I’m trying to find the time to participate in the Poetry Stretch each week at The Miss Rumphius Effect. Tricia always has great ideas, and I always want to give them a try, but often the week is gone before I realize it. I’m trying to do better.
This week’s stretch is to write a poem in terza rima–click here to read the post. I’ve only written a couple of these, both, I think, when I was working on large collections, and I used that as an opportunity to try just about every poetic form I can find. But it’s been several years, so I was kind of intimidated by this week’s assignment.
We had a snow/wind storm a few days ago, and going outside afterward to walk Captain Jack, it was like the end of the world. It was dusk, and it was like I was the only person left alive on the planet. Very eerie. I decided to try to capture that mood. And then yesterday I got some news from someone I work with in the publishing industry, some news that makes me sad and anxious and nervous. It’s not public yet, so I’ll wait before sharing, but it made that isolated feeling stronger. I tried to find an image from my stock photo company that captured the desolation, but this is as close as I could come–not all that close! Oh well. Without further excuses, here’s my attempt at a terza rima:
| Tarnished Silver
Temperature dives—four degrees
just you, and the moon, and reflected light— Black limbs of trees, like autumn’s bones, –Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved |
It’s not too late to join in. This is an interesting form that lets you play with rhyme while not constraining you to a particular meter. Zip on over and check out Miss Rumphius’ post and give it a try!