Category Archives: collaboration

The Anna: Hush

This poem is my final contribution to the poetic ‘scavenger hunt’ designed by @murisopsis from A Different Perspective. This time the theme is Names, as in poetic forms that feature a name (e.g. one of the prompts is to write a poem in the form of “Amandas Pinch” — a form I’ve personally never heard of before). There are thirteen prompts in total so this is more manageable then a daily commitment challenge. Check out all the prompts and the way it works here and join in if your up for some poetic puzzling. Enjoy!

Prompt 13

Write a poem using the form The Anna or write a Dr. Stella.

A Different Perspective

The Anna poem is composed of 7 lines with syllable count 2/3/4/5/4/3/2 and unrhymed. Full rules here.

Hush

Hush. Hush.
Listen to
The rhythm of
Our hearts in tandem
Chanting quietly
A mantra
Of love.

What a wonderful learning experience this poetry scavenger hunt has been. I found a few new forms that I will experiment with. A big thanks to Murisopsis for designing and hosting it.

Be well,

Monty

Jay’s Way: For the Birds

This poem is a part of the poetic ‘scavenger hunt’ designed by @murisopsis from A Different Perspective. This time the theme is Names, as in poetic forms that feature a name (e.g. one of the prompts is to write a poem in the form of “Amandas Pinch” — a form I’ve personally never heard of before). There are thirteen prompts in total so this is more manageable then a daily commitment challenge. Check out all the prompts and the way it works here and join in if your up for some poetic puzzling. Enjoy!

Prompt 12

Write a poem using the form Jay’s Way or write a poem using a bird metaphor.

A Different Perspective

A Jay’s Way poem is composed of 12 lines with syllable count 3/7/11/9/5/3/3/5/9/11/7/3 and rhyme scheme a/b/b/c/c/d/d/e/e/f/f/a. Full rules here.

For the Birds

In fifth grade
I fell for the blue jay birds
And wrote about them in a thousand plus words
Copied verbatim from a bird book
Word for word I took
From the page
Like a sage
Full of blue jay facts
And of their natural habitats
I wrote them out neatly onto paper stock
Not a single thought ad-hoc
Ever made.

A sadly true story. I went on to write several research papers covering the Jay family until my teacher finally realized what was going on. To be fair, I’d never learned better so it was a ‘good teaching moment’.

Be well,

Monty

Joseph’s Star: A Love Story

This poem is a part of the poetic ‘scavenger hunt’ designed by @murisopsis from A Different Perspective. This time the theme is Names, as in poetic forms that feature a name (e.g. one of the prompts is to write a poem in the form of “Amandas Pinch” — a form I’ve personally never heard of before). There are thirteen prompts in total so this is more manageable then a daily commitment challenge. Check out all the prompts and the way it works here and join in if your up for some poetic puzzling. Enjoy!

Prompt 11

Write a Joseph’s Star poem or write a poem with the words: super, technicolor, coat, stars.

A Different Perspective

A Joseph’s Star poem composed of 7 non-rhyming lines with syllable count 1/3/5/7/7/5/1. Full rules here.

A Love Story

She
Sits before
Me with her heart broke,
Yearning for love’s innocence
Now shattered by the jagged
Reality of
Life.

She
Lays before
Me with her heart torn;
I try to mend it with the
Frayed thread of old promises
But love unravels
Faster than I can
Sew.

As
Our love dies
She lifts herself up
With the strength of her own wings,
And rises to catch the fresh
Currents of new life
Found.


As
She soars in
The blue sky above
Through the clouds so graceful
I can’t help but smile for her
And shed a tear for
Me.

Be well,

Monty

Golda: Woof!

This poem is a part of the poetic ‘scavenger hunt’ designed by @murisopsis from A Different Perspective. This time the theme is Names, as in poetic forms that feature a name (e.g. one of the prompts is to write a poem in the form of “Amandas Pinch” — a form I’ve personally never heard of before). There are thirteen prompts in total so this is more manageable then a daily commitment challenge. Check out all the prompts and the way it works here and join in if your up for some poetic puzzling. Enjoy!

Prompt 10

Write a Golda poem or incorporate the words related to gold into a poem.

A Different Perspective

The Golda is a poem composed of 12 lines where the 6th and 12th line rhyme and has syllable count 2/2/4/1/4/2a/2/1/2/4/4/2a. Full rules here.

Woof!

Just one
Little
Nip by a sharp
Toothed
Pup has turned me
Wherewolf

Seven
Shots
Later,
Full of rabies
Antibodies,
I woof!

Inspired by my little adventure with a homeless puppy this past weekend which sent me to the dog bite clinic (aside from feeling like a pin cushion from all the injections, I’m fine).

Be well,

Monty

Bryant: Polluted Waters

This poem is a part of the poetic ‘scavenger hunt’ designed by @murisopsis from A Different Perspective. This time the theme is Names, as in poetic forms that feature a name (e.g. one of the prompts is to write a poem in the form of “Amandas Pinch” — a form I’ve personally never heard of before). There are thirteen prompts in total so this is more manageable then a daily commitment challenge. Check out all the prompts and the way it works here and join in if your up for some poetic puzzling. Enjoy!

Prompt 9

Write a poem using the form Bryant or a poem about politics.

A Different Perspective

The Bryant is a poem composed of any number of metered quatrains (lines 1 & 4 trimeter; lines 2 and 3 pentameter) rhymed abab cdcd etc and a pastoral metaphor. Full rules here.

Polluted Waters

Red spreads across the strait
Like blossoming algae in tepid pools
Summoned by polluted thoughts out of date
From the soiled minds of fools

Cool waters are needed
To curb the blooms from continuing spread
Not more dishonest rhetoric seeded
By the Blue, White and Red.

I found this form quite daunting as it includes both structural and contextual constraints (and politics which in particular tends to be pretty depressing) but I gave it a go.

Be well,

Monty

Coraline: 汕头 （Shantou）

This poem is a part of the poetic ‘scavenger hunt’ designed by @murisopsis from A Different Perspective. This time the theme is Names, as in poetic forms that feature a name (e.g. one of the prompts is to write a poem in the form of “Amandas Pinch” — a form I’ve personally never heard of before). There are thirteen prompts in total so this is more manageable then a daily commitment challenge. Check out all the prompts and the way it works here and join in if your up for some poetic puzzling. Enjoy!

Prompt 8

Write a Coraline poem or write a poem with some element from the movie Coraline.

A Different Perspective

The Coraline is a poem composed of two octaves, 8 syllables per line, with a rhyme scheme of a/b/b/a/c/c/a/b. Full rules here.

汕头 （Shantou）


Near southern mountains by the sea
Sits the small city of Shantou
A place I have just come to know
With an ocean view of beauty
Waves greeting us with their rhythm
Tables offering their dim sum
Plus other new delicacies
Happy to call their home Shantou.

There was one dish that called to me
Special beef sliced thin and just so
Famous for hot pot of Shantou
In boiling broth flavored simply
Swished in a back and forth rhythm
Then dipped in a sauce so awesome
A dish designed for yours truely
And calling me back to Shantou.

This is a lighthearted poem inspired from my trip to Shantou this week. It was a work trip, but as you can see I managed to fit in some delicious fun. Below are pictures of the famous Shantou beef hot pot mentioned in the poem. Unfortunately the beef was finished so quickly I didn’t get a picture of the actual beef. I could only capture the empty plates. Haha.

Boiling broth for Shantou Beef Hot Pot
The last evidence of the missing beef…
Picture of Shantou Beef for hot pot (borrowed from internet)

Be well,

Monty

Daisy Chain: Seeds of an Idea…

This poem is a part of the poetic ‘scavenger hunt’ designed by @murisopsis from A Different Perspective. This time the theme is Names, as in poetic forms that feature a name (e.g. one of the prompts is to write a poem in the form of “Amandas Pinch” — a form I’ve personally never heard of before). There are thirteen prompts in total so this is more manageable then a daily commitment challenge. Check out all the prompts and the way it works here and join in if your up for some poetic puzzling. Enjoy!

Prompt 7

Write a Daisy Chain poem or write a poem about flowers.

A Different Perspective

The Daisy Chain is a poem where the last word of each line is repeated as the first word of the next line thus creating a chain. To end the chain the final line repeats the very first word of the poem. Full rules here.

Seeds of an Idea While Writing in a Coffee Shop


Seeds full of vulnerability and potential
Potential for all of creation yet unimagined
Unimagined until planted and nourished
Nourished with curiosity to ripening
Ripening with fleshy deepness and vibrancy
Vibrancy ready to be harvested and roasted
Roasted bold and courageous
Courageous to see new possibilities
Possibilities born of these very seeds.

Be well,

Monty

Emmett: Code Red

This poem is a part of the poetic ‘scavenger hunt’ designed by @murisopsis from A Different Perspective. This time the theme is Names, as in poetic forms that feature a name (e.g. one of the prompts is to write a poem in the form of “Amandas Pinch” — a form I’ve personally never heard of before). There are thirteen prompts in total so this is more manageable then a daily commitment challenge. Check out all the prompts and the way it works here and join in if your up for some poetic puzzling. Enjoy!

Prompt 6

Write a poem using the form Emmett or write a poem about clowns.

A Different Perspective

The Emmett is composed of five lines rhymed abbab. There are also specific rules regarding the use of the first lines words as the starting word in the following lines. Full rules here.

Code Red


By codes scarlet red imprisoned
Codes all-knowing all-seeing
Scarlet letters controlling
Red bars digitally provisioned
Imprisoned from coming or going.

Today was supposed to be my “freedom day” from a 10-day lockdown due to Covid, but my health code is still showing up red (you can’t go anywhere in Shanghai without a green code). I’m petitioning for the code to be corrected, but I I’m feeling particularly penned in today. Thus the topic of my Emmitt.

Code Red

Be well,

Monty

Laurette: A Garden Query

This poem is a part of the poetic ‘scavenger hunt’ designed by @murisopsis from A Different Perspective. This time the theme is Names, as in poetic forms that feature a name (e.g. one of the prompts is to write a poem in the form of “Amandas Pinch” — a form I’ve personally never heard of before). There are thirteen prompts in total so this is more manageable then a daily commitment challenge. Check out all the prompts and the way it works here and join in if your up for some poetic puzzling. Enjoy!

Prompt 5

Write a Laurette poem or write a Lisa Rima poem.

A Different Perspective

The Laurette is composed of six lines with 4/4/6/4/4/6 syllables per line and rhymed abcdec. Full rules here.

A Garden Query

Are those green beans
Hanging in a
Pair so slender and long
On the garden
Wall where flowers
Bloom and the birds singsong?

Ohh, that was interesting. It’s always fun to be inspired by one’s beautiful surroundings. I’ll be keeping my eyes out on the fate of these “beans” as it’s strange that there are only this single pair among our flowering plants and vines.

Be well,

Monty

Marianne: Viola’s Light

This poem is a part of the poetic ‘scavenger hunt’ designed by @murisopsis from A Different Perspective. This time the theme is Names, as in poetic forms that feature a name (e.g. one of the prompts is to write a poem in the form of “Amandas Pinch” — a form I’ve personally never heard of before). There are thirteen prompts in total so this is more manageable then a daily commitment challenge. Check out all the prompts and the way it works here and join in if your up for some poetic puzzling. Enjoy!

Prompt 4

Write a Marianne poem or write an acrostic poem using the name Marianne.

A Different Perspective

The Marianne is composed of five lines with 4/6/8/4/2 syllables per line and rhymed axaxa (x being unrhymed). Full rules here.

Viola’s Light

She struck a spark
I can still feel her light
Brightly chasing away the dark
Of bitter cold
So stark.

Another short form. It’s always a challenge to make something short but meaningful. How did I do?

Be well,

Monty