I’m enrolled in an on-line poetry class at Rider University this summer. Here are two pieces I had some fun creating. The first is an interrelated haiku series. It’s written in the traditional haiku form: 3 lines that follow the 5-7-5 rule (first line is 5 syllables, second line is 7 syllables, 3rd line is 5 syllables). It was fun to tie all 5 haikus together to build a “story” with a beginning, middle and end. The other poem is a sonnet written in the Shakespearean tradition with alternate rhyming verses, (loosely) following the Iambic Pantameter rule (stressed/unstressed pronunciation pattern, i.e.: da-DUH-da-DUH-da-DUH-da-DUH-da-DUH…) Don’t mind the disturbing imagery…
Appreciating a Housefly: A Haiku Series
Such repellent stench
Flies buzz with an ecstasy
Unknown to lives wild.
Putrid. Pungent. Foul.
Frantic feeding frenzy where
Rank larvae emerge
Diapers, rancid meat.
Filthiest barrel bottom,
Where slick maggots squirm
Pupae acting fast.
Survival of a species
relies on refuse
Decomposition
occurs, recurs again as
carpe diem, flies
I know it’s revolting, but who waxes poetic about a housefly? I mean, really? A few classmates of mind were admittedly wretching, so I guess the poetry is effective? The sonnet takes a softer approach…
Infanity – A Sonnet
If I were an infant… pure and genuine,
The world awaiting would grant me no harm.
I’d have no true burning desire than when
My head lay soft and nestled in her arm.
If only my time would never have shown
Such stinging barbs of brutal grief and pain,
I’d have suckled the breast of wisdom less known,
And nursed an ignorant bliss to sustain.
Still, I dare not pray for a life well led,
Spare me your cradles bumpered with ease.
For when I rest my broken, battered head
To lasting peace pray my innocence release.
Mothers tenderly kiss soft heads and weep,
With leaden secrets in their hearts to keep.
