Thanksgiving Turkey

Gobble, gobble, Mr. Tom Turkey
strutting around the grassy yard.
Scratching grubs up from the dirt
he is growing big and fat.
We will pluck and dress him,
cook in the oven
for Thanksgiving
delicious
turkey
feast.

     This is a nonet, a nine line poem with nine syllables in the first line and then one less syllable in each successive line, ending with a one syllable line.  Can you try writing your own nonet today?  Have fun writing.

   

Nonet

Half moon light shines on the Saguaro
casting dark shadows in the sand.
Their arms stretch up offering
blessings to the desert,
praise to the cool night.
I, in my bed,
am wishing
it were
me.

   Yesterday I said I was working on nine line poems and shared two lai with you.  Today I have another syllabic poem--the nonet.  This poetic form has nine lines and nine syllables in the first line, eight in the second and each subsequent line has one less syllable until the last line has only one syllable.  Finding a suitable one syllable word to end the poem on is the tricky part of this form.
Your challenge for today is to try writing your own nine line poem.  Have fun writing.

MAY 9

A Lai

Bobbing the fence rail
are two feathered quail--
mistake.

Along that same trail
flicks his rattle-tail,
a snake.

His meal, it will fail
as up the birds sail--
heart-ache.


     I thought for May 9, I'd try a couple of nine line poems.  The first is the French form, the lai.  This form uses two rhyme families.  A syllabic form, there are five syllables for the first two lines using one rhyme, followed by two syllable lines for the second rhyme.  So, the lines look like:

x x x x a
x x x x a
x b

x x x x a
x x x x a
x b

x x x x a
x x x x a
x b

  It is fun working with the long and short lines, but it does make the poem list-like with that really short two syllable line.

Here's another:

Once you may recall
when we were still small
we'd play
at chasing a ball.
You'd try not to fall
each day
and sometimes we'd crawl
or we would stretch tall
in May.

   Another nine line poem is the nonet.  The first line has nine syllables, the second eight, with each successive line having one less syllable until the ninth line has only one syllable.  This takes some planning because you have to end on a single syllable word.   I'm working on a nonet for tomorrow.

   But May 10th is Astronomy Day, so I might write about the moon.  And it is also National Public Gardens Day, so I might make my poem about the garden.  What will you write about today?  Can you try writing a lai or a nonet?  Have fun writing.

   The Poetry Friday Round Up is hosted by Jama Rattigan on her blog Alphabet Soup.  Head over to Jama's Alphabet Soup to read more poetry today.  Thank you, Jama for hosting a fun party.

TREMENDOUS

Birds singing make a raucous racket.
The early morning sun wakes them.
They sing, coo and tweet loudly
to greet the springtime dawn.
Outside my window
they will not stop.
TREMENDOUS!
Waking
me.

    Today's poem is a nonet--a nine line poem of 45 syllables.  there are 9 syllables in the first line, and then one less in each of the following lines until you get to one.    Can you try writing your own nonet today?

Nonet

I'm still having fun playing with nonets, a syllabraic form that is nine lines long with 45 syllables.  Nine syllables in the first line, eight in the second.  One less syllable in each line until you get to the last line that has only one word.  Pretty simple really since the syllable count is the only rule for this form.

Driving the long, black ribbon highway,
nothing to see, sand and sagebrush.
The wind whips sandy eddies,
at the side of the road
grow yellow mustard,
pink wildflowers.
Here two weeks
then gone--
spring.


     I drove across the desert to Los Angeles yesterday, so I saw lots of desert.  Its quiet beauty quickly changes.  We are rushing all too fast toward summer.  I wonder how many days we have left before we have temperatures over 100.  My drive inspired this nonet.  Can you try writing your own nonet today?.

This poem is part of Poetry Friday, hosted today by Greg at GottaBook

GRAPEFRUIT

I had so much fun writing a nonet yesterday, I thought I'd try it again today.  I went to my father-in-law's place yesterday to pick some more grapefruit off his tree.  There was a surprise there for me, something I hadn't expected.


A nonet is a nine line poem with nine syllables in the first line and one less syllable is each following line, until you get to the last line with one syllable.  So all total there are 45 syllables in this poem.  I had to add up the
line totals several times, and in several ways to make sure 45 was the number.  Now, I hope I counted my lines correctly.  If not, please let me know so I can fix it.

The grapefruit tree hangs with yellow suns.
Waxy, white blossoms scent
the air and bees pollinate.
Their buzz fills the branches.
Each healthy round globe,
two juicy halves,
I slice for
breakfast
sweets.


    I love the names of some of the grapefruit, ruby red, Texas pink, Inca gold and Indian river.  When I was young, I thought the taste was sour, but I have discovered that fresh grapefruit is sweet.  Sitting on a grocer's shelf is what makes the taste sour.  Can you try writing your own nonet today?  Or try writing a poem about grapefruit.  Have fun.

POPSICLES

In spring, I like licking popsicles,
icy cold, juicy popsicles,
red ones to share with a friend
ones with two wooden sticks
we split them in half
each takes a stick
then a lick
juicy,
friends.


     This is a nonce form called a nonet.  It is made from nine lines, with nine syllables in the first line, and then one less syllable in each subsequent line, ending with a one syllable line.  Your challenge today is to try writing your own nonet.  Have fun.