Lego My SnowPlow - An Ovillejo Thing

Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.  Public Domain.  Edited for content.

On this very blizzardly (is that a word?) day, I decided to write a few more Ovillejo poems.  Over at Poetic Asides, the prompt this week was to write a Persona Poem.  I penned two of them, with two very different voices.  That should, hopefully explain the weird, doctored picture, above.

Ovillejo for a Snow Plow Driver

The snow was piling high.

That’s why

with plow, I soon ‘decapped’

(it snapped!)

some mailbox from its post,

almost.

The owner yelled, “You’re toast!”

He witnessed my mistake.

I didn’t swerve or brake.
That’s why it snapped, almost.

###

Mom Who Steps on a Lego Piece in Her Bare Feet

O anguish on my rug! 

It dug

into my poor bare sole,

a hole

that was quite vast, it seemed.

I screamed.

Yes, Legos double teamed.

But what can you expect?

My foot was sorely wrecked!

It dug a hole.  I screamed.

###

And now, I guess I'll go back to bingewatching television.  Stay warm, dry and safe.

Shopping Around

Fashion Store by August Macke/December 31, 1913/Public Domain per Wikimedia Commons

Edit:

I was informed, and rightly so, that I made a structural error to my verse (see the first version, at the bottom of this post below.)  Now, I admit to breaking poetic rules on occasion, but you gotta know the rules to break 'em.  And 'though I've written a number of Ovijello poems in the past, I forgot a key/signature element to this form.  I humbly apologize for my careless error.  That's what comes from writing in haste when one is tired, and full of hubris.

Here is the revised version of my poem.

It’s in the Cards

My credit cards await

their fate

which is to spend the max

at Saks

and other fancy shops

with stops

to buy some shoes and tops,

a handbag, lipstick, jewels.

No limit and no rules.
Their fate at Saks, with stops…

###

My brilliant poet friend De Miller Jackson is currently curating the Ovillejo poem form at dVerse. It's a really fun but challenging form, and since she rather cleverly dropped my name over on Facebook with regard to such things, I decided to play along.

Here's my entry:

Props

My credit cards await

their fate

which is to spend the max

at Saks

and other fancy shops

with stops

to buy some shoes and tops,

a handbag, lipstick, jewels…

No limit and no rules.
Ya gotta have your props.

###

Anyway, as you can see, I've obviously been away from my blog for a while, and whilst I make no promises presently, I figure it's all for creativity, and that is generally a very good thing.

Rollin' in the Clover

Illustration - The Red Clover Fairy by Cicely Mary Barker/courtesy of Monday's Child

 The Red Clover Fairy and the Springtime Bumble Bee

Good Morning, Mister Bee.

I see

you’re visiting my bloom.

Perfume

and color brought you here,

my dear?

O Bumble Bee, it’s clear

you’ve come to pollinate ~

I so appreciate

new buds with Springtime cheer.

###

(Poetic Form: Ovillejo)

A Note:

Hi there!  Yeah...it's been a while, hasn't it?  For those of you who stopped by to pay a call and write comments, I thank you so much!  Really!  And I'm sorry too, because not only I haven't posted recently, but I haven't visited anyone recently either.  I did manage to squeak out some poems for the PAD Challenge at Poetic Asides, but other than that, I really haven't had much time to do anything else, because of a different writing matter...

See, beside writing my quirky-ish mostly rhyme and mostly poetic form poetry, I also write children's fiction.  I did manage to get one novel (Penny Wishes, 2009) published by a small press, but alas, the press went out of business later in the same year.  I have several others in the works.

However, I just dreamed up a new story idea - which oddly enough, came from a dream (that's happened a number of times, believe it or not) and so I drafted an outline of the story (middle grade historical fiction) which I shared with my writing group.  They saw potential in it, which was pretty cool.  Right after that, I attended a 1st page SCBWI event which featured two editors from well-known publishers ... and it went pretty well.  So ... I've been heavily focused on that project, largely because I now have a three month window for submission.

And that's the story - at least to date.

A Tight Little Tangled Bundle of Yarn

Okay - I admit it.  I'm hooked.

Ovillejo!

As a poet of (primarily) light verse, this is one awesome poetic form because it really does lend itself mightily to the genre.  And it's fun!

I first heard about it from Bruce Niedt who posted about it at Poetic Asides.

According to Tilt-A-Whirl, a terrific literary ezine (which has published work by both Bruce and Sara Gwen, another amazing poet who posts at Poetic Asides) the form was made popular by Rhina P. Espaillat.

Wikipedia says that the first known use of the form was by Cervantes.

According to a number of sources... 


"The "ovillejo," an old Spanish verse form that means "tight little bundle." "-ejo" is one of our blessed diminutives, and "ovillo" means "tangled ball of yarn." The last line is a "redondilla," a "little round" that collects all three of the short lines. The rhyme scheme is established, but the meter is at the poet's discretion, although in Spanish the longer lines tend to be octosyllabic. ( octosyllabic: A line of verse containing eight syllables)"

Got that?

Meaning, in ten short lines, (the way I understand it), you have 6 syllables each for lines 1,3,5,7,8,9 and 10.  Lines 2,4 and 6 each get 2 syllables.  The rhyme scheme is:

a
a
b
b
c
c
c
d
d
c

Here's an example (based on what I've written for the Poetic Asides' prompt for today, which is all about taking a stand) 

Santa

I believe in Santa!
     Can’t a
grown-up (not precisely)
     nicely
get a wish fulfilled by
     the guy
whose nine reindeer can fly?
Please come down my chimney
for gingerbread and tea.
     Dear Claus, I’m standing by!


(And of course, you know I do still believe in that jolly old dude in the red suit!)


Anyway, that's about it for today.  Thanks for dropping by!  See you soon.