This is a repost from about a year ago when I played with the iambic pentameter form just for fun. It’s not a perfect example as I didn’t get the stresses correct throughout, but I call it a good effort.
Monty Goes Iambic Pentameter
The clock says it is just past noon this day; In a rain cloud darkened room I sit; Tapping out ten syllabled poetry, In a classically metered rhythm. Summoning a Shakespearean-like muse; Counting words bit by bit under my breath; To get this iambic pentameter prose. Is it working? Or is this just a ruse? A form living long past its rightful death? Just re-teaching me how to count my toes? All I know is I’m enjoying myself And, that’s what really counts I suppose.
On this anniversary of my first A to Z challenge, I’m posting each of the illustrated “seriously silly poems” from my book Apples Eating Zebras and other seriously silly poetry — a carefully edited and polished compilation of my A to Z posts from last year. Enjoy!
I is for ‘Icky’
Stay tuned for more silly poetry from A to Z!
Pick up a copy of this silly collection dedicated to the child in all of us and enjoy with a loved one. Or stick around as I’ll continue posting each illustrated poem one letter at a time throughout the month of April. Have fun and stay silly!
April is here again and that means its National Poetry Writing Month and for my second year I’ll be joining the 30 poems in 30 days challenge hosted by napowrimo.net. For this challenge, a poetry prompt will be provided daily during the month of April and if I can keep on track I’ll achieve the 30 poems in 30 days goal. So enough chatter…let’s go! It’s time for NaPoWriMo!
If you were to ask me if I’m a fan of horror, my first reaction would be to say no. Horror scares me. It horrifies me, if you will. But it is exciting in a way and while I’ll pass on this genre in film, I’m willing to explore it more in reading and writing. The first horror novel that I read was Stephen King’s Pet Cemetery and it totally freaked me out. It didn’t help that I lived on a dead-end dirt road called Cemetery Road at the time. But it was a thrilling read to and it wasn’t long before I read another King novel re-seeking that excitement. That was back in about sixth grade, I’d guess.
The below series, I’ve posted before. I created it for the first #vssmurder prompts back during the Halloween season of 2020. I had a little too much fun with it.
What do you think? Are these horror, horrible, or a mixture of the two?
In celebration of National Poetry Month @murisopsis from A Different Perspective is once again hosting a poetic scavenger hunt. This year’s theme is “nonce” form poetry. What is nonce form poetry? Well, it’s basically a form that was created by a poet for their own use. What’s interesting about a nonce form is that if it is adopted by other poets and used more often it will no longer be considered a nonce form, but rather become recognized as a “valid” poetical form.
The scavenger hunt features thirteen nonce form challenges all to be completed within the month of April. I highly encourage you to check out the prompts and participate here.
Ok, now onto the ninth challenge…The Mouse
The Mouse
A 3 line poem with a title written all in lower case. The title is the same as the first line. L1: 2 single syllable words having the same number of letters per word. L2: 4 syllables in 2 words. L3: 8 syllables in 4 words.
On this anniversary of my first A to Z challenge, I’m posting each of the illustrated “seriously silly poems” from my book Apples Eating Zebras and other seriously silly poetry — a carefully edited and polished compilation of my A to Z posts from last year. Enjoy!
H is for ‘Haha’
Stay tuned for more silly poetry from A to Z!
Pick up a copy of this silly collection dedicated to the child in all of us and enjoy with a loved one. Or stick around as I’ll continue posting each illustrated poem one letter at a time throughout the month of April. Have fun and stay silly!
April is here again and that means its National Poetry Writing Month and for my second year I’ll be joining the 30 poems in 30 days challenge hosted by napowrimo.net. For this challenge, a poetry prompt will be provided daily during the month of April and if I can keep on track I’ll achieve the 30 poems in 30 days goal. So enough chatter…let’s go! It’s time for NaPoWriMo!
Write a sonnet incorporating tradition as much or as little as you like – while keeping in general to the theme of “love.”
Slowly, slowly falling in love with you; No need to rush what’s already been true Since my heart beat a’faster right on cue That night when I first set my eyes on you.
The years have passed by, some quick, others slow, I still remember that day in Hanzhou — You lit the sky with your pregnancy glow And soon we had one more, then two, in tow.
It’s hard to believe the kid’s are now grown Off into the world — the seeds we had sown Whom we gently nurtured the best we’d known Now forging their life on terms of their own.
This year has been the toughest one as yet Remember my nerves the day we first met? They raised you, then us — we’ll never forget They taught us to love, then left us in debt.
We find ourselves in this too empty home Thank god your here, that we are not alone Thank you for your love, this life, our home Can’t imagine doing this on my own.
Slowly, slowly falling in love with you; No need to rush what is already true; I’ll always be falling in love with you.
This is quite a bit longer than a typical sonnet (22 vs. 14 lines), but I needed the extra lines to fully express my feeling. This coming Saturday is our 27th wedding anniversary so this was perfect timing for getting a prompt asking for a “love” poem. She get’s notices from my blog, but I’m pretty sure she doesn’t read them (😂) — so I can surprise her with this poem on our anniversary night.
In celebration of National Poetry Month @murisopsis from A Different Perspective is once again hosting a poetic scavenger hunt. This year’s theme is “nonce” form poetry. What is nonce form poetry? Well, it’s basically a form that was created by a poet for their own use. What’s interesting about a nonce form is that if it is adopted by other poets and used more often it will no longer be considered a nonce form, but rather become recognized as a “valid” poetical form.
The scavenger hunt features thirteen nonce form challenges all to be completed within the month of April. I highly encourage you to check out the prompts and participate here.
Ok, now onto the eighth challenge…American Paragraph
American Paragraph
A collection of American Sentences that consist of 17 syllables concisely written without unnecessary words or articles and should include a turn or enlightenment.
No offense intended but, ugh, this feels like a school assignment. Something about the “American” and “concise” and the requirement for a “turn” all make this feel like a hill to climb. But…a challenge is a challenge and I do like challenges. So I’m going to get over my initial grumps and give this a go.
I just read the history of the American Sentence. It’s creation by Allen Ginsberg and it’s basis on the haiku. Ok. Ok. I admit I might have pre-judged this one. I’m now excited for the challenge!
Below is a corrected version as my first published post featured mostly 12 syllable lines vs. the 17 required (apparently I’m not very good at counting on my hands above 10).
God Bless America
‘Murican sentences strung together with rage across the airwaves. A man wrapped up in our nation’s flag slings lies without consequences. Unleashing our ugliness once hidden behind doors and under hoods. We build false walls keeping us locked in an endless war with our own selves. Ruddy faces in matching ball caps rise up to tear our nation down. Holding our flag up high we trample our democracy under heel. We’re waging a civil war with conspiracies and dishonest “news”. Making traitors heroes in the name of God, guns, and the Trump(R) trademark. And now I find myself the unwilling patriot — quietly praying words I had once denounced: “God Bless America”.
Well I broke form at the end but I like the effect that breaking the form makes — it creates an emphatic ending and lands the turn (at least that is my thinking). I know politics is a tricky topic, but with a form named “American Paragraph” I really couldn’t help it. I think the hardest part of this form is knowing whether I’m being concise enough or not. Your thoughts?
April is here again and that means its National Poetry Writing Month and for my second year I’ll be joining the 30 poems in 30 days challenge hosted by napowrimo.net. For this challenge, a poetry prompt will be provided daily during the month of April and if I can keep on track I’ll achieve the 30 poems in 30 days goal. So enough chatter…let’s go! It’s time for NaPoWriMo!
Construct a poem using “Twenty Little Poetry Projects” (details in link)
Kernels of thoughts flowered behind his eyes then spilled out of his mouth in a rainbow of sweet reds, sour oranges, umami yellows, bitter blues, tingling indigos, and hot as hell Violets fragrantly prancing topless in their string bikini bottoms to strumming banjos. Not hot as hell, but La Mamas from Shanghai. Don’t ask me. The toddler said it so it must be true. The colorful flowers of absurdity fell down down down to the dry ocean bottom, where they will shrivel into kernels of thoughts.
That was an interesting process. I think I got all twenty little projects in there. Some of lines were multi-functional. For those not familiar “La Mama” translates from Chinese to English as “Hot Mama” and is an expression often used by expecting/new mom’s in China as their aspiration to remain a strong, sexy, woman in motherhood. Just yesterday I saw a video clip of a mom that asked her daughter if she was pretty and the daughter (obviously coached) said she was a “La Mama”. The “La” here is “spicy” type hot, not temperature. Hope you enjoy reading this and will see you again tomorrow.
Yummy! I’m going to pull out an example from the archives. The below very short story was originally published in Monty’s Very Short Shorts, which is a compilation of illustrated very short stories and poems based on the #vss365 prompt from Twitter back in 2020. This was my first writing project.
Monty’s Blahg 