Sherlock Holmes: 60 for 60

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.

( Definition and Example )



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

This Sunday, 2nd April, we'll be posting our 60 word ficlets for The Devil's Foot.

Holmes and Watson are staying in Cornwall, so that Holmes might rest and recover his health. But even here crime finds Holmes. A woman frightened to death, her two brothers driven insane - can this really be 'diabolical intrusions into the affairs of men'..?

If you haven't tried 60 for 60 before, full information - including our schedule - can be found on our profile. But in essence: you read ACD's story and then you write a 60 word story inspired by it! You don't have to post a story every week - just join in whenever you feel like it.

Each Sunday we will also have our weekly discussion post, where we discuss a topic inspired by the canon story. And there’s Mrs. Hudson's Poetry Page too - any poems written about this week’s story can be left as a comment on her post. As usual, her housemaid Rachel will be suggesting a poem for us to read to give us added inspiration, and there will also be a new poetry form to try: stream of consciousness.

You can choose one activity, or have a go at everything. Or just come along and read the 60s! (And have a chat in the comments.) All options are absolutely fine.

Hope to see you on Sunday. But don’t worry if you can’t join us then - we stay open for posting and commenting all week!

Canon Story: The Devil's Foot
Title: Visions
Author: scfrankles
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: “Yet there they sat, driven clean mad with terror, and Brenda lying dead of fright…” ...a thick, musky odour, subtle and nauseous. At the very first whiff of it my brain and my imagination were beyond all control.


The monster loomed over the ship.

The Nobleman and the Knight had already succumbed to terror. The Princess brandished her sword but waves rose and crashed down onto her.

As the water brought death though, she finally comprehended the name of the sorcerer and she used her own magic.

“Mortimer,” whispered the Princess.

And far away, the Lion heard her.



A/N: Brenda: probably not from Brendan, which means “prince”. But possibly from the Old Norse name Brandr, which means "sword". Owen: probably a Welsh form of Eugene, which means “well born”. George: the patron saint of England. A Roman soldier, who in legend fought a dragon. Leon: from the Greek, meaning “lion”. Mortimer: from the Old French, “dead sea”.

This week we’re having a look at The Devil’s Foot. I’ve typed up a few thoughts and questions to get the discussion going—please leave your own ideas in the comments!

( Discussion continues... )