Based on WDC Picture Perfect Poetry image prompt of Cupid

A Simple Request

Cupid, let me ask you why
Each time you aim you pass me by?
I know you fly by night and day
Yet never opt to shoot my way.
Well yes, there’s been a time or two
I thought that I was hit by you,
But found the aching in my heart
Was indigestion on my part.
For all these years I’ve stood in wait
But never met my perfect date.
I only ask for looks and brains
And hope for some financial gains.
For sixty years I’ve dealt with debt
So many things I could not get,
Like dental visits once a year
But dentures could fix that, I hear.
The warts, as well, might be a sight.
(I tried to get the rats to bite,
But they refused, for goodness sakes!
I fed them to my tanks of snakes.)
Put all these minor flaws aside.
My heart is strong; let me confide,
I’ve loved my forty cats for years;
We’ve shared so many laughs and tears.
But conversation’s rather weak;
Those fickle beasts are loath to speak.
By talking to a man instead,
I’d hush the voices in my head.
Please know I have a lot to give
And I can change the way I live;
So Cupid, you must understand:
My future is in your command.
You have to aim your bow my way
And make this single lady’s day!

Staccato form - it's a bit complicated, but fun form

The Call

It’s time for your rest to come to an end.
I know it is best to get up my friend.
Wake up! Wake up! Come to my side;
The paper’s blank and ink well’s dried.
I cannot create without my muse near.
Wake up you waif! It is time to come here!

I’ve opened my mind to let you inspire.
I’m waiting to find you’ve set me afire.
Speak now! Speak now! Silence abounds
Closely I heed, yet hear no sounds.
The deadline’s approaching; what shall I do?
Speak now my muse or else send someone new!







The Staccato, created by Jan Turner, consists of two or more 6-line stanzas.

Rhyme scheme: a,a,b,b,c,c
*Required internal rhyme scheme interplay between line #1 and line #2 (see below explanation and examples).

Meter: 10, 10, 8, 8, 10, 10

Repeats: This form requires a 2-syllable repeat in Lines #3 and #6 as specified below.

As in a musical notation, The Staccato poetry form uses short repeats which are abruptly disconnected elements. The repeat words are read as rapid-fire speech, such as staccato music when played or sung. This form lends itself to strong emotion or instruction (i.e. military poems: “Charge on! Charge on!” etc.), a declaration (such as of an event: “We’re married! We’re married!” etc.), an instruction or emphasis of human emotion (such as love, hate, longing: “Be mine! Be mine!” etc.), strong observation (such as “Those eyes! Those eyes!” etc.) or any similar situation where a strong staccato repeat is desired.

The emphatic two-syllable repeat in this poetry form is written twice, consecutively, at the beginning of Line #3 (each repeat in Line #3 is followed by an exclamation mark), and once again at the beginning of Line #6 (with or without an exclamation mark in Line #6). Please see below poem examples.

Also, Line #2 requires an internal rhyme scheme that rhymes with a word within Line #1, usually falling on the 6th syllable (see examples below), but can fall earlier in those two lines as long as the internal rhyme matches the syllabic stress in both lines (Example: see below poem: “A Soldier’s Wife” where in Stanza #2 an alternative internal rhyme falls in Lines #1 and #2 on the 4th and 5th syllables with the words ‘motions’ and ‘notions’).

For Whitney Houston (and others affected by Fortune)

Fortune
doesn’t play fair
with the lives it affects;
with the right hand it gives, the left –
it rejects. In the midst of the bounty,
when no one suspects, it changes
its course, where it deflects
from Fame to mis-
Fortune


A Rictameter Poem consists of 9 lines. Line 1 and Line 9 are the same. There is no required meter or rhyme. 

The poem goes as follows:
line 1 - 2 syllables - same as line 9 
line 2 - 4 syllables 
line 3 - 6 syllables 
line 4 - 8 syllables 
line 5 - 10 syllables 
line 6 - 8 syllables 
line 7 - 6 syllables 
line 8 - 4 syllables 
line 9 - 2 syllables - same as line 1

A Trois-par-Huit Poem.

Observations from a Classroom

This I know:

change at home’s apropos.

Our kids these days, they need assistance

to handle defeat and to build their resistance

to stay with a task and develop persistence.

They, like rubber bands pulled much too tight,

must, to alter their plight,

learn to fight.

Write a Trois-par-Huit Poem.  The poem has eight lines in total.  The poem contains three stanzas.  Two combinations are possible: 3/3/2 and 3/2/3.   The rhyme scheme is A/A/B/B/B/C/C/C.  No matter how the stanzas are divided, the rhyme scheme stays the same.  The syllable structure is 3,6,9,12,12,9,6,3.  The last line summarizes the meaning of the poem.  The poem needs to be centered!!!

A Tetractys

Nursing Homes

Where

Old Age

disrespects

man’s dignity.

Is this really the plan God had in mind?

A single Tetractys consists of 5 lines.  Rhyme is not required.  Syllable structure is 1/2/3/4/10.