OctPoWriMo: Day 27 (There is Magic in the Making)

 Prompts: Magic, Holiday, Ancestors, Veil / Poetic Type: Terzanelle

Samhain's Gift

This, at last, is the time

when the veil becomes the thinnest

This, at last, is the time

when those who had turned to dust

gets to return to your door

when  the veil is the thinnest.

This is the lore

that has been lost to the eons

gets to return to your door;

and be gone when the day dawns.

This is the magic of the holiday

that has been lost to the eons.

All you need to pay,

a gift of an apple or two,

this is the magic of the holiday.

With this I will too--

This, at last, is the time,

a gift of an apple or two--

This, at last, is the time.

Day 21: Beach Combing (Terzanelle)

Prompts: Nature Calling; Word Prompts: rocks, water, birds, trail, sand; Poetic Form: Terzanelle

Just gonna let it speak for itself, Dear Readers. Leave me some love below... Thanks! If you need to rhyme, check out Rhymer.com

OctPoWriMo

Beach Combing

Upon the shore I stroll,

with splashing waves, no silence here,

and somehow the noises calm my soul.

At the time of endings year

To the end of the world I come,

with splashing waves, no silence here.

Across the glassy waves there's a hum,

lost against the forever infinitude 

To the end of the world I come.

This is where I come to lift my mood,

with songs of waves and birds--

lost against the forever infinitude.

It is here where I can find the words,

wrapped with the moments of peace

with songs of waves and birds.

To know I have found a piece

wrapped with the moments of peace.

Upon the shore I stroll,

and somehow the noises calm my soul.

Terzanelle: Into a Neil Story

Since I am such a Neil Gaiman fan and today's prompt is to write a terzanelle. I thought that I would write about the world that Neil creates. This fantastical and ethereal world that are usually tinted greys and nothing is quite the same as the real world.

Today is N for Neil Gaiman

Poetic Style: Terzanelle

Topic: Neil Gaiman's Worlds

Into a Neil Story

Dropped into a story one day

after I had fallen into repose,

the world as I knew it tinted grey.

Where rules followed laws make up in prose

everything looked quite similar

after I had fallen into repose.

I only had a moment before I saw her

standing there much like a plot device

and everything looked quite similar.

She looked at me and then twice

reaching for my hand slowly

standing there much like a plot device.

She thus said, "Take my hand and let us flee,

past the old castle ways and below..."

reaching for my hand slowly.

And I am running for my life through

and past the old castle ways and below.

Dropped into a story one day

the world as I knew it tinted grey.

Here, There be a Writer: Wednesday #ROW80 update - Writing and Stuff

Today is a laid back day. I am home from work because it's been slow. So, I am taking advantage of the extra time on writing projects. Since my last update I am moving right along, "Movin' right along in search of good times and good news, With good friends you can't lose, This could become a habit! Opportunity knocks once let's reach out and grab it (yeah!), Together we'll nab it, We'll hitchhike, bus or yellow cab it! (Cab it?)"

I woke up this morning read a few chapters of "Inheritance". I hate to push aside my reading, especially when I have a serious reading goals to keep up with this year. Or there's the fact that anytime I go into a used book store or a Salvo (Salvation Army Store) when there is a fresh load of books on the shelf, I am dangerous. I now have the complete "Hunger Games" trilogy, a copy of "To Kill a Mockingbird", "Diary of Anne Frank", and "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie. I think I need to revise/create a book list for the next few months, if not this whole year.

Currently, I am on page 53 of "Inheritance" by Christopher Paolini, not too far in, yet. I am planning on diving into it one this week. Here's a thing; when I finished Brisinger I needed time before starting the next book. It was so much to take in. When I am reading series (mostly fantasy/sci-fi series), I usually need time to digest the story before getting thrown into the next story. It has to do with not wanting to forget the story in six months time and also because sometimes I want to savour the story I had spend A LOT of time investing in. Most of the fantasy/sci-fi series that I read are pretty intense and/or very detailed.

I have so many other series to read or re-read, not counting the small collection of Piers Anthony books given to me by my friend, Jane when she moved to Wisconsin.

This is why bookstores, both new and used are dangerous to me. I buy books. I already had a crap ton o' books (see photo for example). I often wonder if I will ever get through 'ALL TEH BOOKS' in my 'to read' collection. Then I remember this:;there is something gratifying in reading, getting lost into a world, feeling the words tickle your mind. Enjoy that description! This year I set to read 25 books total (on Goodreads.com). I have read 3 books so far. It would be great to surpass that number. Last year I didn't quite make my goal of...(which I conveniently forgot just now). Working on changing that. Maybe I should at least try to had a schedule of books for the next few months. I am going to be learning Shakespeare's "The Tempest"  (playing Trinculo) through April and I think I an going need to have a more detailed schedule, This is so I can still make good on my line learning and still read 'ALL TEH BOOKS'. Let's start a general list of book and series I want to read or re-read this year (this list is a work in progress):

*Inheritance (by February 15th)
*To Kill a Mockingbird (by February 28th)
*Hunger Games
*Diary of Anne Frank
*His Dark Materials

*Ink Death (to re-read Ink Heart and Spell)
*Windhaven
*Mark Twain works (at least 1)
*Jules Verne works (at least 1)

Also, this morning, I started work on a short story that I started earlier in the week. Something that I started with the help of a writing prompt. One little picture of a birdhouse and a story came to me. It's exciting. I sometimes have trouble writing shorty stories. Not completely sure if it's a lack of inspiration or I get distracted by other projects. I'm a bit like Dug the Dog from the movie UP. "Hi! My name is Dug...SQUIRREL!" Oh, well, I'm feeling good about the story. It's a bit random. Not a full scale story, but it is a story. I really need more practice at writing short stories. Now, I just need to edit it today and have a complete first draft by day's end. That means I made my first story goal for ROW80! ~w00t~

Poetry update time! Yes, the obscure poetry month is going very well. I have been sticking to Villanelles, Terzanelles, Rondeaus, Triolets, Cinquains, and Pantoums. I think that I prefer to improve on these style instead of adding other forms to the list. Maybe for another month's challenge? Most of these forms requires rhyming and I am finding that I do need more work on my rhyming and  rhythm. It's not so bad, really. I use rhymer.com as a tool to help me find words to use, but there are skills in finding the right rhyming words for the right poem/line, not just picking from a list. It's a handy tool and I will not stop using it, but the more I write in these forms the more I am able to think rhyme on my feet.

Yesterday's poem and the one I am most proud of so far this month:

1-21-2014: No two Snowflakes... (via Ken Corey)

Terzanelle: ABA'/ bCB / cDC / dED / eFE / fAFA'

No Two Are

Have you ever noticed the smaller details
of the delicate icy lace of a snowflake.
Once upon a time, when the Boreas's gales

blows across the tundra at daybreak;
Like the magnolias in the spring are, these
of the delicate icy lace of a snowflake

float upon the winter's breeze
and no two such are quite the same.
Like the magnolias in the spring are these,

There are no pattern for their frame
each one is uniquely in design
and no two such are quite the same.

A rarity of beauty most opaline--
quite the sight, when you see how small
each one is uniquely in design.

Made from the very own winter's squall.
Have you ever noticed the smaller details--
quite the sight, when you see how small.
Once upon a time, when the Boreas's gales.

1-21-2014 12:08 pm

This is going to be a full week, filled with Improv and LCP's Annual Dinner, and Tempest. Tempest rehearsals start gearing up this week. I am hoping to keep to my goals, at least to some of them. I know that with ROW80, if I need to I can revise my goals. That makes me feel good. I am also not going to overly worry about whether I make or fail to make these goals. I am just going to keep pushing as much as I can. When I just do it, I feel the most productive and positive about my work. That's really what I need to remember. Also this, "If you really want to do something, no one can stop you. If you really don;t want to do something, no one can help you." ~James A. Owen

Have a Great week, Dear Readers! 

Iambic Pentameter and Beyond

I am going to post a sonnet that I wrote in iambic pentameter. While is not that great (compared to Will's work), it a solid attempt, certainly for a first attempt using iambic pentameter.

See, it is very hard. I am writing a blog for each day this week (a challenge to stretch my mind to it's limits). This means I need to have something to write about each day. Well, then I came up with my Sonnet-a-Day for a month project. I feel like this week I could cross over for seven days. That feels like cheating. I need really content! Today is iambic pentameter day (so decreed by me).

Okay, I am rambling! The sonnet written in iambic pentameter. To give me credit, I did sit down and one. I counted the syllables, stressed and unstressed. It might not be perfect, but I feel that I got what The Bard was going for. It was hard. Yes! REALLY hard! Trying to get the right amount of "Iambic Feet" (a stressed and unstressed syllable) and 5 of them in ONE line. Then to make matters worse, rhyming every other lines. 3 quatrains with rhyme and a couplet.

Wow! I feel literate. After all the the poems I have personally written, or written for various classes over the years, (and that's a lot). Trust me, I feel great! It might be a small accomplishment to some, but to write a sonnet, with rhyme, and in iambic pentameter. That's wow! That's AWESOME!

I am normally used to free verse. I just write and go. When I stick to form, I go for Haiku. They are one of my favourite poetic form. They are easy to write, but also,  eastern thought and eastern poetry makes me happy. While in college I had to write a villanelle and terzanelle for my "Intro to Creative Writing" with prof. Lord. They had a definite form and rhyme scheme. I really took to them. Wikipedia's definition: villanelle is a nineteen-line poetic form consisting of five tercets (3 line stanza) followed by a quatrain (4 line stanza) and the first and third lines repeat thorughout the poem. It's a very song-like form. One could put music to some villanelles. Here is my first attempt at a villanelle back in 1997:

Entity: A Villanelle

Here comes the darkness that engulfs the eyes

in a mass of acrid bile; it burns alive.

All in disguise?

Purely by surprise

among the ancient ruins it does dive,

the darkness that engulfs the eyes.

Of the times, it has tried to die

it never thought to contrive

that it was all in disguise.

Never given a chance to try 

there are now only five

left alive, left of the darkness that engulfs the eyes.

Why all sudden lying?

No longer will it survive,

in the end, it is a disguise.

It rises

and it writhes

the darkness that engulfs the eyes

in all; it is a disguise.

 Dylan Thomas one of the most famous villanelle out there:

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on that sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

The other form that I was introduced to in my creative writing class was as a Terzanelle, also a 19 line poem. This is very similar to the villanelle, but with a terzanelle, the middle line of each stanza is repeated as the last line of the next stanza. Likewise, the first and third line of the first stanza repeat in the final quatrain. The Terzanelle also has a rhyme scheme making it also song-like .

A Moment

Jays chatter wild among the trees

they spiral slowly earthward.

I see three

who leap skyward

heading to a warm place.

They spiral slowly earthward--

their tails, delicate like lace,

only blue.

Heading to a warm place

there are only a few

 feathers that fall like heather;

tall and filled of hue.

Cold turns the weather

bitter; it bites the wings.

Feathers that fall like heather

are funny little things.

Jays chatter wild in the trees.

The cold, it bites the wings

and I see three.

Okay, enough of the old college poetry, you came here to read some sonnets. I now I present my  freshly typed sonnet, written in iambic pentameter (first time ever). This sonnet is dedicated to Adichappo, who gave me my first topic in my month of sonnets. It's day two of sonnet month!

Lord Oberon

Oh, thy Fair Face

Oh, thy fair face, that graces my own eye

From the farther oceans you have traveled.

Coasting in to the bay, your tears, they cry--

From the hardest journey that you reveled.

You realize that your world is far from you.

This land is fresh and green from the long rains

And your elfin heart soars at the sky blue

Of the new home you have long sought in vain.

The magic has returned to your slight hands

Now that your feet are on the land once more

And can feel the earthen power, so grand.

That you, gazing across, can feel you soar--

Your home is now amongst my folk and will

Sing together in a harmony still.