Courage Road

Nove Otto chain poem, written for the Pond Poetry Contest

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Courage Road

Before me sits a russet view
Whose unsure path I now eschew,
Commands amending what I know
Winding beyond a wobbling bridge,
Climbing the campus on the ridge
But, to what end does this trail go?
Treetops sway and young leaves quaver
Brave step forward and I waver
By thoughts that hurl an icy blow,

Gripping regret upon the gust
That twists inside, suppressing trust
A scent of clean on season’s show,
Heeding tepid river's patter
And the trill of robins’ chatter,
Out I stagger from the shadow
Just as the sky unlocks the day
And heralding light guides my way
Down this novel road I follow






The Nove Otto has 9 lines, with 8 syllables per line. The rhyme pattern is aacbbcddc.
A 'chained’ Nove Otto, with more than one stanza, is structured as follows:

eecffcggc hhciicjjc etc...

http://www.worldofpoets.org/mformnoveotto.html

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