Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Writer Wednesday ~ Terse Verse Expanded Form


Yesterday, I shared information about a short poetry form called the terse verse (also known as a hinky pinky or higgly piggly)

To sum up:

The title is a question or statement.

The poem is two words that rhyme that answer the question or describe the title.

Yup.  That’s it.

I wrote the example:

What You Call a Dog Who’s Eaten Too Much

Hoggy doggy.

I like this form.

I really do.

Short and sweet.

Simple.  

Everything I’m not.

Which means that  of course I can’t just leave it at that.

So instead of one terse verse, I like to write a string of them to tell a story.

Because words.
And story.

I like to call this brand-spanking new form of the terse verse a:

Wait for it.

You’ll love it.

Probably not.  The name I mean.  The form is fine.  It’s just cheesy.  The name.  Not the form.  Let’s be clear here, folks.

And it’s probably not brand new because there is nothing new under the sun but I couldn’t find anyone writing strings of terse verses so I’m pressing on with my new-to-maybe-just-me form of poetry.  My apologies to someone who’s already invented/created/discovered the joy that is the:

HALE TALE TERSE VERSE.

I know.  I’m sorry.  Hale can mean hearty or robust which is kinda the opposite of terse and I’m telling a more robust story with my string of little poems and obviously I had to rhyme.

#rhymingislife #iloverhymes #nosuchthingastoomanyrhymes #alsoimnotopposedtoalittlecheese
#mmm #cheese  #hungry

Rules of the Hale Tale Terse Verse
Suggestions, really.  Take them as you wish and do what you may.
  • Create a short story using two or more terse verses.  (Terse verse? Terse versi?  Arg.  Plurals hard.)
  • Titles of each individual terse verse may be as long or short as you’d like but should only be one sentence.  Run-ons acceptable.
  • Each individual terse verse still needs to have only two words in it
  • You may choose whether to give the group of terse verses another main title.
  • You may choose to capitalize both words of each terse verse or just the first or not at all.

In The Doghouse
created at canva.comWhat You Call The Puppy Who Looks At You Beseechingly Whilst You Eat A Slice Of Yummy Cake
Mooch pooch.

What You Call The Pooch Standing Nonchalantly On The Counter When You Come Inside From Playing A Super Fun Game Of Hide-N-Seek With Your Friends
Up pup.

What You Call The Mutt Who Ate Almost An Entire Cake Whilst Standing On The Counter Whilst You Played A Super Fun But Ill-advised And Regrettably Long Game Of Hide-N-Seek
Hog dog.

What You Call The Hound Who Also Ate Mom's Favorite Pair Of Slippers Presumably Whilst Pondering How To Conquer The Counter For Cake Whilst You Played An Actually Kinda Boring Game Of Hide-N-Seek.
Slipper nipper.

What You’re In When Mom Finds Out That She Will Not Get To Enjoy A Slice Of Mrs. Keller’s Cake Whilst Wearing Favorite Slippers Because Young Man You Forgot To Kennel The Canine Before Going Outside To Play A Not To Be Repeated For A Week ‘Cause You’re Grounded Game Of Hide-N-Seek Plus Guess Who Gets To Clean Up When He Gets Sick From Eating Almost An Entire Cake
Double trouble.

What Kind Of Dog You Have When You’re Sad And Grounded And Mom’s Still A Little Mad Even Though She Says She Forgives You
Hug pug.

Written by: Rebekah Hoeft ~ ©2017


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Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Writer Wednesday ~ Alexandroid

Yesterday, I shared how to write an alexandroid, a poetry form that The Society of Classical Poets introduced.  Easy-peasy, right?!

Here's my contribution to the alexandroid cause.

Apologies for verb tense abuse.  In my defense, it's hard to write about Star Wars because it all happened so far away, so long ago.    But also it is still happening every time we watch it here in the Hoeft House and each time a new episode comes out.

It's all very confusing.

In Which the Droids Say Enough Is Enough

K-2SO lives, Star Wars Droids are my favorite part of Star WarsSo far away and once upon
          a time there were
Four Droids. With varied brains and brawn
          the foe deter.

The Empire, vile, oft crippled by
          brave, valiant crews;
Their vict'ries claimed with robots sly
          whose charms amuse.

'Twas thought the Jedis would outlast
          the Empire's sins,
But Dark Side's end will come at last:
          Droid Dream Team wins.

Written by: Rebekah Hoeft ~ Copyright 2017 ~ All Rights Reserved

I should mention also that I'm rebelling.  K-2SO lives.




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Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Teacher Tuesday ~ Poetry Form ~ Alexandroid

I'm a rhymer.

Yup, I said it.  I like to rhyme.

And I like a set form, whether it's a limerick or a haiku or a villanelle or a sonnet or one I impose on myself.  Writing in a fixed form can be maddening but I like the constraint it brings to my writing since I have a tendency to go on, ad nauseam, about a subject if I'm interested in it because there are ever so many words that make me happy.  Delighted, even.  Charmed.

 Ahem.

Fitting the pieces, the words, into the correct amount of syllables, using the correct rhythm, with the perfect rhyme is like a puzzle to me.

Except I don't really like puzzles--so many little pieces.  They drive me bonkers.

But words.  Words I can do.  Though I may be tempted to throw my notebook across the room when they don't quite fit.  But better a notebook than a 1000 piece puzzle, right?!

Last week I ran across a rhyming, metrical poetry form invented/discovered by Jared Carter, reported on by the Society of Classical Poets.  It's called the alexandroid.  Here's the description, as told by C.B. Anderson.
"...an alexandroid consists of six alexandrine (iambic hexameter) lines, where each line is broken into four-foot and two-foot segments, with end rhymes occurring in the corresponding segments in an abab rhyme scheme. The short segments should be indented roughly ten spaces. Two divided alexandrine lines constitute a stanza."
 "The minor segments should begin with a lower-case letter (unless grammar demands otherwise) in order to preserve the integrity of the component alexandrine lines. It can be noted that the major segment ought not to have a feminine rhyme-ending, since this would result in a metrical infelicity."
He also notes that enjambment is a good choice for this poetry form.

Well.

Let's break that down a bit, shall we?

I'm a relative newbie to the poetry writing world, so words like alexandrine, iambic hexameter, metrical felicity, and enjambment require a bit of research.  Feel free to click those links.

I'll wait.

So, as I understand it, the alexandroid:

  • follows the iambic meter--da DUM (unstressed stressed syllables)
  • has 6 lines that look like 12 with each line broken into 2 segments; the first segment has 8 syllables, the second has 4
  • the second segment uses a lowercase letter at the beginning of the line unless it's a proper noun
  • the second segment should be indented 10ish spaces
  • is divided into 3 stanzas--2 lines (4 segments) per stanza
  • each stanza follows the ABAB rhyme pattern
  • enjambment (segment to segment and stanza to stanza) is good because it pulls the parts of the poem together.
Clear?

Here's an example--just the first stanza of an alexandroid I'm working on.  You can find the finished one here.


So far away and once upon
          a time there were
Four Droids. With varied brains and brawn
          the foe deter.

And again, with lines, stress, and rhymes marked.

Line 1.1     So FAR aWAY and ONCE uPON
Line 1.2               a TIME there WERE
Line 2.1     Four DROIDS. With VARied BRAINS and BRAWN
Line 2.2               the FOE deTER

So, let's run down the check list:

  • Iambic?  Check.
  • 12 syllables per line, divided into 8 and 4 syllable segments?  Check.
  • 2nd segments indented with lowercase start?  Check.
  • Enjambment? Check.
  • ABAB rhyme pattern?  Check.


Here's how I showed the layout in my notebook before I started writing:

- / - / - / - / A
         - / - / B
- / - / - / - / A
         - / - / B

- / - / - / - / C
         - / - / D
- / - / - / - / C
         - / - / D

- / - / - / - / E
         - / - / F
- / - / - / - / E
         - / - / F

As with all poetry forms--feel free to break the rules.

I can't.  Because puzzle.

But you could.




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Thursday, August 3, 2017

Welcome to Olio-li-o!

I couldn't figure out what to call this thing.

Or really what it is.

Definitely not what to focus on.

I like teaching.

I like writing.

I like reading.

I like taking pictures of pretty things that fill up my phone and have to be deleted because I run out of space before I run into motivation.
Pretty thing I did not delete.
I like wasting hours of time on Pinterest-fail-worthy crafts.

Not really.

That's just annoying. But it's what I do.
*  *  *  *   *  *

My dad always has said that he is a jack of all trades, master of none.

Same.

We are our parents, aren't we?

So, olio.

Or rather,

Olio-li-o!


Just 'cause it's fun to say.




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#50PreciousWords 2023 with Vivian Kirkfield

Vivian Kirkfield is hosting her annual writing contest.  The challenge is to write a story for children in 50 words or less.  Head over to h...