Poetry Forms - the letter B

[Primula]

The thread for the Letter A is here.

This thread contains the following:
Backwoods Boast - pg. 1
Ballade - pg. 1
Benison - pg. 4
Blues Stanza - pg. 4
Blues Sonnet - pg. 6
Bob and Wheel - pg. 7
Burns Stanza - pg. 7
Byr A Thoddaid - pg. 8

I'd like to start off this thread with something that really is more of a category than a form as it forces the writer to have to think a bit outside their normal 'box' - the Backwoods Boast

This is essentially bragging, but unlike the polished odes that brag on the accomplishments of kings, this might be more what you would write about your 'coon dog, or your ma's outstanding squirrel-stew.

Sandyman might give a backwoods boast on how his mill out-mills all the others, for instance. Exaggeration is the boaster's preogative, of course. There is no given form aside from striving to preserve a more rustic feel.




A rather pathetic quick boast:

My cat Pete can outfight,
Outsleep n' outeat
Any mountain lion you should sent
My way.

He's the pinnacle of catness,
All cattin' fatness,
That clears out five ton of mice, singlehanded,
In one day.

-

[Ringwraith-Wife]

After that GREAT description of absolute "Cat-ness... we have:

A HAIRY TALE

I just found a hair
On my chinny, chin, chin
Long enough to fence
The garden in

Strong enough to keep
The dogs in their place
It's the longest I've EVER
seen on a face

So don't make a fuss
About tweezing your brows
I'm pluckin' this baby
'Gonna round up the cows!

[Freya Baggins]

this ain't too good but...

WHAT I FOUND IN THE GARDEN

It was big as a wagon,
as big as a bear,
my neighbors just stood
stock still to stare.

It took over the garden,
spilled into the lane,
knocked over the oak tree,
caused me much pain.

I took it to market,
to have that thing weighed,
That carrot was heavy,
but look what they paid!

[Beruthless]

Catooliss iz my famus cat
Right from his kitty cradle
There in a python's eye he spat
Na silver spoon for im, a ladle!

For Petie's sake, bar pearly gate
Or envy, toiletry in motion
My vermine felon heavy weight
Leaves mighty pow'ful potion.

[Ringwraith-Wife]

OPEN THE WINDOWS
CLOSE THE FRONT DOOR
I'VE COME TO CLEAN UP
SOME STUFF OFF THE FLOOR.

SOME CAT ATE SOME CARROT
'TWAS BIG, QUITE THE PRICE
INSIDE IT MIXED UP
WITH 5 TON OF MICE

WELL, IT HIT THE LITTERBOX
MADE QUITE THE POO
IT SCRATCHED AND IT DUG
AS A KITTY WILL DO

IT SCRATCHED THROUGH THE FLOOR
AND IT FILLED UP THE CELLAR
THAT PETE'S ONE BIG CAT
QUITE THE POW'FULL FELLER!!!

[Primula]

Ohmygosh.... Now that's one powerful poem, if the ability of the imagery to knock you over is any measurement!

[Ringwraith-Wife]

Thank you, Prim ... but I'm not quite sure I have the hang of it yet RW

[Lothithil]

Backwoods Roast

I'm just a simple folk, nobody special
Sitting and grindin' the beans growin' on the trestle
But I've seen a thing or two, don't think I haven't
I'm no more an ijjit that I am a savant

There's one claim I can make, that nobody can cross me
I brew the most powerful, most fantastic coffee!
Blind men see again if they hear it percolatin'
And a sniff of this stuff can cause the dead to waken!

It's so thick when you pour it, you got to slice it with a knife
And to drink it you take into your hands your own life!
Once you get the stuff past your delicate palate
It'll hit your guts like a blacksmith's mallet!

After you've had just one cup of my famous joe
No other drink in the world will give you the same 'go'
In fact, you'll never need coffee to wake up, my friend
'Cause after one cup- like as not- you'll ne'er sleep again!

[Primula]

Blind men see again if they hear it percolatin'
And a sniff of this stuff can cause the dead to waken!


Woot! Marvelous - and right powerful fragrant too, y'know!

A Boast from the Black Gate

Now I may not be much to look at,
Though Lord knows I shore been eyed -
I can't recollect quite what I'm called,
Don't really know if I'm hairy or bald,
But by golly, I can chew more gum than a crew
With this mouth near a mile wide!



Oh, and by the way...I have this shiny shirt....tain't yores is it? Dangit, too small fer me...

[Lothithil]

rotfl! in a rather dark, macabre kind of way!

[Primula]

*snaps suspenders and spits out half-chewed sprig of wheat* All right....time t' git back to work....

Now that you're all warmed up, let's give something with more structure and length a whirl.

The French form of the Ballade is a syllabic prosody form;
it's lines may be of any single length but whatever it is they all have to match - if your first line is 10 syllables, they have to all be 10 syllables, etc.

The ballade has three stanzas of equal length, each being eight lines long.

They turn on three rhymes only - the rhymes do not change.
(i.e. if you used hat and cat for 'a' in stanza 1, you might use bat and rat for 2, flat and gnat for 3.)

The last line in each stanza is a refrain - it is always the same.

It often ends with an optional envoy made up of a half-stanza (four lines), rhyming bcbC.

Rhyming pattern for stanzas 1-3:

1. a
2. b
3. a
4. b
5. b
6. c
7. b
8. C (refrain - this line is the same each time!)

Envoy:

25. b
26. c
27. b
28. C (refrain)

[Primula]

My attempt:

Greenhouse Seasons

The sun grows warmer in the Sping,
Beaneath the glass a waiting green
With silence of unspeaking things;
Their notable eloquence seen
In every vein, in budding keen,
In every leaf the shadows pass
By sunlight's touch in gentle beam,
All bright beneath the greenhouse glass.

With summer's warmth the long days bring
Abundant flowers, verdant sheen
O'er all the branches, finches sing
Amid sweet peas and flowering bean.
Wide open greenhouse doors are seen,
Dispelling heat, the sun like brass
Shining off every pane and seam
All bright beneath the greenhouse glass.

The days grow shorter, Autumn's wing
Sweeps over leaves, colored between
A day and night in frosted swing.
Tho' colors rampant, warmth is lean.
The last few sunbeams here to glean
Are held safe from the frigid blast,
Midst pots of flowers under beam,
All bright beneath the greenhouse glass.

All through the year the leaves are seen,
As soft as petals, sweet as grass,
In sanctuary they remain,
All bright beneath the greenhouse glass.

-

[Lothithil]

Awesome, Prim!! Vivid enough to give me an allergy attack! (joke)

Gonna have t' git me some rhymes an' git busy... !

[Ringwraith-Wife]

Really beautiful imagery, Prim.

I'm going to try one...

DEVINE DESIGN

Oh dazzle, beauties of the light
So briefly gloating in sun's shine
See your sweet colors, oh so bright
You far out-glamour columbine
Go do your flitter, flutter, fine
In skies the blue of lazuli
Rich beauty, heady, just like wine
Ah, butterflies float gaily by

Against the buddeleia bright
The yarrow manages to shine
Life calls to butterflies, it might
As does it call to me and mine
To joy, both hand and wing incline
Such pleasure brought to grateful eye
These winged dances done in mime
Ah, butterflies float gaily by

This gift to gardens' neophyte
Who works with twig and twine and vine
Who crafts a garden, a delight
Her life, her flowers, intertwine
Lush flower heads, so leonine
Each flower does but prophesy
For all must know of His design
Ah, butterflies float gaily by

Their seasons end, as must do mine
For everything that's God's must die
Until all goes, to the Devine
Ah, butterflies float gaily by

[Beruthless]

Scenes to bring Nabokov back from the after-life with his butterfly net! Or maybe a Gamgee?....
Nice change from mosquitoes and snakes in my garden.