Category: Reading

April 2: The “B” Word

On By Suzanne B. LeitnerIn My Poetry, New Things, Poetry, Reading4 Comments

As I explained yesterday, I am going to be taking on a poetic device a day, from The Poet’s Dictionary: A Handbook of Prosody and Poetic Devices by William Packard, in celebration of National Poetry Month. You are invited to play along.

Yesterday, the device was Alexandrine.  Because I wrote one alexandrine (one line), I later posted a poem, because I did also promise a poem every day this month.

Working with today’s device, however, will involve making the effort to draft a complete poem.  Now might be a good time for a Warning!  I am not afraid to post “bad poems.”  Remember – in my world, “bad poems” are known as “drafts.”  I am embarking on an exercise here.  Revisions will be in order, certainly; I am transparently starting at the beginning of the process, and inviting you to start with me.    Have at it!

Today’s device is:

Ballade:  Early French form with twenty-eight lines divided into three octave STANZAS, each stanza having a RHYME scheme of a/b/a/b/b/c/b/c with the final line as a repeated REFRAIN line; the ballade ends with a four-line ENVOI rhymed b/c/b/c with the final line being the refrain line.

[all caps indicate another poetic device that is defined in the book].  What follows is my first draft of an attempt at a ballade.  There are many things wrong with it, but I would prefer to let you find them on your own.  Thanks for reading! Continue reading “April 2: The “B” Word” →

A Job Only a Poet Could Manage

On By Suzanne B. LeitnerIn My Poetry, Poetry, ReadingLeave a comment

I have a “Useless Knowledge” gadget on my iGoogle home page, and I just love it.  Knowledge is never useless, no matter how seemingly “impractical.”  I was so happy earlier today when my Useless Knowledge box contained a list of Generic Terms.  Generic Terms, as defined in my Poet’s Dictionary (William Packard, editor), are “collective names for species or types,” like “school of fish.”  I once wrote a poem inspired by one item on that list: a murder of crows.  The interesting part of that story is that the poem is a meandering contemplation, the subject of which is the loss of a child.  I would rather not say what emotional experience I drew upon while crafting the poem, but I will tell you that I have never, thankfully, lost a child.  Why this poem would emerge from my desire to write something about “a murder of crows,” I don’t know. Continue reading “A Job Only a Poet Could Manage” →