The second of my collections of poems written for "Express It In Eight." |
As usual these days, I choose blog format because it offers more space for the work. |
Hurry A reason to rush is never enough to shatter the hush is not the right stuff. More haste means less speed mistakes multiply and reasons recede while deadlines go by. Line count: 8 Rhymed abab, syllables 5 per line For Express It In Eight, 04.30.25 Prompt: Write a poem about a reason to rush. |
It’s a Language All things are grist to art’s pure mill both deepest grumble and shrieking shrill the shocking jolt and mundane sight a brightest dawn and darkest night. It’s how the thing speaks to your ear with cotton wool or sickening fear with beauty like the Mona Lisa or dread Picasso’s Guernica. Line count: 8 Rhymed aabb For Express It In Eight, 04.29.25 Prompt: Art by Herman Melville. |
Cabbage It would be far from me to disparage a vegetable as noble as the cabbage much neglected though it be just try it and you’ll see that each part of it is tasty in its own way and don’t be hasty open your mind as well as your mouth and let prejudices head south. Line count: 8 Rhymed aabb For Express It In Eight, 04.27.25 Prompt: Write a poem about a vegetable. |
Square Eyes Yes, I binge my way though several seasons You see I must know all the reasons Why Jill left Brad and why Brad went mad And celebrations turned so sad Of how that stranger came to town With all the rumours going round Sure I know it’s just the television But if I miss it I’ll meet derision. Line count: 8 Rhymed aabb For Express It In Eight, 04.26.25 Prompt: “When I grew up, if you missed a TV show you just missed it. Forever.” |
Pink Whatever you may think It takes both red and white to make the colour pink regardless of the light and plenty of the virginal plus a dash incarnadine will blend into the terminal like rosé if it’s wine. Line count: 8 Rhymed abab For Express It In Eight, 04.25.25 Prompt: Write a pink poem. |
Wishes Aladdin’s lamp, bright and burnished, shining with the hopes of many, who rubbed and polished the surface with demands beyond a penny. And what if one day the genie, awoken in the lamp so amplified, should issue forth and grant the wish - what chance the dream be satisfied? Line count: 8 Rhymed abcb For Express It In Eight, 04.24.25 Prompt: Write a poem about a wish fulfilled. |
Baled Hay The words remind me of another time when strength still ruled in these old bones and innocent I agreed to help a friend spread hay upon his smallholding strawbs then to find that baled hay weighs a ton and a day spent throwing them around brings the sweat hot and powdered with grit to the face and the body aching with strain. Line count: 8 Free verse For Express It In Eight, 04.23.25 Prompt: Baled hay. |
Elegy In the stillness of a quiet room we find our rest in the shadows of the darkened tomb we pass the final test. Tranquillity ends the strife of life no longer bated breath and still the swirling airs so rife now tamed in silent death. Line count: 8 Rhymed abab For Express It In Eight, 04.22.25 Prompt: Include the phrase “in the stillness of a quiet room.” |
Pondermania On being asked to elaborate my thoughts became deliberate, becoming so ethereal, ineffable and sidereal, eventually existential, ultimately circumstantial, so that my adventure mental became something incidental. Line count: 8 Rhymed aabb For Express It In Eight, 04.21.25 Prompt: Today is 'BIG WORD DAY,' a day dedicated to celebrating the use of long words in the English language. Use elaborate words to promote linguistic creativity! |
Carpe Diem? He who hesitates is lost for, in calculating the cost, the urge to act deserted and left his aim diverted. Although, if truth be told, some trust in lore of old, holding the adage to keep is to look before you leap. Line count: 8 Rhymed aabb For Express It In Eight, 04.20.25 Prompt: Write a hesitant poem. |