Gemini Rising

Hogmanay is the traditional New Years celebration in Scotland. Folk would work through Christmas in favor of celebrating Hogmanay. This exuberant New Year’s Eve festival included fire balls, torches, fireworks. Ringing the bells helps clear out the old and ring in the new.

A Terza Rima- is a poem with an eleven syllable count in each line and a rhyming scheme of aba, bcb, cdc, dd.
For even more of a challenge, try the Terza Rima Sonnet. This form of poem has an eleven-syllable count in each line and a rhyming scheme of aba, bcb, cdc, ded, ee.

New Year's Eve or Hogmanay is your topic.

The perfect antidote to the dark, cold days of midwinter, hygge is a Scandinavian concept that's notoriously difficult to define. In essence its a feeling of coziness and comfort in simple everyday living. Hygge is thought to have its roots in a similar word in Old Norse meaning 'protect from the outside world'.
Midwinter is the perfect time to embrace hygge. To gather with friends and family and embrace the simple things in life. Share food together, enjoy a hot chocolate, a family board game or card game, light a candle or read a book with your favorite blanket ... these are all considered hygge! So get comfy and embrace the restorative powers of the long winter months before the busyness of spring arrives.

Free Verse- is an irregular form of poetry in which the content free of traditional rules of versification, (freedom from fixed meter or rhyme).
In moving from line to line, the poet's main consideration is where to insert line breaks. Some ways of doing this include breaking the line where there is a natural pause or at a point of suspense for the reader.

Following the direction of Walt Whitman, Ezra Pound and T.S.Eliot, many modern day poets use this particular form of expression.

Your topic is a family gathering. Tell us about the simple things in life.

n Scandinavia elves are traditionally known as Tomtens. These Swedish fairy folk are believed to be the spirit of the home. They offer company and protection over the long, dark winter months. However, they respond any bad behavior by causing their own mischief!
On Christmas Eve it is the Tomtens who bring Yuletide gifts to the children. In return the Tomten gets some butter for his porridge.


A Limerick is a rhymed humorous or nonsense poem of five lines which originated in Limerick, Ireland. The Limerick has a set rhyme scheme of : a-a-b-b-a with a syllable structure of: 9-9-6-6-9. The rhythm of the poem should go as follows: Lines 1, 2, 5: weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak Lines 3, 4: weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak This is the most commonly heard first line of a limerick: "There once was a man from Nantucket."

Your topic is Tomtens (fairy folk)

Epigrams are short satirical poems ending with either a humorous retort or a stinging punchline.
Used mainly as expressions of social criticism or political satire, the most common forms are written as a couplet: a pair of rhymed lines in the same meter.
Practitioners of this poetic expression include John Dunne, Ben Jonson, William Blake and Robert Frost.

Your topic is the horse's skull.