Mrs. Hudson's Poetry Page: The Devil's Foot

[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.

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.



My Life’s Calling

By Deborah Digges


Note from Rachel: One could ask Mr. Holmes why he felt compelled to light a fire beneath that poison, but that is who Mr. Holmes is. Yet I wonder if, amid the confusion of his hallucinating brain, he might have regretted everything of hearth and home that he came so close to losing -- regretted the recklessness and the self-destruction. Perhaps, in the end, he stood on a cliff side in Cornwall after surviving the flames and took a good look at himself.



Thank you so much to Rachel. And I thought we could also have a go at a new poetry form: stream of consciousness.

Literary Devices gives this definition:

...stream of consciousness is a narrative form in which the author writes in a way that mimics or parallels a character’s internal thoughts. Sometimes this device is also called “internal monologue,” and often the style incorporates the natural chaos of thoughts and feelings that occur in any of our minds at any given time. Just as happens in real life, stream-of-consciousness narratives often lack associative leaps and are characterized by an absence of regular punctuation.

Difference Between Stream of Consciousness and Free Writing: The activity of free writing is a technique to remove inhibitions from creativity. Free writing encourages a writer to get words down on paper without editing or worrying about the product, knowing that most of it will not necessarily be all that interesting. Stream of consciousness, on the other hand, is writing that has been polished and has a purpose, even while giving the impression that it is somewhat “random.” Authors who use the technique of stream of consciousness do so with intentions to guide the character from one place to the next internally and not just let the character’s thoughts go haywire.


Here is my example:


Another poem to write…
Now let me have a think.
Oo, the sun’s shining prettily on the gin
Perhaps just a small drin—
No. No. Concentrate, Sybilla.
Just pick up your pen…
Has someone been chewing this?
Better not be Mr. Holmes again.
Can I make out a missing canine
in the bite mark..?
Heavens, I wonder if Mrs. Appleby ever found her spaniel.
I could ask the doctor to search the park.
I bet the flowers are looking lovely
All coming into bloom…
Oh, dear God. I think I’ve left my freshly laundered bloomers
in Mr. Holmes’s sitting room.
This is what comes of being distracted
from my never-ending toil.
(I wonder if that haddock
is finally coming to the boil…)
So it seems the literary community
will have to do without my ditty.
Pity.



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, blitz poem, blues stanza, bref double, Burns stanza, call and response, chastushka, cinquain, circular poetry, clerihew, colour poems, compound word verse, concrete poetry, Cornish verse, curtal sonnet, diamante, doggerel, double dactyl, echo verse, ekphrasis, elegiac couplet, elegiac stanza, elfje, englyn, epigram, epistle, epitaph, epulaeryu, Etheree, fable, Fib, florette, found poetry, free verse, ghazal, haiku, In Memoriam stanza, Italian sonnet, jueju, kennings poem, lanturne, lies, limerick, line messaging, list poem, lyric poetry, mathnawī, micropoetry, mini-monoverse, musette, palindrome poetry, pantoum, Parallelismus Membrorum, poem cycle, quintilla, renga, rhyming alliterisen, riddle, rime couée, Schüttelreim, sedoka, septet, sestina, sonnet, stream of consciousness, tanka, tercet, terza rima, tongue twister poetry, triangular triplet, triolet, Tyburn, villanelle


Please leave all your poems inspired by The Devil’s Foot in the comments on this post. I look forward to seeing them!


Warm regards,

Mrs. Hudson

Comments

Clerihew

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Mortimer Tregennis
A scheming, greedy menace
He murdered his family for a wee bit of loot –
Got bagged like a lion, smote with his own root

Re: Clerihew

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Very nice. Another very neatly crafted offering.

Re: Clerihew

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'm having almost as much fun with these as with the limericks last round.

Re: Clerihew

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Yep, he deserved what he got.

RE: Clerihew

[debriswoman]

Very nicely worded to fit the tale:-)

Re: Clerihew

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

'Tregennis/menace' is a neat rhyme. And I do like that second couplet - especially 'a wee bit of loot'.

stream of consciousness poem

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

The devil you know
The devil you don’t
The devil inside
The devil in the details
The devil himself
The devil’s playthings
The devil and the deep blue bay, that old death trap for sailing vessels
The devil, speak of: “It’s devilish, Mr. Holmes, devilish!”
The devil’s intrusions into the affairs of men
The devil’s-foot root
The root of the ancient Cornish language in Phoenician tin traders
The root of all evil: tin

Re: stream of consciousness poem

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Clever progression.

RE: stream of consciousness poem

[debriswoman]

I like this:-)
Progresses really well...all the devils together.

Re: stream of consciousness poem

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

That is so well structured. Like it says in the definition above, every line has a purpose - nothing is there randomly. It makes you pay attention and think carefully about what each line means.

The borrowed phrases from the story are worked in so neatly, and it's such a clever route to the conclusion.

Re: stream of consciousness poem

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Devilishly clever. Have a devilled egg.

Rachel's poem

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

I love the first line. Interesting choice for this week. On a personal note, I recently moved and got rid of the family china in the process. I felt a bit lighter, untethered from a past I'd sooner forget, so I can see losing things in a fire going both ways, positive & regretful.

Re: Rachel's poem

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I must admit I find this poem quite difficult to understand - though I love the language and the imagery. I just can't grasp it as a whole ^^"

And I appreciate what you're saying about losing some of the weight of your past by getting rid of objects that tie you to it.

Stream of Consciousness

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Bed
Knackered
Sleep!
But what if
Those thoughts
Don’t go there
Breathe
Sounds!
What’s he doing?
Ignore it
Pleasant thoughts
Sheep
Sheep baa-ing
Disturbed sheep
Why?
Someone else’s sheep
More sounds
The violin
Sit up
Shout
“Holmes, go to bed!”

RE: Stream of Consciousness

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

I imagine this is a recurring stream of thought

RE: Stream of Consciousness

[debriswoman]

Must happen a lot:-p

Re: Stream of Consciousness

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Most amusing ^___^ I did enjoy all the business with the sheep - and that conclusion ^___^

Re: Regarding G and S obsessions...

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Something we'll have to sing for Frankles' birthday...

Re: Regarding G and S obsessions...

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Are you planning on providing a complete libretto? I'm sure it could be successfully staged.

Re: Regarding G and S obsessions...

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I am trying to expand my horizons from The Pirates of Penzance... I've now got a semi-obsession with Trial By Jury too :P (Tink-a-tank, tink-a-tank, tink-a-tank...)

Perfect as always ^___^

Re: Regarding G and S obsessions...

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Fabulous job! And the thread running through that Holmes without Watson is no Holmes at all.

Re the poetry of Mrs H

[debriswoman]

Distraction is understandable, Mrs H
May I suggest bloomers retrieval as first priority?

Re: Re the poetry of Mrs H

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

It's the scourge of every female of household, keeping all the plates spinning

Re: Re the poetry of Mrs H

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

And preferably before Mr Holmes uses them in the process of an experiment.