the florette.

Shadow Poetry gives this definition:


The Florette, created by Jan Turner, consists of two or more 4-line stanzas.

Rhyme scheme: a,a,b,a

Meter: 8,8,8,12 [syllables per line]

Fourth line requirement of internal (b) rhyme scheme, on syllable 8.

Like the outgrowing of a small flower, the fourth line of each stanza is longer, and enwraps the previous lines.



So, putting that into the form of a diagram:

x x x x x x x a
x x x x x x x a
x x x x x x x b
x x x x x x x b x x x a




Here is my example poem (consisting of just one stanza):


A detective in need of aid
Has turned to my esteemed housemaid.
Who will operate my mangle?
My bloomers are in a tangle, I am afraid.




But you do not have to use this form, if you do not wish to. Any form of poetry is welcome this week—and every week! Here are a few suggestions for you:

221B verselet, abecedarian poetry, acrostic poetry, alexandrine, ballad, beeswing, blackout poetry, blues stanza, bref double, Burns stanza, call and response, chastushka, cinquain, circular poetry, clerihew, colour poems, concrete poetry, Cornish verse, curtal sonnet, diamante, doggerel, double dactyl, ekphrasis, elegiac couplet, elegiac stanza, elfje, englyn, epigram, epitaph, epulaeryu, Etheree, fable, Fib, florette, found poetry, ghazal, haiku, Italian sonnet, jueju, kennings poem, lanturne, limerick, lyric poetry, mathnawī, micropoetry, mini-monoverse, palindrome poetry, pantoum, Parallelismus Membrorum, poem cycle, quintilla, renga, riddle, rime couée, Schüttelreim, sedoka, septet, sestina, sonnet, tanka, tercet, terza rima, tongue twister poetry, triangular triplet, triolet, Tyburn, villanelle


Please leave all your poems inspired by The Valley of Fear in the comments on this post. I look forward to seeing them!



Warm regards,

Mrs. Hudson

Comments

Limerick

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

McMurdo has walked into Hell,
His fierce reputation to sell.
He causes alarm –
But their brand on his arm
Sets the Scowrers at ease. All is well.

Re: Limerick

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Of course all is well, he's one of them, how could it not be well?

Re: Limerick

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Oh, perfect rhythm. And a great phrase to end on - it's odd how the terseness of it manages to say the very opposite of its surface meaning.

Re: Limerick

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Nice ominous note to end on.

RE: Limerick

[debriswoman]

Neatly sinister:-)

Re: Limerick

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

A very neat verse, and a good bit of suspense.

A florette

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

(Er, I wrote this before seeing Okapi's 60. And gardnerhill's limerick, come to think of it.)




And now to tie up each loose end
Another story has been penned
A train goes down into a hell
A young man travelling to dwell with fiendish friends.

Enter Ettie, dark-eyed and pale.
Unforeseen angel of the vale
Rare as a violet by a mine
(They’re common--Violets divine--though, in Doyle’s tales.)

Re: A florette

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

There are far worse thing to have around than a plethora of violets. There are days when one consulting detective is one too many.

Re: A florette

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Nice. I like the train bit. The first chapter is heavy on that, no? And, of course, like the last line.

Re: A florette

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

There's a reason for the acronym GMTA (great minds think alike).

RE: A florette

[debriswoman]

*applauds*

Florette

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

The tale takes place so far away
It seems about another day
Of people who we’ve never heard
Not those whose stories we preferr’d within the fray

Re: Florette

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Very good ^_^ Excellent use of the form, and an excellent critique too ^_^

Re: Florette

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Nothing like taking your frustrations out in rhyme. Well Done.

Re: Florette

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Poor Doyle tried his hardest to interest people in his OTHER writings, didn't he?

RE: Florette

[debriswoman]

Flows very well, and I agree:-)

Re: Florette

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

What's oft been thought, but seldom so well expressed.

Your poem, Mrs H

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

In such situations, Mrs H, we always recommend the gin!

Re: Your poem, Mrs H

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Maybe just a small one.

florette

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

A violet grows upon the black slag-heap
a-bloom a beauty ‘midst dark mountains steep
Where greed and hate are buried fathoms deep
And those who blood-seeds sow must also reap ‘cross sea and years.

Fair eyes amused and shining soon shall weep
For all the pretty words that fail to keep
The wolves at bay, the hoary beasts asleep.
Ere long, the tainted vein shall creep, and shed its tears.

Re: florette

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Yes, no happy endings for anyone.

Beautiful and disturbing - in particular, And those who blood-seeds sow must also reap ‘cross sea and years stood out for me.

Re: florette

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Good one. And a timely reminder of the tragic ending that waits in England.

RE: florette

[debriswoman]

Truly well done...balanced beauty and the ugliness of intent really well:-)

Re: florette

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

Bravo! I don't think I go for this form, but this poem is certainly a strong and well written one.

Re: florette

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Beautiful poetic summary of the case.