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.



The Laboratory

By Robert Browning



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


( 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, 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, rime couée, rispetto, Schüttelreim, sedoka, septet, sestina, shadorma, sonnet, stream of consciousness, tanka, tercet, terza rima, tongue twister poetry, triangular triplet, triolet, Tyburn, villanelle


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


Warm regards,

Mrs. Hudson

This Sunday, 7th May, we'll be posting our 60 word ficlets for The Retired Colourman.

"The old story, Watson. A treacherous friend and a fickle wife..." Josiah Amberley's much younger wife has run off with his neighbour and with Amberley's money. Can Holmes and Watson discover where Mrs. Amberley is now..?

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: the quatern.

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 Retired Colourman
Title: A Pair of Sparkling Eyes
Author: scfrankles
Rating: G
Author's Notes: “I can picture you whispering soft nothings with the young lady at the Blue Anchor, and receiving hard somethings in exchange.” Title from G&S’s “Take a pair of sparkling eyes” from The Gondoliers.


“Another chance for you, Watson.”

Holmes discreetly indicated the pretty young barmaid.

“I’ll go and interview the neighbours; you stay here and exchange sweet nothings for hard somethings…”



“So,” asked Holmes later, “did you get the ‘hard somethings’?”

“Indeed.”

Watson tipped up his hat to reveal two black eyes.

“The young lady’s right hook and left jab were both excellent.”

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

( Discussion continues... )

Canon Story: The Retired Colourman
Title: An Abridgement Too Far
Author: scfrankles
Rating: G
Author's Notes: "Cut out the poetry, Watson," said Holmes severely.



“Too ‘poetic’?” I thrust my latest manuscript at Holmes. “There! You have my permission to edit it!”


Some days later Holmes returned my story.

“I think I have removed everything that was unnecessary,” he smirked.

I glanced at his work, then frowned. “I will never understand your sense of humour, Holmes.”

He had trimmed my story to exactly 60 words.