Little White Lai

At Poetic Asides by Robert Lee Brewer, Robert offers the poetic form, Lai. About it he writes:

 "This time, we’ll be writing the lai, a nine-line French form that utilizes the following “a” and “b” rhyme scheme: aabaabaab. The “a” rhyme lines have five syllables, the “b” lines offer two."

Poetic Truth

When poets brainstorm
they look for a form
to try.
And just when they’re warm,
they fail to conform
and sigh.
Nine lines are the norm
attempting this form,
no Lai!

 © JPW – 2013

Discontented Winter

He stood by the trees
with snow to his knees
all white.
And the winter breeze
blew and made him freeze,
all night.
When he’d start to sneeze
he gave his disease
a fight!

© JPW – 2013

Surrender

So, love conquers all?
We’re over the wall,
and win.
We hear the heart call
from way down the hall,
a din!
We waver; we stall,
It’s how hard we fall,
a sin!

 © JPW – 2013

DreamEd

Edward had a dream
but what did it mean?
Who knew?
A part of a scheme
at twilight’s last gleam,
it’s true!
It just didn’t seem
that Edward’s bad dream
was through!

© JPW – 2013

My Hair

My hair glows

for it is blonde.

From the day I sprouted follicles

I carried a golden hue.

It’s true.  These Aryan looks

(as seen in history books)

make my blue eyes blue.

Not bad for a West Coast Jew

who has an upper hand.

But I never brandish it in spite.

(Just to remind them when I’m right!)

My hair fades.

At fifty, I’ve become a shaded gray.

Had I heeded my father’s warning,

I would have seen this coming.

Age has a nasty way of relegating

us all to the same playing field.

Every patch of gray should yield

a wisdom beyond our years.

But it just makes my ears seem

to protrude a bit more.  Not such

an eyesore to what was in store.

My hair departs

and has become a memory.

Hair today; gone tomorrow!

Such is my sorrow since

my hair on hiatus now takes the color of skin

as in, “Why in the hell didn’t

my father tell me of THIS cruel joke?”

It’s like a craggy jab at my virility!

My pate craves for warmth, instead

I get a buff and polish. Now I shine

despite my stressed tress whine!

© JPW 2013

Margo Roby's Poem Tryouts - Choose a Body Part 

Poetry Jam - Lost

Notions - Aisle ½ - 1

A flash in the pan, you've
enlightened this man with lucidity,
for the moment, anyway.
It's not everyday I am blessed
by your mindful caress.
You may not be my first,
but if I don't act fast it'll be
the last time you're mine!

© JPW 2013

dVerse Poets Pub - Form for All: The Three Riddles of the Sphinx

POETIC FORM - GWAWDODYN

Robert Lee Brewer of Poetic Asides writes:

The gwawdodyn is a Welsh poetic form with a couple variations. However, both versions are comprised of quatrains (4-line stanzas) that have a 9/9/10/9 syllable pattern and matching end rhymes on lines 1, 2, and 4. The variations are made in that third line:

• One version has an internal rhyme within the third line. So there’s a rhyme somewhere within the third line with the end rhyme on the third line.
• The other version has an internal rhyme within the third line that rhymes with an internal rhyme in the fourth line.

In both cases, the rhyme starts somewhere in the middle of the third line and it is a unique rhyme to the end rhyme in lines 1, 2, and 4.

Here’s a possible diagram for the first version (with the x’s symbolizing syllables):
1-xxxxxxxxa
2-xxxxxxxxa
3-xxxxbxxxxb
4-xxxxxxxxa

Note: The “b” rhyme in the middle of line 3 could slide to the left or right as needed by the poet.

These are gwawdodyn poems I have entered in his August form challenge featuring the gwawdodyn:

SPACE

 There’s never a dull moment in space

Flotsam and jetsam about the place,

There’s no solution for this pollution,

In my mind, it’s a downright disgrace!

 © JPW 2013

POETRY

 And such is the life of a poet,

when he writes a good rhyme you know it.

Words with passion are always in fashion,

You think you’re a poet?  Then show it!

 © JPW 2013

REVERIE

 It’s a peaceful repast to your day,

Which fulfills you in every way.

It always seems we spend time in daydreams,

And not enough on living, I’d say!

© JPW 2013

MIRROR, MIRROR

 There on the wall it becomes your call

as per who’s the fairest of them all?

You’re up all night; all you’ve got is Snow White?

That’s why you were put back in the hall!

 © JPW 2013

TAKE THE “A” TRAIN

 I’m sick of this downtown construction,

and driving amidst this destruction.

Had I half a brain, I’d take me a train

with nary an ounce of compunction.

 © JPW 2013

MOVEABLE FEAST

 I tell the tale of the Great White Whale

for upon the Pequot I did sail.

Getting seasick chasing this “Moby Dick”,

Ahab’s obsession. Call me Ishmael.

© JPW 2013

TO THE SEA IN SHIPS

It’s said, “Lemmings must go to the sea”,

just as sailors must too, don’t you see?

Sailors go boating, they end up floating,

while lemmings just drown there in the sea!

© JPW 2013