Winter Night

Quiet night
stars shine intensely,
crystal air
snowflakes fall
as silence drops around us
filling all our lives.


  Today's poem is a shadorma, a Spanish six line poem.  This is a syllabic form with 3-5-3-3-7-5 syllables in the lines.  You can check to see if I've done this correctly by counting the syllables in each line.

Line 1 = 3 syllables
Line 2 = 5 syllables
Line 3 = 3 syllables
Line 4 = 3 syllables
Line 5 = 7 syllables
Line 6 = 5 syllables

    If you are one of those people who hates rhyme, or just can't do it, try some of the syllabic forms to get yourself started.  Your challenge for today is to try writing your own syllabic poem.

    I saw a sweatshirt this weekend that said, "Have you noticed LISTEN and SILENT are made from the same letters?"

    Have a fun day writing poetry.  Stay warm.

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.

Coyote Fib

One
Two
Running
Coyotes
Dash up a driveway
Leap fences, run along the wash.
Soon they will be gone
No longer
Can they
Roam
Free.

  You'll notice I'm using the content from yesterday's post to write this poem.  I'm playing with the FIB form today.  A FIB is a 6 line  poem based on the Fibonacci number.  Like a haiku, syllables are counted.  Each line is the sum of the two previous lines added together so that the lines have this many syllables 1/1/2/3/5/8. I didn't like ending on the 6th line so I then reversed the sequence.  8/5/3/2/1/1.  The funny thing is, I actually like this poem when I read it from the bottom up, too.

   Can you try writing your own FIB today?  And if you'd like, try writing the reverse, too.

    I don't normally review books on my blog, but I wanted to share a fun new picture book GUESS WHO'S IN THE DESERT, written by Charline Profiri with beautiful illustrations by Susan Swan.  Charline is in my children's poetry critique group and she has shared every step in her publishing process with our group.  The final product is a very, very beautiful book.  It is written in rhyming riddles and is lots of fun.  All my favorite desert critters are having a party in this book.

   If you leave a comment on today's post, on Sunday (2:00 PM MST)  I'll take all the names and throw them in my desert hiking hat.  I'll draw one name and send you my autographed copy of this book.  If you leave a FIB with your comment, I'll put your name in my hat twice.

  Thank you, Charline Profiri for this wonderful book, GUESS WHO'S IN THE DESERT.  I'm sure children will love your poetry and the desert.

  I believe Julie Larios is hosting the Friday Poetry Round Up today on her blog at http://julielarios.blogspot.com/   http://julielarios.blogspot.com/