Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Converting Stacked Prose into Metered Rhyming Verse

Converting Stacked Prose into Metered, Rhyming Verse.

I wanted to show my readers that I am capable of metered, rhyming verse. I think this form of expression was the genesis of poetry as primitive people sat around the campfires and used the mnemonics to record their verbal histories.

Who would argue that poetry is easier to remember than prose. Its almost like it weaves its way between your neurons….Who out there can’t remember the first few lines to “’Twas the night before Christmas?“

Keep in mind now that this blog thread, started with the word “Resonance.” Karen read it in the blog and wrote her poem….and I wrote some free verse to try and catch and explain the thread of her mood….what she was thinking as she wrote. Hold this thought for just a moment.

Many countries had Academy’s of fine arts and in order to get into one there were certain basic requirements….In the French I think you had to demonstrate that you could draw a realistic rendering of something. This was to prevent the old Monkey with the finger paint scam. I always thought that was a good idea and if there was a branch for Poets they should be required to write a metered rhyming poem. Those who malign structured poetry ought to at least demonstrate that they have a capacity to write it. PIcasso could actually draw. My detractors have accused me saying that my free verse is prose chopped up into little pieces, however before I attempt to show that I can do structured rhyme, let me relate a most amazing thing that happened yesterday.

Karen came up with a stanza yesterday shown below.

Seasons of reasons and poems that rhyme,
readers and writers of varied kinds.
Is it poetry, prose or a word in time?
What matters the answer if it touches my life?

As a kid one of my favorite authors was Baroness Orczy....She wrote the Scarlet Pimpernel. Her central character was an English noble named Percy. Today when I read Karen's poem it prompted a recollection....the sound was like a scent from the past that you try and recall...the poem flashed with a resonance of something Lord Percy recited while pretending to be effete in order to disguise his identity.
>
> They seek him here, they seek him there
> Those Frenchies seek him everywhere.
> Is He in Heaven or in Hell?
> That damned elusive Pimpernel.

The amazing thing is that the resonance in the third line of Karen's poem matched in my mind the resonance of the third line in Orczy’s poem. Now it's not the same meter, or the same rhyme or even the thread of a similar thought….it's simply a similarity in resonance. If you can hear it let me know, because it's to me a clue to what resonance is…. Often when reading a short story or novel I catch a line that has a Shakesperian resonance….it's distinct and unmistakable and I never know if it's random, concidence, subconscious or whatever.

Anyway here is my attempt to turn stacked prose into metered and rhymed poetry.

Stacked Prose (Free Verse)

On a Good day for no Reason:

Today I went out to the truck feeling good.
I turned the key and the engine sprang to life.
It had a nice rumble that got me to thinking good thoughts;
Not the gut wrenching stuff my nightmares are made of.

I always try to be a decent fellow but don’t always succeed.
Haunted by insensitive words and acts of spite
I often flash back and stiffen with dread…wincing!
“I hate it when you do that!” my wife says.
But today was not one of those days.

Metered and Rhymed Poetry

Today I woke a feeling good
Didn’t stop to question why
“Don’t look that gift horse in the mouth…”
I reasoned with a sigh

Birds sang and breezes blew
As I climbed in the truck
Turned the key, the engine caught
Was that a stroke of luck?

And there I sat a listening
To the resonance I heard
‘Amid the sweet vibrations
Loath to say a word

Thoughts of dreams I dreaded
Tactless things I’ve said
Those foggy recollections
That tossed me in the bed

Gone they were, glad for that
As Linda came to say
“My you’re looking chipper
And what a lovely day.”