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Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

Be Selective With Your Time Right Now #TankaTuesday #PhotoPrompt

I read the prompt, saw the lovely picture, and immediately thought I’d write something funny– you know, something like Jabberwocky, silly like that. So I browsed the Poetry Forms, hit F for funny, and was led to Fatras Poetry.

Well, that was two days ago, and who am I fooling? I cannot write a Fatras. This brain won’t let me.

“Unfortunately, the clock is ticking,
the hours are going by. The past increases,
the future recedes. Possibilities decreasing,
regrets mounting.” ~ Haruki Murakami

Anyway, I wrote something like Lewis Carroll’s (1832-1898) Jabberwocky, which the master organized as follows:

  • seven quatrains,
    each with a regular rhyme scheme 
    (ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ KLKL ABAB),
  • three lines of iambic tetrameter,
    and a
  • final line of iambic trimeter

A nonsense poem is what I was going for, but this is what resulted.
I followed the form except for the last ABAB-stanza that was supposed to repeat the first stanza. I thought that would make it too vague and still not funny.

Won’t you give it a read, please? It’s for Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday Poetry/Photo Challenge this week. I await your comments.

A photo of the door of a house with clocks all over.
The image for this week’s photo prompt is from Pixabay.com, compliments of “Pretty sleepy.”
With eyes in flames they came to foil  
came whiffling through the gnarly woods 
To quell the house that kept the time
Tick tock, genre du jour 

They gave no care, no thought at all
To who or what might live inside
With swords in hand they marched, left right
Then stood a while and sighed 

A troop of soldiers matched tick tocks
Twenty-one steps back and forward
The rascals moaned, gave one step back
The changing of the guards

"What right have you to shield and hide?"
"The house of clocks, let’s break it down!" 
"We've come from far to kill Old Time."
"You're here to spoil the fun!"

The sentries remained undaunted
The clocks tick tocked undisturbed 
And though the crowd scoffed, and bleated 
none dared to touch the barbs

At length exhaustion took them out
hand grips lossened steel to clover 
and sprawled men on the rocky ground
while steel hands got louder

You cannot still Old Time, my friends
kill instead the robbers of time
Time is not like money to spend 
You'll know there's no next time
***
© 2022 selmamartin.com
All Rights Reserved

note: the men had steel swords, and the hands of the clocks are also made of steel.
(I just thought I might lose you there)

Photos:
1: Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay 
2: The image for this week’s photo prompt is from Pixabay.com, compliments of “Pretty sleepy.”

“Until you value yourself,
you won’t value your time.
Until you value your time,
you won’t do anything about it.”
~ M. Scott Peck

Thanks so much for reading.
And now, may I update you with the latest…

UPDATE: 
"Welcome to our weekly poetry stars’ celebration," starts Colleen,
"What a stunning week of poetry! Thank you so much for writing poetry with me. It was a blast.
"...the Whitney, Wayra, and the Arkquain Swirl," she says after listing all the participants in a neat little grid. And then she says, "With all of this creativity, it was hard to pick one poem to showcase this week! I went with Selma’s Jabberwocky-inspired poem..." 
And that was when I gasped. Please click on this link to see the list of the participants and to celebrate with me. And with everyone else. Thanks, Colleen. It was fun, fun, fun as always. Congratulations to everyone. I bless you all. 

I wish you miracles. xo

Selma Martin
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This Post Has 46 Comments

  1. Kerfe

    If only all soldiers became too exhausted to fight! And yes, all too easy to waste time.

    1. Selma Martin

      Thanks for reading and blessing me with a comment. xoxo

  2. D. Wallace Peach

    Wow, Selma. I’d say you accomplished your goal. I definitely saw the similarities to Jabberwocky, and the form you chose was excellent for your story. This was an undertaking and you pulled it off. You might have struggled, but I didn’t notice. Great poem.

    1. Selma Martin

      This was in spam. sorry for the delayed response. And, Wow, D. You speak nice words to me. Thanks for this lovely message. I’m so glad it worked. xoxo

  3. yvettemcalleiro

    I really enjoyed that, Selma. I love the imagery you used and the lesson to be learned at the end. 🙂

  4. utahan15

    waiting
    wanting
    past taunts haunts
    but spend well indeed yes!

    1. Selma Martin

      You really think so? Aww. Thanks. It was hard. Thanks for the encouragement, Mitch. blessings.

  5. WildChild47

    Ah this has the whimsy in it – woven with the valuable message! Well done Selma – and good on you for walking this photo prompt in a wonderful direction, and certainly challenging yourself with the form! Really lovely. And very well penned indeed 🙂

    1. Selma Martin

      Your comment blesses me. I appreciate you.
      I hope all’s well in your corner of the world and within. I’m following at cantaloupe sky. What lovely names you have. Adore.
      I bless you.

      1. WildChild47

        lots of snow …. snow snow snow – it’s like living in a snow globe that someone is constantly shaking! 😅 oh well, spring is somewhere “out there” waiting in the wings ….. and thank you, my imagination tends to run wild and free at times 😉
        I trust you are well and softly adventuring through February …. be safe my friend and may you be showered with blessings and miracles 🙂

  6. balroop2013

    I think this must’ve been quite complicated to write Selma. House of clocks…nice idea and well executed. I like the message though…who can defeat time?

    1. Selma Martin

      Aww. Thanks for seeing right through the words. I was running out of time ⌛️ trying to get it to work. Failed on some rhymes, but that’s all I had to give— All the words I could borrow from the ocean of possibilities. Glad you liked the final message. Blessings.

  7. Nope, Not Pam

    love it Selma, it really captured my imagination. I can just see them 🙂

    1. Selma Martin

      Yay. Then I succeeded. I’m encouraged. Thanks so much.

  8. Ingrid

    A fun and imaginative write, Selma! 🤩

    1. Selma Martin

      😉 Thanks.
      Hey, ordered 40 at 40 🌟 yay! Due to arrive on Tuesday. Will read and review later. 💗

      1. Ingrid

        Hooray! 🤩 thank you for being a 🌟

  9. paeansunplugged

    What a delightful write, Selma, you aced the jabberwocky style.

  10. Selma Martin

    Punam, thanks. I did try. 🤣 had fun. I appreciate you read. That’s a great win for me. XoXo. Stay sweet.

  11. Harmony Kent

    I enjoyed this immensely, Selma. You did a fantastic job 💕🙂

    1. Selma Martin

      Harmony, my sweet: Thanks. I bless you for the encouragement. Be well. xoxo

  12. Colleen M. Chesebro

    Selma, you have true jabberwocky style! I’m blown away by your creativity. This is really special. Well done, my friend. <3

    1. Selma Martin

      Thanks for the vote of confidence. I’m honored. xoxo

  13. Ruth

    I can’t even imagine writing this style. I don’t know how I missed seeing this earlier! Just WOW!

    1. Selma Martin

      Trust me, Ruth, if I managed it you can most certainly do it too. 😊

  14. Kathryn LeRoy

    Time stops for no one. Every day, 1440 minutes. I keep that number in mind to remember that I have a choice on how I use them.

    1. Selma Martin

      It’s so important to kill the time-robbers — well with all of 1440 minutes to work with and all… we’re not robots. We need to select what matters with each ticking of the clock. xoxoThanks for the comment, sweet friend. xo

  15. D.L. Finn, Author

    I loved this, Selma, and how you brought an important message at the end. 🙂 What a fun format that you completely conquered.

  16. rothpoetry

    Nicely done Selma. You can’t battle time. It marches on relentlessly, and we are at its mercy. Seems we realize that when illness strikes!

    1. Selma Martin

      So true, so true. It’s when illness strikes that we stop to look around and reassess. Always. We better get it right soon. Time stops for no one. Thanks for reading and commenting. I bless you. xo

      1. rothpoetry

        You are welceome Selma! Have a great day!

  17. anotherkatewilson

    This is great Selma! I love that phrase “genre of the day”! <3

  18. anotherkatewilson

    This is wonderful Selma! So well crafted. I love the phase “genre of the day”. <3

    1. Selma Martin

      I’m so glad you got to read this one. Yes, the rhyme pointed me in that direction with that little phrase. Glad you liked it.
      Stay sweet. Blessings.

  19. JoAnna

    I enjoyed the rhythm and imagery in this story poem. Killing the robbers of time is a fight I could get behind, figuratively at least.

    1. Selma Martin

      glad it spoke to you this way, JoAnna. All the best. xoxo

  20. avran wani

    I am much of read a story guy but you made me think read poetry also. Nice blog.

    1. Selma Martin

      So happy to receive this comment. Thank you. I hope you return often. And that every time you find something you like. I bless you. All the best.

  21. viewfromoverthehill

    I’m definitely at that time in life where the future is short and the past long. Nonetheless, life remains an adventure. Cheers, Muriel

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