Are you bored/ maybe a tiny bit grumpy trying to stay out of the heat and away from the crowds to avoid the virus?
There’s another way!
Our air conditioner broke two months ago. It was 106 today. Because of COVID-19, the new unit is coming…????? We think it should be here by November. To keep cool in the California sunshine, we watered our garden super well, brought the outdoor cats inside, turned on our ceiling fans and sat down to do as little as possible.
Next problem – boredom.
Not a chance!
Beat Boredom With Poetry
I’ve been updating my series on journaling for the past couple of weeks. Nothing provides as many medical and physiological benefits as journaling.
There’s a problem in journaling, though. Sometimes you stare at a blank page, whether it’s in a book or on your computer screen. Sitting in front of a blank screen has no medicinal advantages.
There’s a solution for blank screens, too. Journaling and writing challenges go together like Forrest Gump and a box of chocolates.
Writing challenges are ubiquitous if you know where to look. My research has led me to several hosts/hostesses. Check out Cee Neuner’s great list of writing challenges.
Today’s challenge hostess for me is Colleen Chesebro.
Seventeen Types of Poetry You’ve Probably Never Tried
- Haiku,
- Senryu,
- Haiga,
- Tanka,
- Gogyoka,
- Tanka Prose,
- Haibun,
- Cinquain,
- Etheree,
- Nonet,
- Shadorma,
- Rondel,
- Kyrielle,
- Pantoum,
- Villanelle,
- Limerick,
- Found poem
For a fabulous explanation of number one-eleven click on Colleen Chesebro’s Poetry Cheat Sheet.
For the other five, click on the Always Write Cheat Sheet. For even more samples of poetry visit Shadow Poetry.
I am entering a Nonet Found Poem in Colleen’s poetry challenge this week. The rules are to use the following Henry Wadworth Longfellow poem to create your own found poem.
TRADITIONALLY, A FOUND POEM USES ONLY WORDS FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE.
Colleen Chesebro
Colleen Chesebro’s Weekly Challenge
This week the challenge is to create a found poem out of these two verses from Longfellow’s poem
A Psalm of Life
What The Heart Of The Young Man Said To The Psalmist
Here is a link to the full poem:
A Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow | Poetry Foundation
Two Verses to Use in Found Poem Challenge
“…In the world’s broad field of battle, In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle! Be a hero in the strife…”
“…Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time…”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A Nonet
NONET: A Nonet is stanzaic and written in any number of 9-line stanzas with the following syllable count per line: 9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 syllables per line. It can be written on any subject and rhyming is optional, although they are usually unrhymed. Because of the hourglass shape of a double nonet, it’s often used to represent the passage of time.
Be a Hero
Bivouacs in fields, sublime battle,
Remind us – battles – great heroes,
Leave behind footprints in sands,
Broad battle – strife in fields,
Not driven cattle,
Lives sublime make,
Be Heroes,
In Life,
Sands.
I hope you enjoyed my first Nonet Found Poem. For more samples, check out Colleen’s challenge page.
Marsha Ingrao - Always Write 
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