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.
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
- Day 20: NaPoWriMo 2024–Historical Event: HerStory - April 20, 2024
- Day 19: NaPoWriMo 2024–Stop Hunting Me - April 19, 2024
- Day 18: NaPoWriMo 2024–in my next life let me be a dust moat - April 18, 2024
If only all soldiers became too exhausted to fight! And yes, all too easy to waste time.
Thanks for reading and blessing me with a comment. xoxo
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.
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
I really enjoyed that, Selma. I love the imagery you used and the lesson to be learned at the end. 🙂
Sweet that you read. Blessings. xo
waiting
wanting
past taunts haunts
but spend well indeed yes!
Thanks for the visit 👏
yw
First class bit of jabberwocking, Selma.
You really think so? Aww. Thanks. It was hard. Thanks for the encouragement, Mitch. blessings.
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 🙂
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.
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 🙂
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?
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.
love it Selma, it really captured my imagination. I can just see them 🙂
Yay. Then I succeeded. I’m encouraged. Thanks so much.
A fun and imaginative write, Selma! 🤩
😉 Thanks.
Hey, ordered 40 at 40 🌟 yay! Due to arrive on Tuesday. Will read and review later. 💗
Hooray! 🤩 thank you for being a 🌟
What a delightful write, Selma, you aced the jabberwocky style.
Punam, thanks. I did try. 🤣 had fun. I appreciate you read. That’s a great win for me. XoXo. Stay sweet.
I enjoyed this immensely, Selma. You did a fantastic job 💕🙂
Harmony, my sweet: Thanks. I bless you for the encouragement. Be well. xoxo
Selma, you have true jabberwocky style! I’m blown away by your creativity. This is really special. Well done, my friend. <3
Thanks for the vote of confidence. I’m honored. xoxo
I can’t even imagine writing this style. I don’t know how I missed seeing this earlier! Just WOW!
Thanks, Ruth. xoxo
Trust me, Ruth, if I managed it you can most certainly do it too. 😊
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.
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
I loved this, Selma, and how you brought an important message at the end. 🙂 What a fun format that you completely conquered.
Aww… 😘 🤗
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!
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
You are welceome Selma! Have a great day!
This is great Selma! I love that phrase “genre of the day”! <3
This is wonderful Selma! So well crafted. I love the phase “genre of the day”. <3
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.
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.
glad it spoke to you this way, JoAnna. All the best. xoxo
I am much of read a story guy but you made me think read poetry also. Nice blog.
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.
I’m definitely at that time in life where the future is short and the past long. Nonetheless, life remains an adventure. Cheers, Muriel
I think it’s a fabulous poem!