Poem for Thursday January 25 2024 Jill A Memorial to My Lost Words

[jill stockinger]

The latest class on meter that Nedra and I are taking has given 3 choices for writing a poem.

One is to do a memorial, and another was to write a poem using deliberate meter. I "combined" these two choices.

So here's a bit of "wry humor"! Jill

A Memorial to My Lost Words    by Jill Stockinger

 

   after "Poetry is ice skating. You can't be in control all the time."

                      —Ralph Waldo Emerson

                 

 

To rhyme in meter seems a thankless task

but when done well, the poems excite the brain

to rhapsodies of thanks for giving us

such thrills we can’t explain,

but when I write, the words I use somehow

only have left feet and stumble ‘round in pain.

 

If Emerson was right (and I don’t frown

upon his thought), sadly my words don’t skate

across the ice; they crack it, and they drown:

let us now thank heaven for their fate.

 

____________________________________________

To rhyme/ in me/ ter seems/ a thank/ less task    Iambic Pentameter

but when/ done well,/ the poems/ excite/ the brain    Iambic Pentameter

to rhap/ sodies/ of thanks / for giv/ ing us            Iambic Pentameter

such thrills/ we can’t/ explain,                              Iambic Trimeter

but when/ I write,/ the words/ I use/ somehow.   Iambic Tetrameter and one Spondee  (Or: Four Iambs and One Spondee)

only have/ left feet/ and stum/ ble ‘round/ in pain. One Dactyl, One Spondee, then Iambic Trimeter  (Or: One Dactyl, One Spondee, and Three Iambs)

 

If Em/ erson/ was right / (and I/ don’t frown.       Iambic Pentameter

upon/ his thought),/ sadly/ my words/ don’t skate Two Iambs, One Trochee, Two Iambs

across/ the ice;/ they crack/ it and/ they drown:  Iambic Pentameter

let us/ now thank/ heaven/ for their/ fate.           Three Trochees and one Anapest