Mrs. Hudson's Poetry Page: The Final Problem

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Welcome once again to my poetry page!

I hope each week you will read Dr. Watson’s delightful narrative (though ‘delightful’ is perhaps not the right word this week) 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.

And here, courtesy of my housemaid Rachel, is this week’s suggested poem to read—a suggestion inspired by the themes and subjects in this week's story. Hopefully you will enjoy the poem, and perhaps it may give you some ideas for a poem of your own or allow you to look at Dr. Watson's story in a new way.



After great pain, a formal feeling comes

by Emily Dickinson



Thank you so much to Rachel. A difficult time but we shall all carry on together.


Here is my suggested form to revisit this week: the renga. (The link takes you back to a previous poetry page.)

But you do not have to use that form. 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, free verse, ghazal, haiku, In Memoriam stanza, Italian sonnet, jueju, kennings poem, lanturne, limerick, lyric poetry, mathnawī, micropoetry, mini-monoverse, musette, 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 Final Problem in the comments on this post. I look forward to seeing them!


And please do join me next week for my Problem Page and Poetry Corner. All forms of poetry will still be welcome but I will also be answering comments regarding any personal problems. Love, work, household hints—believe me, I have seen and done it all (and if I haven’t, Mrs. Turner definitely has) and I am ready and willing to offer my advice. So feel free to discuss any problem you care to, from Christmas Day onwards!


Warm regards,

Mrs. Hudson

Comments

Clerihew

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Gastgeber* Peter Steiler
Housed English – two good, one viler
Sent one, in innocence, after his prey
Causing all of London to mourn that day


*"Host" in German

renga (instruments of demise vs. Holmes)

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

fury’s whip, us, lash
at the Welbeck Street crossing
demon-mounts, us, flash

my springing for the foot-path
forehorsed the looming blood-bath

atop clayed kin,
aside brother slate, i wait
for shattering wind

my brick-dusted boots, you see,
stem from poor geometry

i fly, fall, head-first
from rough hand to rough ground with
unslaked battle thirst

a common attack, ‘tis said,
an uncommon path ahead

Re: Clerihew

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

very nice fresh take on it, one wonders what the innkeeper thought. was he duped too, or in on it?

Re: Holmes, Watson and Moriarty had met before...

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

OMG! A tour de force! I love it. It reads like The Grinch that Stole Christmas. So very charming. (And you do like your drunken encounters, no? Or is it like the wrapping presents?)

Re: Clerihew

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

A key person in the action, yet little mentioned.

Re: Holmes, Watson and Moriarty had met before...

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

That last line - poor Moriarty - difficult to be a dramatic mastermind when your arch-nemesis is singing carols badly.

Re: renga (instruments of demise vs. Holmes)

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Interesting combination - with the expectation of more to come.

Renga

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Mr Holmes you cause
Me too much aggravation
To be allowed to remain

I shall stop your evil plans
And ensure you are captured

But you fool yourself
I will not let you escape
You cannot flee far from me

I shall leave for foreign parts
And you will not follow me

We meet once again
You will pay for your actions
Here at the Reichenbach Falls

I will gladly give my life
If I take your life with mine

Re: Renga

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Very nice duet. I can imagine them singing it operatic style.

for Ferret

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Fine fellow Ferret
but when it comes to yellow
he cries 'Shan't wear it!'

'I'm not your ripe banana
in unpeeled silk pyjama!'

Re: renga (instruments of demise vs. Holmes)

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Yes, I suppose I could've added the waterfall. I've added a poem for Ferret below.

Re: Renga

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Maybe Frankles could incorporate it into The Pirates of Penzance.

Re: for Ferret

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

But you would look great
Sitting in the fruit basket
You would be the perfect bait

My furry face is quite cute
And no likeness to a fruit

Re: for Ferret

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Your protests too much
to be believed, aggrieved if
fiend escapes our clutch

And you said you'd never tire
of playing that papaya(er)!

Rachel's poem

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

A favorite. And most appropriate for this week.

for Mouselet

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Yule-flames dare not scorch
she who both nibbles a candle
and carries a torch

Double-burden does not tax,
love of 'spector, love of wax!

Re: for Ferret

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Mouselet says you must
The costume’s ready for you
And you should not be so fussed

And what if I burst the skin
You know I’m not very thin

Re: for Mouselet

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

She comes to nibble
Be they pink, green, or yellow
About t’other she’ll dribble

Both make my whiskers tremble
I won’t argue nor dissemble

Re: for Ferret

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Halt your haws and hems
your girth fits well with our plan
trap springs so do seams

'Easy to say, hard to do.
How am I to bust on cue?'

Re: for Ferret

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

At the right minute
Just puff out your furry chest
Which is quite simple, innit

And so I take off my peel
No-one will think that it’s real

Re: Clerihew

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

If Steiler had been in on it, I'd think he'd have helped delay Watson more by going along with the "sick Englishwoman" ruse instead of immediately saying "What sick Englishwoman?"

Re: Clerihew

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

He has a lovely scene in the BBC Radio version of FINA, where Holmes deduces where Herr Steiler got his training by how he serves their meals.

Re: Holmes, Watson and Moriarty had met before...

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

You. Win. The Internet.

This is what would happen if Dr. Seuss wrote a Holmes story! This is hilarious!

Poor criminal mastermind - such an undignified confrontation with one's arch-enemy, goes against all the rules in the Victorian Villain Handbook.

Re: Renga

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

That's exactly how it reads - an operatic confrontation.

RE: Re: Holmes, Watson and Moriarty had met before...

[debriswoman]

Thank you so much...and, yes, this was from a prompt last week on ffnet.