Mrs. Hudson's Poetry Page: The Creeping Man

[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.




The Face

By Stevie Smith



Thank you so much to Rachel. And here is also a new poetry form to try: the xenolith.


Carol R. Ward gives this definition of her form:

The Xenolith is a 15 line poem. Seven of the lines have twelve syllables per line and are mono-rhymed. Eight of the lines have eight syllables per line and are written in rhyming couplets. You can separate the 12 syllable lines from the 8 syllable lines and have two complete poems.

Schematic.

1 xxxxxxxxxxxA
2 xxxxxxxB
3 xxxxxxxxxxxA
4 xxxxxxxB
5 xxxxxxxxxxxA
6 xxxxxxxC
7 xxxxxxxC
8 xxxxxxxxxxxA
9 xxxxxxxD
10 xxxxxxxD
11 xxxxxxxxxxxA
12 xxxxxxxE
13 xxxxxxxxxxxA
14 xxxxxxxE
15 xxxxxxxxxxxA



Here is my example:

Mr. Holmes is packed and is handing back the keys
After all this time living here
And through two-twenty-one-b you can feel a breeze
I have gone and lost something dear
Maybe it is expected to feel ill at ease
My bay windows have been shattered
And my nerves are feeling battered
As my tenant leaves for Sussex to tend his bees
Will I get the cash for the panes?
And something extra for the drains?
To be honest, he often tries his best to please
Oh. My curtains have ended up
Colourful streamers tied in knots around my trees
Looking like a strange buttercup
Now finally it is the end of days like these


12 syllables, mono rhyme

Mr. Holmes is packed and is handing back the keys
And through two-twenty-one-b you can feel a breeze
Maybe it is expected to feel ill at ease
As my tenant leaves for Sussex to tend his bees
To be honest, he often tries his best to please
Colourful streamers tied in knots around my trees
Now finally it is the end of days like these


8 syllables, rhyming couplets

After all this time living here
I have gone and lost something dear
My bay windows have been shattered
And my nerves are feeling battered
Will I get the cash for the panes?
And something extra for the drains?
Oh. My curtains have ended up
Looking like a strange buttercup



But you do not have to use this 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, barzelletta, beeswing, blackout poetry, blitz poem, blues stanza, bref double, Burns stanza, call and response, chastushka, cinquain, circular poetry, clerihew, clogyrnach, colour poems, compound word verse, concrete poetry, Cornish verse, curtal sonnet, débat, décima, descort, diamante, doggerel, double dactyl, echo verse, ekphrasis, elegiac couplet, elegiac stanza, elfje, englyn, enuig, epigram, epistle, epitaph, epulaeryu, Etheree, fable, Fib, florette, found poetry, free verse, ghazal, haiku, hay(na)ku, In Memoriam stanza, Italian sonnet, jueju, kennings poem, lanturne, lies, limerick, line messaging, list poem, lyric poetry, mathnawī, micropoetry, mini-monoverse, musette, nonsense verse, palindrome poetry, pantoum, Parallelismus Membrorum, poem cycle, quatern, quintilla, renga, rhyming alliterisen, riddle, rimas dissolutas, rime couée, rispetto, Schüttelreim, sedoka, septet, sestina, shadorma, sonnet, stream of consciousness, tanka, tercet, terza rima, tongue twister poetry, triangular triplet, tricube, trine, triolet, Tyburn, villanelle, xenolith


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


Warm regards,

Mrs. Hudson

Comments

Re: Xenolith

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

I did risk a headache trying to get the two poems to fit. It's the first time I've had to write an outline of what I wanted to say with each line before I actually wrote the verse.

Re: Xenolith

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

I wrote the longer lines with all the rhyming words I could find, then stuffed the shorter ones in.