Countdown

Poet's Notes
(Show)

Become a Premium Member and post notes and photos about your poem like John Watt.


Twelve is the number of months we journey through; time sprints by, it's true Eleven sounds for the first line - I reckoned five for the second Ten is the count of either fingers or toes; do cool things with those Nine Greek muses sometimes seize my pen's control, whisper to my soul Twelve is the number of months we journey through; twelve full moons to view hundreds of poems, too ~~~ Eight is the count of legs on spooky spiders; creepy web striders Seven - lucky number represents perfect; complete, no defect Six sides on every cell in the honeycomb; queen bee's drippy home Five point emblems on my country's cloth symbol; there's fifty - nimble! Eight is the count of legs on creepy spiders; or four Foo Fighters sipping rum ciders ~~~ Four Gospels depicting Jesus Christ, the Son; God's beloved One Three in One: the focus of church history; holy mystery Two is the number which is highly thought of by couples in love One is the top spot trophy seekers pursue, not content with two Four Gospels depicting Jesus Christ the Son the conflict he won risen like the sun
Lipogram A lipogram is a composition from which the writer systematically omits a certain letter or letters of the alphabet (in this case, the letter 'a'). Half-Eleven Shout out to Soup's own Nina Parmenter, creator of the Half-Eleven: An eleven-line poem consisting of four rhyming couplets and one final rhyming tercet (three-liner). Syllable counts and rhyme scheme as follows: 11 (A) 5* (a) 11 (B) 5* (b) 11 (C) 5* (c) 11 (D) 5* (d) Then a closing tercet of EITHER: 11 (A) (Exact repeat of line 1) 5* (a) 5* (a) ~ OR ~ 5* (a) 5* (a) 11 (A) (Exact repeat of line 1) [*5 syllables is best, but the odd sixth syllable is allowed in these shorter lines if you deem it absolutely Poetically Necessary!] With sincere thanks to Nina! written 3 Sep 2020

Copyright © | Year Posted 2020



Post Comments

Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.

Please Login to post a comment

Date: 9/15/2020 7:52:00 AM
wow John what a way to showcase your talents and you counted down to a coveted spot in the contest:-) hugs jan xx
Login to Reply
Watt Avatar
John Watt
Date: 9/15/2020 8:35:00 AM
What a clever way to put it, Jan! Thanks for the wonderful comment. Hugs ~ John
Date: 9/14/2020 3:55:00 PM
interesting...I never considered that all those numbers had no 'a' in them too...and I like the number 9 but had forgotten that there were 9 Greek muses..as to what each of them were, I will have to re-google as I can only remember less than a handful lol...congrats :)
Login to Reply
Woodrow Avatar
Susan Woodrow
Date: 9/14/2020 4:24:00 PM
one thousand?! oh goodness....well, next person to host a lipogram A contest is going to get one heck of a countdown lol!! you know, I thought about it for a few seconds but didn't follow thru...thanks for that...1000! :))
Watt Avatar
John Watt
Date: 9/14/2020 4:07:00 PM
I realized while doing this that the first number with an 'a' is one thousand! I recently wrote a poem about the 9 muses, and I had to google them as well. It's fun learning that way! Thanks for the visit, Susan.
Date: 9/14/2020 2:36:00 PM
Love this! A cre_ tive wonder of numbers complete with choruses. Kudos and high fives!
Login to Reply
Watt Avatar
John Watt
Date: 9/14/2020 3:18:00 PM
_h_, I see wh_t you did there! The form really challenges the brain because the first word you think of often gets eliminated from your options. Thanks for the kind comment, S_m!
Date: 9/14/2020 1:32:00 PM
Way to go, John!! you put a lot of effort into yours. I will never know if I messed up my chance or not by that dumb thing I did. Sounds like Emile got lots of good entries. I wish he did standard contests!! Anyway, Congrats and well deserved.
Login to Reply
Watt Avatar
John Watt
Date: 9/14/2020 1:51:00 PM
Thank you, my dear friend! If it's any consolation, I loved your poem about the mystery sky. Enjoy your Monday.
Date: 9/14/2020 9:36:00 AM
Congratulations John, your poem earned a distinguished place in my contest. This was one of the hardest contest I’ve ever had to judge, the quality of the poems entered were outstanding and yours stood out amongst them, well done my friend, Emile.
Login to Reply
Watt Avatar
John Watt
Date: 9/14/2020 10:51:00 AM
Very grateful my friend, both for the contest and the generous assessment. I know you put a lot of time and thought into your judging, and for that I am always thankful, win or lose. Enjoy your week ~ John
Date: 9/8/2020 5:54:00 PM
Just skimming through this one again, I think you have changed it now, right? I always like things shorter, so if it's shorter now, all the better!!
Login to Reply
Watt Avatar
John Watt
Date: 9/8/2020 6:00:00 PM
Yes, I made it shorter and fixed some rhymes to adhere better to the contest criteria. Thanks for noticing, my friend.
Date: 9/5/2020 1:17:00 AM
Quite a challenge to try this style of poetry John, you have written a clever gem here, but I would have to read a few more to be confident I can perhaps give it a shot. Well penned my friend and best wishes for the contest. blessings and hugs, Jennifer.
Login to Reply
Watt Avatar
John Watt
Date: 9/8/2020 5:59:00 PM
I am always one to encourage my friends to try the contests that seem 'out of reach'. I go through that phase with almost every contest, and every time when I try my hand at it I am surprised that it is doable. Read a couple more if that helps, but do try it Jenn. Your gifts will rise to the occasion. Hugs ~ John
Date: 9/4/2020 1:45:00 PM
wow, this is so amazing, John. If it does not nab number one spot, I'll be surprised. You put so much work into this and I wonder, did seeing that 5 poem of mine a while back inspire you to try Nina's form with this? Wish You had more new poetry for me to view. I got nothing from hypnotherapy but maybe it will "take" eventually. Who knows!
Login to Reply
Watt Avatar
John Watt
Date: 9/4/2020 2:46:00 PM
Hi, my friend! A soupmail in the works to answer your question...
Date: 9/3/2020 9:03:00 AM
How clever this is! I didn't even realize the letter A was omitted, which is is a testament to your skill. The half eleven is a fun form to write in, I've tried it a couple of times. I like the Nine muses the best, but they are all excellent, should do well in the contest~
Login to Reply
Watt Avatar
John Watt
Date: 9/14/2020 4:08:00 PM
You're welcome and thank you for the recommendation!
Faulkner Avatar
Michelle Faulkner
Date: 9/3/2020 12:44:00 PM
If you want to read one, it's 'The Witches of Halloween', thanks for your interest!
Watt Avatar
John Watt
Date: 9/3/2020 10:24:00 AM
Michelle, that's the highest compliment, to know that it didn't seem stilted or awkward without using any A's. I couldn't find any useful synonyms for 'syllable', 'star' or 'year' so I feel like I had to detour quite a bit to get those lines to behave. Let me know which of your poems are Half-Elevens and I will be happy to read them!
Date: 9/3/2020 8:44:00 AM
Outstanding piece dear John sir:-) I enjoyed the rhyme in your Lipogram.:-) A new form learnt through your poem.Will try one sometime soon. Thankyou for teaching beginner's like me:-). Best wishes for you in the contest. Have a wonderful day.Take care.Warm regards.
Login to Reply
Watt Avatar
John Watt
Date: 9/3/2020 10:30:00 AM
Thank you for your encouraging words, Deepa. It is always nice to hear from you. I hope you do give this form a try. I find that the more challenges we take on, the better poets we become. I have really grown in my time at Soup because of that. Enjoy your day ~ John
Get a Premium Membership
Get more exposure for your poetry and more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry

Member Area

My Admin
Profile and Settings
Edit My Poems
Edit My Quotes
Edit My Short Stories
Edit My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder

Soup Social

Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us

Member Poems

Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread

Member Poets

Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest

Famous Poems

Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100

Famous Poets

Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War

Poetry Resources

Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetics
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter