Roundelay: Yule-Tide

Christmas tree at midnight

Roundelay

Yule-Tide

‘Tis time to look at the world and cheer,
This the happiest time of the long year…
When snow and darkness seem so deep,
And all the world seems cold and dead.
For now the year begins to grow
As the sun yet, lies in the sky so low.

When snow and darkness seem so deep…
And all the world seems cold and dead,
We’ll light the log of sweet Yule-tide,
Roast our chestnuts and sing brightly…
Remembering spring, so close to us
As the sun yet, lies in the sky so low.

We’ll light the log of sweet Yule-tide,
Roast our chestnuts and sing brightly…
With our loved ones with our kin,
We augur the new year to begin…
Remembering spring, so close to us,
As the sun yet, lies in the sky so low.

With our loved ones with our kin,
We augur the new year to begin.
We’ll Feast and make the cold ice king fly!
Let’s sing our songs to the Eastern sky!
To the dawn of the year that’s begun to grow…
As the sun yet, lies in the sky so low.

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Roundelay

Vole (Fount of Poetic Wisdom) says that

“the roundelay is quite different from the rondelet, despite the names sounding so similar. It is also different from the roundel, the rondel, the rondine, the rondeau and the rondeau redoublé. These forms all evolved from a common ancestor, hence the similar names. The modern forms are all fixed and tightly defined, but in times past the word roundelay was used in other ways, sometimes as a general term for any kind of lyric.”

In the roundelay, most of the lines are repeated!  There are 24 lines in the poem, but only 12 lines are different.  Vole describes it as ABR/BCR/CDR/DER, where each letter is a rhyming couplet and “R” is the refrain (which is also a rhyming couplet).

The meter is trochaic tetrameter (for example, “By the shores of Gitche Gumee”).  He says that it is permissible for some lines to be a syllable short.

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I have to admit…I didn’t really count my syllables…I did a tum-ti-dum-ti-dum-di-dum sort of beat in my head…I found this form at “Blog it or Lose It”  and it was written for Blog Festivus 2013, which you may want to go look at for lots of great reading…this year it’s dedicated to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol!  Here I’ve broken the poem down into colors, a trick I learnt from Cubby at Reowr, in order to help those who’d like to try the form follow the pattern.  Hopefully there are no typos…but if there are…just tell me an I’ll fix it!

Yule-Tide

‘Tis time to look at the world and cheer,
This the happiest time of the long year…
When snow and darkness seem so deep,
And all the world seems cold and dead.
For now the year begins to grow
As the sun yet, lies in the sky so low.

When snow and darkness seem so deep…
And all the world seems cold and dead,
We’ll light the log of sweet Yule-tide,
Roast our chestnuts and sing brightly…
Remembering spring, so close to us
As the sun yet, lies in the sky so low.

We’ll light the log of sweet Yule-tide,
Roast our chestnuts and sing brightly…
With our loved ones with our kin,
We augur the new year to begin…
Remembering spring, so close to us,
As the sun yet, lies in the sky so low.

With our loved ones with our kin,
We augur the new year to begin.
We’ll Feast and make the cold ice king fly!
Let’s sing our songs to the Eastern sky!
To the dawn of the year that’s begun to grow…
As the sun yet, lies in the sky so low.

If anyone would like to try this interesting form, I’d really enjoy reading it and if you like I’ll put your poem and a link to your blog on this one so as to spread the cheer!

Happy Yule-tide to all my neo-pagan friends and may your days be forever sunnier!

Bastet!

J. Milburn at Writing to b Noticed wrote: Krampus? Seriously?

Are the children being a cuss?
Running, screaming, pure avarice?
Let them know about the Krampus,
And see how fast they turn from vice!
All the kids, they know Nicholas;
That jolly elf is just too nice!

Let them know about the Krampus,
And see how fast they turn from vice!
Crying child throws a fit and fuss?
Tell the tale full of chills and ice.
All the kids, they know Nicholas;
That jolly elf is just too nice!

Crying child throws a fit and fuss?
Tell the tale full of chills and ice.
Scar the psyche with little muss;
make the little dears ponder thrice.
All the kids, they know Nicholas;
That jolly elf is just too nice!

Scar the psyche with little muss;
make the little dears ponder thrice.
If you do this, I’m serious:
I hope you come down with head-lice!
All the kids, they know Nicholas;
That jolly elf is just too nice!

A Terzanelle – Challenge: Seasons

Terzanelle

Seasons

Spring is born from Yule Tide’s ashes
Winter begins to die that day
Spring is born from Yule Tide’s ashes

Though the days are still and so grey
Each morning the sun, closer comes.
Winter begins to die that day.

Sad the bard no longer strums,
Sang he of winter’s failing hold:
Each morning the sun, closer comes.

“Cold dragon grasp the world so bold!
But Winter came to Earth and lost!”
Sang they of winter’s failing hold.

“Cold pride carries a heavy cost…
Winter  thought  to conquer the Earth,
But Winter came to Earth and lost!”

So say I Winter is Spring’s birth
Spring is born from Yule Tide’s ashes
Winter thought to conquer the Earth,
Spring is born from Yule Tide’s ashes

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Terzanelle 

If anyone would like to participate in my little challenge, I‘d be delighted to read and copy your link and poem here.  This is not a Bastet idea.  Not long ago a great poet and blogger named Cubby at Reowr used to do these sorts of challenges.  She’s been off-line now for over two months, and as she was very much a muse to me and I miss her, I thought I’d do a challenge.

Why a Terzanelle, because I read about it for the first time this morning on a blog posted by Blog it or Lose it and yes…I’m quoting her/his instructions, but you can find them on Shadow Poetry with variations and examples.

The subject of this poem though was inspired by Sahm King.  Another of my favorite bloggers and poets, an important muse and mentor as well.  If it hadn’t been for Sahm, I wouldn’t be writing poetry at all…so if you don’t like my poems…blame him 😉

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“A terzanelle is part villanelle and part terza rima. The poem consists of 19 lines – five triplets with a quatrain added to the end.

Six of the lines are repeated in their entirety. The second line of each triplet becomes the third line of the next triplet. In the first triplet, the first and third lines become the second and fourth lines of the ending quatrain. And, yes – in the first stanza, the first and third lines are identical. (Capitalized letters indicate repeated lines. “B” rhymes with “b” but is a new line.)”

Oh my…here’s a little addition that wasn’t in this explanation…sorry. Each line of the poem should be the same metrical length.  As you can see it’s rather important.  So if you start with 6 (or 7, 10 whatever) syllable per line stick to them to the end.

My poem broken down in colors to follow how they are placed in the poem:

A /  Spring is born from Yule Tide’s ashes
B /  Winter begins to die that day
A /  Spring is born from Yule Tide’s ashes

b /  Though the days are still and so grey
C /  Each morning the sun, closer comes.
B /  Winter begins to die that day

c /  Sad the bard no longer strums,
D /  Sang he of winter’s failing hold:
C /  Each morning the sun, closer comes.

d /  “Cold dragon grasp the world so bold!
E /  But Winter came to Earth and lost!”
D /  Sang he of winter’s failing hold:

e / “Cold pride carries a heavy cost…
F /  Winter  thought  to conquer the Earth,
E /  But Winter came to Earth and lost!”

f /  So say I Winter is Spring’s birth
A /  Spring is born from Yule Tide’s ashes
F /  Winter  thought  to conquer the Earth,
A /  Spring is born from Yule Tide’s ashes

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The Legends of Windemere
Facing the Music of the Past

The past is waiting for his return
Many hold a grudge
The past is waiting for his return

At the gate he will not budge
He senses anger in the air
Many hold a grudge

A familiar face devoid of care
She remembers what he did
He senses anger in the air

The love she held may now be rid
His presence boils her blood
She remembers what he did

Tears flowing like a salty flood
Neither knowing their next moves
His presence boils her blood

Time shall be a friend who proves
The past is waiting for his return
Neither knowing their next moves
The past is waiting for his return

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Liars, Hypocrites & The Development of Human Emotion

An Emotional Winter (Terzanelle)

Blood congeals, ice and snow conspire
In the discontent of winter
Blood congeals, ice and snow conspire

Rotted wood begins to splinter
And frost glazes the pane of glass
In the discontent of winter

Wind freezes the bull’s balls of brass
Up ankle deep in slush and sleet
And frost glazes the pane of glass

Plowing the way through city street
Walkways one cannot navigate
Up ankle deep in slush and sleet

The bough breaks beneath the snow’s weight
Easier to be cynical
Walkways one cannot navigate

Everything’s cold and clinical
Blood congeals, ice and snow conspire
Easier to be cynical

Huitain: For Cubby

Huitain

For Cubby

I’ll speak to you of springtime’s love
When days grow dark I’ll show you light
The songs of blackbirds from above
Will sing each day for your delight
I’ll chase away the snow storms blight
Exile for you the morning frost
Pass then that season with delight
Sunshining heart your smile not lost.

Written in answer to Cubby’s Instead.

Just a Note: October 14, 2013

Hello World!

Almost dead center in the month of October…and it seems like I should still be in May!

Haiga: Mountain

Haiku

Mountain

Mysteriously
Mountain veiled in snow storm
Creates faery lights

Dedicated to: Reowr (ing) Cubby19 Planets Art Blog: Rick Daddario

Kyrielle Sonnet: Writer’s Block

For: Cubby’s Challenge Kyrielle sonnet

Kyrielle Sonnet

Writer’s Block

Alas the words don’t come to me!
My blank mind keeps me company
Not sure of what to write just now,
I’ll write about a spotted cow.

I would write of bikes and flowers
Maybe of grapes on their bowers
But no words come of trees or bough
I’ll write about a spotted cow.

But cows are not inspiring!
This is becoming alarming!
Oh Bastet give your cat meow!
I’ll write about a spotted cow.

Alas the words don’t come to me!
I’ll write about a spotted cow.

Ghazal: Love

Here are the great instructions furnished by Cubby on how to make a great Ghazal!

1. Every verse is a 2-line couplet, with around 4 to 10 couplets in total.
2. Each line must contain the same number of syllables.
3. Every verse ends in the same word(s) preceded by a rhyme.
  The same repeating word(s) is/are called a radif, and the rhyme is called a qaafiya.
4. In the first couplet, both lines end with a qaafiya (rhyme) and radif (repeating word(s)).
5. Each verse is considered a separate mini-poem, so there is no need for any connection between couplets.
6. The last verse is traditionally a signature couplet in which you include your first or last name (or nickname). Although I have chosen not to do this in mine, you can see how it is done in the ghazals by Bastet and T.J. Theiren.

@)–>–>—

Ghazal

Love

Look at those people over there, youth in love,
They coo and cuddle showing the world they’re in love.

Walking along the street, in early dusk, truth be told,
There’s nothing so nice as to see people in love.

In the spring the bird’s warble at dawn, soothes the soul,
All because they are courting and falling in love.

The Planets attracted make a smooth creation,
A poet once said because the world’s are in love.

What of you, oh faithless tooth, Bastet wonders,
When did you forget that we were once in love?

Just a Note: September 2, 2013

Hello world!

As I’m running late this morning, let me just jump right into this note!

Awards!

This week I was nominated by Canadian Travelbug’s for three awards!  They are: The best Moments Award, Reader Appreciation Award, and Semper Fedelis Award.

Her nomination for me read: for poetry and a weekly photo challenge she sets. She also posts some great photos.  You may also recognise her from putting me on her Saturday Close Up

She also gave a description behind the meaning of each award!  let me quote her here:

“The Best Moment Award… This award is given to a blog that has a literary piece defining a specific moment that is thought-provoking, creative, honest, and or inspiring.

Reader Appreciation was created by my blogging friend Jennifer at My Sardinian Life for people who read and commented on her blog and gave a worthwhile contribution by doing so.

The last one Semper Fidelis shows appreciation for fellow on-line friends who you consider part of your ‘wolf pack’ (that is their words not mine )”

I’d already received the above awards except for the Reader Appreciation award, so I’ll just show you this award, which I appreciated very much!

Thank you so much for you expression of appreciation!

And as always, I’d like to dedicate these awards to my faithful readers!  It’s great to have a lot of followers, but what is really special is to have faithful readers and commenters, like Canadian Travelbugs!  So for you who read, here’s a warm hug and award.  Thanks for existing!

Publishing:

As those of you that read me on Saturday discovered Sahm King from We Drink Because We’re Poets finished editing and published the first anthology which also encluded 10 of my poems!  I’ve already written a whole post dedicated to this, for me, wonderful event.  You can go and look at it here!  On both pages you can find the link to Smashwords where you can download your free copy!  Yes, it’s free…this one is an introduction to our different voices in poetry.  Go get your copy and tell us what you think!

Blogging:

I had a melancholy week, only to be expected when the season begins to change, as you can see from Bastet’s Pixelventure’s 27 August 2013.  The middle season, can be a time of great inspiration, but alas it can also be a moment melancholy reflection.

However, in my lifetime I’ve faced melancholy over and over again, and I’ve found what works for me is accepting that it’s there and then move on.  So, I’ve decided to participate in a daily Haiga challenge!  Here’s the first Haiga:

The initiative has been taken by The 19th Planets Art Blog 210/2013 if you want to participate go to the link and get the instructions!  This is the second prompt, which you may or may not want to use.

I was so very happy this week, when one of my favorite writers participated in Wordless Wednesday with her photographs!  Cranky aka ME McMahon related her fantastic adventure trying to photograph her first progressive sunrise…I think it was fantastic!  Have a look: “Shh…It’s Wordless Wednesday!” and as any great writer would do on her other blog she wrote of the adventure it was to get those photos “A Wacky Walk“.  Take a few minutes if you haven’t done so yet and have a look.  You’ll love the Wacky Walk 🙂 !

Well, I actually have lots of stuff to tell you, but not much time left, as I woke up late this morning!  I’d just like to indicate a few great bloggers that i think you might like to read and follow:  Cubby did a great blog on the Ghazal, which has inspired me to try another of those great poems.  Ese’s Weekly Quote and Shoot Challenge is another inspiration, and its through her I discovered the Haibun at The Ligo Haibun Challenge!  Have you ever wondered what would happen if a famous poet or author were to be edited in our day and age…I do often, this is a very funny post: “What if Emily Dickinson Attended a Writer’s Workshop?” some food for thought!  And, as we’re all getting ready for autumn, I thought that this blog kind of puts everything in a Zen perspective: Spring from My Dogablog, Monty reminds us that in Australia the seasons are really very relative!  And last but not least a special word for the 13th Floor Paradigm…there are some pretty interesting workshops that have recently opened up, go have a look into writing sonnets and mythology, just to name two…oh and I do something from time to time about Japanese Poetry and Literature 😉 .

Have a nice week everyone and see you in blogosphere!

Bastet (via Georgia)

Thoughts: Bastet and Games

Hello World…

I was sitting here wondering how to pass my time this morning and I thought I’d write a little piece about games.

Believe it or not one of my favorite games is Scrabble ™.  I like play it in either English or Italian, unfortunately, no one in my family likes to play with me, and this is the crazy thing, I always win.  I suppose I could play it on-line, but somehow, it doesn’t seem the same to me.  I also have a computer Scrabble game, but haven’t touched it in years.  Now you’d think that a person who has to rely on a spelling corrector to write a poem or story would have problems with a game like this.  It’s just one of those mysteries of life, I guess.

I also like “Zen” games.  I have two miniature Zen gardens, which I rake, clean and rearrange from time to time, I like making new patterns in the sand.  I wish I had a real garden, but that doesn’t seem like something that will happen in the near future.  Here are two pictures of them:

My Zen Garden

Most of the pieces are tiny gifts for my garden, I made the tree in the lady’s garden from copper wire.

The other day I showed you my stone balancing game.

Recently I discovered that another pass-time that I like very much has a name, and it too is a traditional Japanese game, though I have my own variation!  It’s called: Renga! You can see what it’s about traditionally by clicking the link.

Sometimes, I like to reply to your posts with a Haiku or poem.  There has only been one person who has done this in commenting on my post and that was Geo Sans. I was so delighted and am always hoping he will pass by and comment, though I know he is very busy.

I’d done this several times over the past few months, some have liked the replies, others seemed disconcerted, but once, recently someone replied in kind!  That someone is Cubby from Reowr on August 25th.

This is her poem:

When Chickens Cry

When chickens cry
I cannot eat
A single bit
Of chicken meat,
And though I’m not
A herbivore
I find that I
Eat salads more,
Avoiding ones
With chicken eggs
That lay beneath
Two little legs
As they remind
Me of the way
That they were sat
On night and day
By chickens who
Once clucked with pride,
Not knowing that
They would be fried
Or scrambled once
Eggshells are cracked,
I state this simply
As a fact.

But once you see
A chicken cry
You’ll ask yourself
The question why,
Why you can’t find
Another source
Of protein grams
For every course.
And even though
They’ll never be
Set free from farms
Or factories,
When chickens lay
So many tears,
Like eggs, they’re more
Than they appear.

I actually found this poem very delightful, but alas, sigh, the problem is I have some very militant vegan friends and I’m an omnivore, except for insects which I find disgusting.  I have no quarrels with anyone who wishes to eat only vegetables and plants, though some people get moralistic about their choice.  Of course, only a Jainist is coherent with the choice of being absolutely non-violent in their food choices.  Though I honor these thoughts, as I said, I’m an omnivore, so I replied:

Ah…and when you look into the eyes
of lowing cows within their biars
or the dainty feet of baby sheep
what of the piglets as they sleep…
Although I think that fish can’t cry
unless they send out algae dry
I wonder too if they have tears
and what the nets do for their fears.
Ah…but what then of the lovely flowers
who’ve passed their days indeed their hours
growing seeds because they know
that future flowers soon will grow?
Can I think here of a tomato or a squash
unless my cheeks soon be awash
with flowing tears of inappetence
alas eating has become a cause of penance!

Loved your poem…I really did, but was inspired by years of friendly vegans to write this reply…

I didn’t really expect a reply, so, what a delight when this came over the notifications:

Alas! Why did you have to dig
Much deeper down this little gig
For now you see the problem lies
In how to live without demise
Of something living, plant or fish,
To place upon your supper dish.

When everything is one and whole,
So many parts in one big soul,
All life and death are also one,
And where there’s death, in life it’s spun.
Of roots beyond the surface screen –
If only words could make us clean!

What a delightful reply!  I believe that we are all one with this vast thing we try to call the Universe or the Multiverse or whatever verse you may decide.  Our atoms are intermingled and all is one, violence to me is something different from choosing your food.  Indeed, some persons who’ve been vegetarian have also been terribly violent.

This was my reply:

I see now my dear Cubby Kitty
that your poem, this lovely ditty,
was made to make us smile
but how could I let it pass, while,
many would use it as a reply
on this I’m sure you can’t deny
to impose their ideological choices
with their loud cacophonic voices!

We are all one soul indeed
living off flesh, flower and seed
it’s only when humans use their brains
for silly problems that in truth disdains
logic and understanding of life
that people are capable of making strife
and take away our appetite.

And to close the poetic game Cubby wrote this:

You are correct, my dear Bastet,
My poem indeed was made to set
A smile upon your lovely face,
But you have also caught the trace
Of roots beyond the surface screen.

This is my way of thanking Cubby for her fantastic sense of humor, she’s not only a fantastic poet, but a person who has a talent for dry wit and a sense of fun.  And an illustration of one of my favorite games of course.

Oh, I would like to say here once more, just in case someone hasn’t understood, I feel that there is absolutely nothing wrong with being a total 100% vegan, I’ve understood your points of view and I respect them, I only wish the same from you.

Just a Note: August 26, 2013

Hello World!

As the White Rabbit said:  “I’m late, I’m late for a very important date!”

I must say, that last week was a very interesting week as far as emotions go.  I feel I wouldn’t be honest if I do not at least give a nod at this very sad occasion.  Feather’s flew and tempers flared as a tasteless act of spectacularism came to the my attention and to that of many of my fellow bloggers.  I won’t speak of the episode though in detail, suffice it to say that it nearly cost us a dear poet, who worried by his reaction, had contemplated not writing anymore.  I personally flare slowly and briefly, and the aftermath for me is saddness…I wrote this poem for the occasion:  Senryu: First Light.

This week I began working on my anthology of short stories.  I’ve opened a private blog where I have 10 readers who help me by reading what I’ve written and give me some tips that may permit me to eventually publish my work, first through e-zines and magazines, then eventually as a complete work.  I find that it’s easier to just throw my things together for the blog and publish.  However, I also realize that publishing is a more time-consuming and meticulous job.  I’ll keep you updated.

I also published two of my “drawings” with Haiku, or Haiga.  I wrote them in English and Italian.  I try to doodle off a drawing in my free-time…the purpose?  I wish to publish a sketch book of Haiku in Italian and English.  Here are the examples (and I’d enjoy, and need real feedback here, not just: “Oh how nice!” which makes my ego happy but doesn’t help creating quality work!)  Haiga 1: Willow and Wind and Haiga 2: Butterfly.

TJ Therien, reintroduced me to a form of poetry that I had forgotten about.  The Arabic Ghazal, favorite form of Hafiz and the great Rumi and Sufi poets.  My first Ghazal was all wrong and thanks to Lilith Colbert I was able to make the necessary corrections, but having fumbled so badly, I decided to write another: Ghazal: Fences of Segregation.

I also discovered that there are oodles of wonderful photo challenges about that had somehow escaped me.  This week I participated at Cee’s Which Way Challenge and Ese’s Weekly Shoot and Quote Challenge.  They were great fun and I especially enjoyed the Shoot and Quote.  I participated with a quote of Oscar Wilde’s. Not to mention, the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge and my own Pixelventures sponsored by We Drink Because We’re Poets.

I’d like you to have a look at the 13th Floor Paradigm, it is a growing blog and I’m sure you’ll find something that will interest you!  I also find that another post is very fun and useful: Friday Fictioneers. I’m waiting anxiously for Rochelle to give us the new prompt for next Friday!

I’d like to thank all you wonderful people for your support and comments and a special thanks goes this week to a wonderful poet, Cubby at Reowr!  And you’ll all find out why during the upcoming week 😉 .  And take a look at this reblog…someone speaks of the Warrior Goddess Sekhmet, wow, was she a Goddess, I’ve just come across this blog and can’t talk to you about it yet, but I’ve got the feeling it specializes in Vampires!

Again, I must excuse myself to the majority of you whom I follow.  I’ve done a little better this week, though.  I have decided (didn’t I say something like this last week?) to really make and follow a schedule.  Wrote that in black to remind myself to do so.  I’m having a little problem by the way with my Daily and Weekly notifications on my e-mail reader as I’m not receiving them any more.  I’ve tried doing instant notifications then to keep up-to-date of those blogs I follow most, but my e-mail is becoming unmanageable (even worse than before!) some of us are really prolific bloggers (she said blushing).

Have a great week folks and keep having fun writing, photographing or whatever it is you do to keep making this world a little better.