Skeltonic Verse

In researching different forms of poetry, I came across Skeltonic Verse, named after English Poet, John Skelton (1460-1529).  Skelton had tutored King Henry the Eighth when he was a prince and later spent time in prison, was censured by the church and seemed to have a lot of fun!  The rules of Skeltonic Verse are simple:  

• Keep the line lengths between three and six words
• Every end word rhymes with the previous, until you start a new set of rhymes
• Keep the same rhyme until it starts to lose its energy or impact
• The poem should be full of energy and fun

Here's my Skeltonic Verse:

The weekend's here

I shout and cheer   

Until I hear

A voice so clear

From in the yard

the words were hard

So I was jarred
My plans were marred

There on the stoop

With bag and scoop

He made me droop

"Let's pick up poop!"

I forgot

  

I Forgot

I can't believe I almost forgot,

to write another poem.

I don't know where my memory went,

It must still be at home.

Sausage Poem

Today's poem is a Sausage Poem - a string of words which are "linked" with the same letters/sounds at the endings and beginnings of words.  An extra challenge is to go full circle and have the last letter of the sentence match the first letter.  It's a lot harder than it sounds!  Here's my meager attempt.  Before you judge me - give it a try yourself!

Spring goes slowly yet time elapses.

Summer rain nurturing growing greens.

Fall leaves swirl like caustic kids.

Winter rains snow over rustic cabins.

My Mea Culpa

My Mea Culpa

I had the best intentions

I really meant to do it

I hoped to write a poem a day

and on day two - I blew it!

April is Poetry Month - DUH!

What kind of habitual rhymer forgets poetry month?  I'm going to use being in Las Vegas when April began as my excuse.  It's lame - I know!  In honor of Poetry Month, I'll post a new poem everyday - starting today.  I'll also include fun poem-writing ideas I've found in various places.  So, my poem for April 3rd is called a Book Spine Poem.  April Halprin Wayland mentioned it in today's blog post at Teaching Authors.  She got the idea from Travis Jonker, an elementary school librarian and he wrote about it on the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) blog.  I copied this off the blog: 


How do you create your own?  Here are my tips for kids and teens:
1. Check out last year’s book spine poem gallery for inspiration.
2. Once you’re in the library, start looking at titles to see what strikes you. Arrange and rearrange in your head. The best part of this type of poetry is the fact that you don’t know where you’ll end up.
3. Have a pencil and paper with you to write down titles that stand out – you can go back to them later.
4. Don’t be afraid to use the library catalog to search for titles with exact words or phrases that you want.

As promised, here's a book spine poem I wrote tonight:

What am I doing here

Lost in the cosmos?

Beginning to see the light

With a little help from my friends - 

Heroes!

Give it a try and, when you do, post it here for others to read!  

Happy Poetry Month!!