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. |
Nonsense There is no doubt in obsession, except the shout of completion. There is no argh in decision except the R in derision. Line count: 8 Rhymed abab cdcd For Express It In Eight, 03.31.22 Prompt: BEGIN YOUR POEM WITH ONE OF THE FOLLOWING: Imagine a world … There is no doubt … |
Hedges The hedge, surely the invention of the British, true expression of singular, obsessive privacy, representative of boundary, extent of influence, visual declaration of this is mine and the rest yours, for all I care. This is how to get along, to live, secure and alone, in the midst of millions and, if I may bend Frost just a little for once, good hedges make good neighbours. Line count: 8 Free verse For Express It In Eight, 03.30.22 Prompt: Write a hedge poem. |
Sounds “Shh,” goes the sign to keep silent, yet, of all sounds, that sibilant hiss carries furthest in the silent darkness. Stealth negated by its initial. “Yuck!” she cries in disgust, but I remember a time of comics when the sound of “Yuck yuck” meant the chortle of mirth. Line count: 8 Free verse For Express It In Eight, 03.29.22 Prompt: Shh, yuck. |
Compensation Counting off the decades of life, seven seems unlikely, an unexpected surprise in supposed decline. But inexplicable this flowering of verse in old age, signing off. Line count: 8 Free verse, syllables 8.6.7.5.6.4.5.3 For Express It In Eight, 03.28.22 Prompt: Decline. |
Song for San Francisco “Humming Bird at Rest with Flowers,” the painting implanted in memory, but clouds gathered, rain fell, and colours dripped in sheets, a passing helicopter left its ghost, the sun shone in a laundered sky and dreams of cakes in MacArthur Park were shattered. Line count: 8 Free verse For Express It In Eight, 03.27.22 Prompt: Painting of humming bird on a branch with helicopter in a clouded sky. |
Planetary Thoughts Saturn, our rotund acquaintance, still wears a belt several sizes too large. Others of our kin, being gaseous giants, are too far away to offend. Line count: 8 Free verse For Express It In Eight, 03.26.22 Prompt: Saturday. |
Secrecy I know a secret. Unfortunately and to my regret, it was told to me and with me must stay, to keep it from the light of day. “Unreasonable,” you remonstrate. “As one so stable, having such restraint, to lack trust in me is surely blatant perfidy.” Line count: 8 + 4 Rhymed ababcc dedeff, syllables 555558 555558 For Express It In Eight, 03.25.22 Prompt: EIGHT … PLUS FOUR!! (Yes, 12 amazing lines).. WRITE A SECRET POEM and/or WRITE AN UNREASONABLE POEM |
Those Magnificent Men… Surrender then to the abyss, ambition mere disaster, your dreams of flight have gone amiss and gravity’s your master. The design seems to have a flaw, the wings look very flimsy; methinks you’ll end up very sore, your plans are really whimsy. Fine example of brave humanity, unless, of course, it’s just insanity. Line count: 8 + 2 Ravenfly form (10 lines -- two quatrains and a couplet, syllables per line – 8/7/8/7 8/7/8/7 10/10, rhyme scheme – abab cdcd ee) For Express It In Eight, 03.24.22 Prompt: Surrender. Note: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gN-ZktmjIfE |
Spring Spring and a weary sun climbs reluctant from the morning mist, the faded grass, flattened by the memory of snow, stretches to the tangled bushes, still stripped and stark, unready for the task of reawakening. Spring and another year struggles upward through the ashes. Line count: 8 Free verse For Express It In Eight, 03.23.22 Prompt: Weary. |
The Directional Propensities of the Pigeon Pigeons are known to be fond of home; their desire to get there legendary. Never mind “as the crow flies” - the pigeon brooks no detours. Though single-minded this may be, and home is sweet for everyone, it’s not yours he cares about. Don’t let the pigeon drive the bus! Line count: 8 Free verse For Express It In Eight, 03.22.22 Prompt: Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! |