Breccbairdne Poetry Form

Oh, look! Another Irish form. What can I say, I guess I’m just a glutton for punishment. On the other hand, as Irish forms go, this one’s not too heinous.

The Breccbairdne is a very old Irish verse that is written in any number of quatrains (four line verses). But of course it can’t be that simple, can it?

First of all, it’s syllabic, meaning it has a set number of syllables. Line 1 is 5 syllables, and lines 2, 3, and 4 are each 6 syllables. It has a rhyme scheme of a-b-c-b. And just to make it a little different, each line must end in a two syllable word.

Here’s a schematic to help keep things straight:

x x x (xa)
x x x x (xb)
x x x x (xc)
x x x x (xb)

If you wish to make your Breccbairdne a little more challenging, you can add a dunadh. This is where the first word, phrase or line of your poem is repeated at the end, framing the entire poem. But this is purely optional.

I have to tell you, I thought the short lines would be hard to work with, but it was the two syllable end words that I found difficult. Short lines, rhyme scheme, and two-syllable end words? Yeah, this wasn’t what I’d call a fun form.


Dreaming

At night, when dreaming
my thoughts begin swirling,
chaotic and shadowed
while moonlight is whirling

my subconscious stirs,
a dreamscape emerges –
my thoughts soon unwind,
I’m filled with strange urges

to roam and wander
to dance by the seaside
to climb up a mountain
to sleep on a hillside

serious, absurd
my musing keeps streaming
anything is likely
at night, when I’m dreaming

Confessions of a Shopaholic

When I shop, the world gets better, and the world is better, but then it's not, and I need to do it again.
— Sophie Kinsella

When women are depressed, they eat or go shopping. Men invade another country. It's a whole different way of thinking.
— Elayne Boosler

The craving for the thing is rarely met by the satisfaction of getting it. And so we crave more. And the cycle repeats. We are encouraged to want what will only make us want more. We are, in short, encouraged to be addicts.
― Matt Haig

I was kind of at loose ends yesterday, and I thought maybe I should sit down and read one of the writing magazines I bought a while back. Apparently I’ve bought a few of them that I haven’t got around to reading:

This is a bad habit I’ve developed over the years – buying magazines that have an interesting article or two, but instead of taking them home and actually reading them, I let them pile up. Apparently, just having them is enough for me.

And it doesn’t stop with magazines. Have you any idea how easy it is to buy books online? I don’t even have to leave the comfort of my home to over-indulge in books. Here’s a picture of just one shelf of my “to-be-read” bookcase.

Yes, that’s right, I said bookcase. That shelf is just one small part of the books I have that are waiting to be read. And as you can see, it’s a pretty eclectic selection, too. What can I say? I like books. All kinds of books. And I never know what I might be in the mood to read.

But my shopping problem doesn’t stop there. I’m like a magpie, attracted to shiny things. And when you combine that with the ease of internet shopping . . . it makes for a dangerous combination.

One of the jewelry supply websites I surfed to a while back had been sending me weekly emails showcasing their products. I don’t need any more jewelry supplies, but they wore me down. Next thing I know I had these delivered to my mailbox:

I didn’t even remember ordering the mermaid scale pendants, but there they are, nonetheless.

Another thing I’m a little to susceptible to is the power of suggestion. There are a couple of stitchery sites that have found their way to my Facebook page, and I spend a lot of time admiring the work these crafters do. And oh, look! Most of this work has been done from kits.

So I turned to my good friend Amazon Prime and started browsing for kits. The fact that I have oodles of patterns and thread doesn’t even enter into my head. I want a kit.

The stitchery kits came in a package of four, but the needle felted gnome is in a package by himself. And you notice the stitchery books I couldn’t resist. The one on the upper left is the one I'm using to find stitches for the sampler I’m working on.

We’re not even going to discuss the stock pile of beads I keep picking up at craft stores and don’t use. Or the bin of needle felting supplies that is sitting in the top of my craft closet.

I could go on, but why bother? Seriously though, I do intend to use all of this stuff.

One of these days.

Mistress Bradstreet Stanza

This form was created by John Berryman and used in his fifty-seven verse poem, Homage to Mistress Bradstreet, which he wrote as a tribute to his life long study of the poetry of W.B. Yeats.

The stanza is an octave (eight lines), and was never particularly popular. It has a rhyme scheme of a-b-c-b-d-d-b-a, and a syllable count of 10-10-6-8-10-10-6-12. Other than the rhyme and syllable count, there are no other rules to this form. You can write about whatever you want and have as few or as many verses as you like.

Schematic

xxxxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxxxb
xxxxxc
xxxxxxxb
xxxxxxxxxd
xxxxxxxxxd
xxxxxb
xxxxxxxxxxxa

I have to admit, I didn’t take a close look at this form when I picked it as my form of the week, I chose it because it looked short – only eight lines. But between the rhyme scheme and the shifting syllable count, this form turned out to be a little tricky.

When I was at a stitchery guild meeting, one of the other ladies and I were talking about how crazy we all were, and I’m not exactly sure how the subject of poetry came up, but I jokingly said I should write a poem about this. And so I did, for my example. :-)


Needlework

The needle slides in and out of the cloth,
one exquisite stitch after another.
The emerging pattern
is never like any other –
each image, once caught on fabric by silk
is unique, with no others of its ilk,
a gift for another
foredoomed to become a meal for a moth.

P.A. Day Fun

Well, I figure if you're gonna screw things up by skipping school, the day better be worth it.
— Katie Klein

Skipping school isn't a crime. It's an infraction. They're totally different.
— Cory Doctorow

One afternoon when I was 9, my dad told me I'd be skipping school the next day. Then we drove 12 hours from Melbourne to Sydney for the Centenary Test, a once-in-a-lifetime commemorative cricket match. It was great fun - especially for a kid who was a massive sports fan.
— Hugh Jackman

I mentioned last week that the granddaughter recently had a P.A. day, which meant I got the pleasure of her company for an afternoon. One of the things we enjoy doing together is crafts, and it just so happened that I had seen a craft on the internet I thought we could have fun with.

They looked simple enough, so I took myself to the nearest dollar store to pick up some of the supplies we’d need. Well, turned out the dollar store didn’t carry the glass stones any more, and at least I was able to purchase a couple of vases (for the stems) and clear glass bowls.

Seeing as they’re being really slow opening the Michael’s craft store in our town, I was forced to drive to the one all the way in Peterborough to get the rest of the stuff I needed. Or at least most of the stuff.

The glue proved problematic. I wanted to be able to use our toadstools outside in the fairy gardens, but what glue would glue glass to glass, was safe for children, dried clear, and was water-proof.

I found some silicone sealant that would work, but it was a little hard to get out of the tube and it took a while to dry. So, since Grappy was going out to run errands anyway, we told him to pick us up some better glue. :-)

While we waited, the granddaughter shared a craft she’d learned at school that week, and we made several God’s Eyes.

When the hubby came back with the new glue, the granddaughter spotted a warning label on the tube telling us the product was toxic. So we soldiered on with the silicone, and I think we did pretty good.

The granddaughter wasn’t as generous in her application of stones, so she ended up painting the inside of the toadstool she made with the clear glass bowl. We also had to fill the vase she was using for the bottom with stones because it was a little top heavy.

The granddaughter did the two in front, and I did the blurry red one in the back.

We had so much fun with them that I’d like to try again, this time using different sizes of bowls and better glue.

Maybe I can find the right glue online . . .

Viator Poetry Form

This poetry form was invented by Canadian author and poet Robin Skelton. It does not have an apparent meter or rhyme scheme, but it relies heavily on the continued repetition of a refrain throughout the poem.

The viator uses the first line of the first stanza as a refrain – it becomes the second line of the second stanza, the third line of the third, etc. It concludes as the final line of the final stanza.

The length of the poem will depend on the number of lines in the first stanza. For example, if you begin with a four-line stanza, your poem will have four stanzas, with the first line descending in each stanza until it becomes the fourth line of the fourth stanza.

You need to take care with how you utilize the refrain. A poorly chosen one can ruin the poem. But the refrain can also showcase things like thoughts or obsessions, and lend themselves very well to topics about everyday life. It helps if you’re able to create a refrain that can be a stand-alone line.

Rhyming is tricky because you have to take into consideration the placement of the refrain in each verse. As well, you may want to avoid a lengthy Viator – each extra line of the first stanza adds that many more stanzas – and lines – to your finished poem. If you start with a 10-line first stanza, that’s going to lead to a 100-line poem (10 stanzas of 10 lines each). You’ll find the refrain can become very repetitive very quickly.

As much as I would have liked to try to write a Viator that rhymes, it just wasn’t happening for me. Maybe I’ll try again sometime. I’ll just think of it as a challenge.


Slave to the Muse

The pen dips into the bottle of ink,
black marks appear on the blank page.
The first step is taken, the story begins.
All is quiet as the muse looks on.

The flame in the lantern flares as
the pen dips into the bottle of ink
and words begin to form on the page,
written in the darkest night.

The words do not cease to flow,
the hand writing does not tire as
the pen dips into the bottle of ink
and words flow one into another.

Pages turn before they are dry.
The hand holding the pen falters
but the muse will not let go, and
the pen dips into the bottle of ink.

Happy May Day!

The month of May is the pleasant time; its face is beautiful; the blackbird sings his full song, the living wood is his holding, the cuckoos are singing and ever singing; there is a welcome before the brightness of the summer.
— Lady Gregory

At last came the golden month of the wild folk-- honey-sweet May, when the birds come back, and the flowers come out, and the air is full of the sunrise scents and songs of the dawning year.
― Samuel Scoville Jr.

The world's favorite season is the spring. All things seem possible in May.
— Edwin Way Teale

To be honest, I was all set to write about the crafts the granddaughter and I did on Friday (it was a PA day), but then I realized it was the first of May. And with all the April showers we’ve been getting lately, things are really getting green outside, so it’s time to celebrate spring!

First we have one of the signs of spring we haven’t seen in a couple of years:

Yes, that’s right, the ducks are back! We haven’t seen a duck in the pool since we got the bigger pool, and I was kind of missing them.

Another returning friend to the back yard was this guy:

I’ve heard the cardinals a few times, and I saw the female when I put a seed bell on the shepherd’s crook in the front garden, but I haven’t seen the male cardinal in a long time. Guess I’d better be more vigilant about putting seed out for the birds.

Also, to my surprise, I spotted this guy:

Not the squirrel, the bunny. I’m not even sure how he got into the backyard. We haven’t seen much of the bunnies in the last few years because of the coyotes and foxes, but I know the coyotes have moved on, I guess the foxes have too. Which is a shame, because I liked seeing them too.

We also have some of these springing up randomly in the lawn:

I’m not sure what they’re called, but my neighbor has a thick row of them along the side of her house and they’ve been steadily migrating to our yard as well. Not that I mind, I think they’re pretty.

And the other day I glanced out the window into the back yard and a flash of yellow caught my attention:

This is one of the two little clumps of miniature daffodils I bought last year and forgot about. I’ll need to remember to plant some crocus in that garden in the fall to join them.

I really wish I’d got the bulbs I bought a couple of weeks ago planted, but then again, with all the rain we’ve been having lately they might have become waterlogged and started to rot.

If it ever stops raining I’ll have to get my vegetable garden planted.

Meanwhile, anybody got blueprints for an ark?

Poiku Verse

I’m cheating just a bit this week. As you know, I belong to a poetry group. We meet once a month in the basement of a church to share our poetry. Each month we’re assigned what we affectionately call “poemwork,” a prompt to work on, purely optional, for the next meeting.

It’s not often we’re assigned a form, but we were for this month, it being National Poetry Month and all. And I figured, since I was doing a poem or two for the form anyway, why not share it here as well?

The form is another variation on the Haiku called the Poiku. Instead of referencing nature and the seasons, it condenses a song into three lines. Think of it as the pop version of the Haiku.

It’s still a verse of 17 syllables, 5-7-5. But the content is based on song lyrics. Most songs have three parts – the verse, the chorus, and the bridge. It’s helpful if you can condense each one of these parts into a single line. Don’t forget to include the name of the song as well as the artist.

You’re analyzing the content of the song, distilling the most important points, and then summarizing it into your verse. Perhaps there is a thematic change between the beginning and the end of the song that you can use for effect.


Earthquake and Rapture
escalating, rushing on
world ends, but we’re fine.
It’s the End of the World As We Know It – REM


Wake on the cliff’s edge
night beckons, just one more step
to death or to life
Epiphany – Trans-Siberian Orchestra


Dreamers imagine
a more peaceful, gentle world,
Perhaps, someday soon.
Imagine – John Lennon


Paint your starry night
sanity caught in amber
no one understands.
Vincent – Don McLean


Watch the world outside
repeat tragic history.
Dream your life away.
Dreamer – Ozzy Osbourne