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This is my playground for poetry written for children with ideas and inspiration for writing your own poems. Come on in. Sit for a spell, have a cup of words to swirl around and make your own cup of poetry. I'm so glad you are here. I hope you'll find the Kingdom of Poetry a fun place to be.

Friday, August 31, 2012

The Lai

     Some days/nights you just feel brain dead.  I think part of the problem is that there are too many things I could write about today.  This often happens when I come to Poetry Friday, or I have a deadline.  I want to write something significant, something important to share and nothing seems good enough.  I know you've been there. 
     So today I'll just share a poem I wrote as part of the Monday Poetry Stretch over at Miss Rumpus Effect. 
     This week I learned about the Lai, a form poem. This is a French form with 9 lines--aab,aab,aab.  The a lines have 5 syllables.  The b lines have only 2.  So, since 6 of the lines need to rhyme, it means that base word family has to be big.  I'm thinking words like "an" --ran, fan, can, man, Dan, Nan, pan, tan.  Or maybe "ight"--light, bright, bite, might, plight, etc.  Anyway, for my poem I cheated a little and used feminine rhyme by using gerunds--"ing" words. (follow the links above for more information on The Lai Verse Form.)

This poem is in honor of the blue moon shining tonight. 


NIGHT DREAMS

While I am sleeping
a lizard leaping
AWAKES!
My eyes start blinking
what was I thinking
MISTAKES!
Then I am screaming
I wasn't dreaming
LAND SAKES!

     So, how did I do?  Did I meet the requirements of the form?
 
    If you try performing this poem with a class, the children can join in by saying the AWAKES, MISTAKES, LAND SAKES!

     Have a Happy Poetry Friday.  Thanks to Sylvia Vardell at Poetry for Children for hosting the round up this week.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the new POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY.

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6 comments:

  1. jamaAugust 31, 2012 at 10:31 AM

    Enjoyed your lai, Joy :). Made me jump out of my seat a couple of times . . .

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  2. Linda A.August 31, 2012 at 11:37 AM

    Joy,

    Sounds like you're overwhelmed, not brain dead. Either condition makes it hard to think. But then, like a ray of sunshine, you came through.

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  3. Violet N.August 31, 2012 at 11:37 AM

    Hi Joy! What a fun poem to try. I love the new forms Miss Rumphius comes up with in her challenges. I think yours is a great success!

    Also, want to thank you for the envelope that arrived this week, full of poetic surprises. Loved every piece -- the poem about stones, the stones themselves, the "Omen" poem (Congratulations!) and the colorful card. It was so worth the wait (and be sure I wasn't one bit impatient, in fact, it felt like a bit of a surprise.) Thanks again!

    Violet N.

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  4. Mary LeeSeptember 1, 2012 at 5:45 PM

    Fun form to try! You did it well!!

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  5. Renee LaTulippeSeptember 3, 2012 at 1:14 AM

    Looks like you hit the form, and now it's on my growing list of forms to try. Could be fun to try an extended Lai, maybe three of the 9-line stanzas together. Hmmm...

    ReplyDelete
  6. UnknownDecember 28, 2014 at 7:08 PM

    I am impressed. Very nicely done indeed!

    ReplyDelete

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