![]() |
Entries to Express It In Eight from September 2020 to the present . |
The number of poems enforces the use of blog format with ten poems per page. |
The Road The road goes ever on and on JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings On and on it ever goes, the road on high and way down low, from where you are, exactly here, o’er hill and vale and far and near. It wanders off to utmost north, then turns around and sallies forth to sunny south and far off west, and to the east but home is best. Line count: 8 Rhyming couplets For Express It In Eight, 01.24.23 Prompt: Write a road poem. |
Party Farewell to toil and trouble, come, celebrate with me, for work my troubles doubled, and suddenly I’m free Let’s make a reckless party, all happiness and glee, and raise our glasses hearty, come celebrate with me. Line count: 8 Quatrains rhymed abab For Express It In Eight, 01.23.23 Prompt: Reason to have a party - celebrate quitting your job. |
Fairer Ground Never been on a roller coaster, hope I never will; of thrills and spills I’m not a boaster and take my pleasures still. You can say that I should brave the dare, throw caution out the door, but safety takes a little care - that’s why I’m seventy-four! Line count: 8 Rhymed abab For Express It In Eight, 01.22.23 Prompt: Blueprint of a roller coaster. |
Incomprehensible Mini mini pondi cherry, gubby gubby mandrake call, feely round the grubstake merry, dough do tink it thyme to fall? Cast upon di greely vogan, sue it mek di butter sigh, argly till a bitter bogan, menny day do pass me by. Line count: 8 Quatrains For Express It In Eight, 01.20.23 Prompt: Incomprehensible. |
Canny Sayings “When in doubt, don’t do owt,” is ancient Northern wisdom. “Till May is out, don’t cast a clout,” * one more from wisdom’s system. “If ever thee does owt for nowt, do it for thysen,” ** plenty more to make you shout, and all will beat Mike Tyson. * “Clout” in this context means clothing - from the Anglo Saxon for cloth ** Thysen” is Yorkshire speak for “thyself.” Line count: 8 Form: Quatrains For Express It In Eight, 01.19.23 Prompt: When in doubt. |
![]() ![]() Back Alley No architect designed beyond the bright facades nor cared about behind the desolate backyards each edifice sublime hides secrets dark decaying defaced and blind with grime and old wounds displaying. Line count: 8 Rhymed abab For Express It In Eight, 01.18.23 Prompt: As per illustration. |
Hats Long ago, when I was young, when days were bright and ballads sung, I had a hat, both large and black, with crown as tall as train’s smokestack., a floppy brim and feather proud, the finest hat in my hippy crowd. But times do change, those days are gone, no hats I own, no hats I don. Line count: 8 Rhyming couplets For Express It In Eight, 01.17.23 Prompt: Do you like to wear hats? |
Funambulist It’s all about balance, that’s why I carry the pole; it looks like nonchalance, but equity rules the soul; both sides equal must be to ensure my toe on the line, and don’t worry about me, I’ll be fixed soon and just fine. Line count: 8 Rhymed abab For Express It In Eight, 01.16.23 Prompt: Write a lopsided poem. Note: It’s all in the definition of “funambulist.” |
Nocturne 2 Midnight in the garden of good and evil, the darkness deepens in preparation for the dawn, malevolence grows and spreads its tentacles, through tangled vine and grasping thorns, small creatures burrow down to hide, from creeping reptiles, scathing scorn, dark the questing fingers of bad intent, dark the evil struggling to be born. Line count: 8 Rhymed abcbdbeb For Express It In Eight, 01.15.23 Prompt: Midnight in the garden of good and evil. |
The Gift Old Tom killed the rat and brought it to Miss Anna, dropped it there upon the mat and said he’d leave Montana, never to return, he swore, if Anna left him flat, but Anna smiled as ne’er before, and Tom’s a happy cat. Line count: 8 Rhymed abab For Express It In Eight, 01.14.23 Prompt: In Montana, it’s illegal to give a rat as a present. |