Its dull face always upsets me
How it stares me back disquiets
But its nonstop hands twice vex me
Hands move same when I sit quiet
How it stares me back disquiets
Even when ignored—that damn clock
Hands move same when I sit quiet
Walkabout or dance a cakewalk
Even when ignored—that damn clock
It can’t make its hands thwart the twirl
Walkabout or dance a cakewalk
Keeps running me out of this world
It can’t make its hands thwart the twirl
But its nonstop hands twice vex me
Keeps running me out of this world
Its dull face always upsets me
© selma
W3 poetry prompt
What a great prompt. This poem was written for Punam Sharma’s W3 poetry
prompt: Write a Pantoum on the theme of abandonment.
I wonder if it counts even if I failed to mention that I abandoned looking
at that dull face that robs me of days on earth; hope it’s understood.
This is the most challenging form for me, and you can tell by the number of times
I’ve written pantoums in this blog. The rhyming gets me every time. All that said,
it was fun working on this one. Thanks, Punam dear.
How to write a Pantoum
The pantoum consists of a series of quatrains rhyming ABAB. The second and fourth lines of a quatrain recur as the first and third lines in the succeeding quatrain Each quatrain introduces a new second rhyme as BCBC, CDCD; The first line of the series recurs as the last line of the closing quatrain, and the third line of the poem recurs as the second line of the closing quatrain, rhyming ZAZA
The design is
Line 1 Line 2 Line 3 Line 4 Line 5 (repeat of line 2) Line 6 Line 7 (repeat of line 4) Line 8 Continue with as many stanzas as you wish, but the ending stanza then repeats the second and fourth lines of the previous stanza (as its first and third lines), and also repeats the third line of the first stanza, as its second line, and the first line of the first stanza as its fourth. So the first line of the poem is also the last. Last stanza: Line 2 of previous stanza Line 3 of first stanza Line 4 of previous stanza Line 1 of first stanza
There’s a lot more where this came from, and if you’re interested, please head over
to David’s website for MORE FUN: THE SKEPTIC’S KADDISH
Thanks for reading, and I hope you know I have no qualms with clocks. At the moment
I’m preparing myself mentally to tackle Maureen Thorson’s April prompts. Will I see
you there? I hope so.
Happy spring, and may there be more laughter, more poetry, and more miracles.
- Share The Wealth: Joy is Our Natural State - May 6, 2024
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- Day 30: NaPoWriMo 2024–Mary Magdalene At The Doctor’s - April 30, 2024
Love the theme for this piece ❤️
🙃 time time time ⏰ thanks for reading and commenting. Bless you. Xoxo
Very nice Selma. As luck would have it, I also wrote about a time keeper, my old watch.
I read yours. Brilliant work on this difficult form that indeed trice vexed me. Thanks doe reading Sadje.
Thanks a lot Selma. 😍
A luxury when you can abandon the clock…our world is too much ruled by it for sure. (K)
We have important lives that revolve around the clock. And the clock tics on Thanks, K. XoXo
The Pantoum is a challenging poetic form but you did it brilliantly. I bet that clock twice vexed you as you crafted this poem.
It’s so difficult indeed. And you’re right, the clock twice vexed me. LuAnne so happy to came to read. Bless you.
Oh that’s great, Selma! I really like how the form of the poem invokes the sense of frustration.
There’s frustration. But its useless,!really. Conny, so happy you read and commented. Thanks so much. XoXo
Pantoum indeed is very tricky and complicated and no matter how many times i’ve written it, i still get lost and confused but you just got to find the rhythm i guess…and yours just flowed perfectly well Selma
Mich so glad you found the flow satisfactory. Thanks so much for reading and commenting. Blessings.
Always a pleasure Selma❤️
Great job, Selma. Working on this kind of poetry form has got to be good brain exercise. It’s weird how time keeps on slippin, slippin, slippin, into the future with more and more speed, regardless of whether I slow down or try to keep up. Good idea not to look at the clock much.
Brain exercise indeed. It really shakes you and when on a good day the aha moment comes it’s nice.
The forms that need rhyme discombobulate me every time. 😂 😢
Abandoning the clock altogether is a hard task – it does run after us!! Well done Pantoum.
A hard task for sure and it changes nothing. Whether we sit still or run with it, the clock keeps the same pace. Really, there’s nothing we can do.
Thanks for reading and dropping a comment. I appreciate you. Blessings. XoXo
WOW, Selma ~ there’s something eerie in your description that gives me the shivers… something about the staring back, I suppose… this is so good!
Much love,
David
Thanks 🙏 David.
Selma, just wanna let you know that this week’s W3, which is hosted by our brilliant Kerfe, is now live!
https://skepticskaddish.com/2023/03/29/w3-prompt-48-weave-written-weekly/
Enjoy <3
Sincerely,
David
Selma, you aced the form! Atta girl! ❤️
I do wish we could abandon the clock to live life leisurely.
Great job, Selma! I’ve never written this form and it sounds challenging. But you aced it! 💖👏🏼
Syllabic forms are hard really. And more so when they have a strict rhyme scheme. pull hair. But you know it’s such a relief when — brain drained, you manage one.
I was indeed happy with this one that took me a whole day to complete. 😮💨
Thanks for reading, dear Lauren. Blessings.
I love this! I’ve thrown clocks across the room before now! 😁 tick ticking and telling you when to get out of bed.
hi, Selma <3
Just wanna let you know that the lovely Aishwarya of 'Kitty's Verses' is our W3 host this week ~
https://skepticskaddish.com/2023/04/05/w3-prompt-49-weave-written-weekly/
Enjoy!
Much love,
David
It’s great Selma and love you being game to always try new things. 💞