The syllables in poetry
I never stress them properly
The Da DUM Da is never right
No matter how I try to write
It seems there’s a certain melodious beat
discovered reusing these metrical feet.
You can’t help but tap it
first slow, and then rapid:
an odd syncopation that brings ears a treat.
H/T to Ostrich Learning to Swim by Clive Culverhouse
’Twas a drummer who drummed on his drum
using two fingers and his right thumb.
To an anapest’s ear,
it would sound pretty clear;
to the rest, lacked a certain aplomb.
----------
jumped off a read of Brian Strand's A Limerick Historique
If you thought that it was tricky to write verse in anapest,
I assure you, there are harder forms that leave you in arrest.
When I stumbled on the present one, I thought it might be best
To provide a short example, and let you fill in the rest.
—————
This one is called a Fifteener, with 15 syllables per line as:
diddy-DUM-di diddy-DUM-di diddy-DUM-di diddy-DUM
Meet Tweedle Dum and Tweedle-Dee
Two of a kind they lived in a tree
Way up high on the upper most branch
Not afraid of heights but why take a chance
I fail to see why they're living up there
They don't have a bed, they don't have a chair
Must be uncomfortable and hard on the bum
Hope they're not bothered by splinters, by gum
These guys are strange, they're nincompoops
They've never liked living in community groups
Independent old souls most all of their lives
Some call 'em snobby, these guys they deride
Society is made up of all different trolls
Some are hot headed with holes in their souls
Some are real happy, like those guys the best
Sure happy I got that stuff off of my chest
Meet Tweedle Dum and old Tweedle-Dee
Two of a kind they both lived in a tree
If you want my opinion and very sage advice
Get the hell down I won't tell you twice
There once was a lady from London
Whose blouse inadvertently came undone
Out popped this guy
With two dark brown eyes
And a jolly jiggle, dum-dee-um-dum
I was sitting inside the gazebo eating a hot dog
watching the swans swim in the beautiful lake
it came out of nowhere buzzing round the place
tumbling and bumbling read to do bite and sting
I hurried to my backpack to get my epi pen
but already the swelling had begun I froze
when I saw the size of the bee that bit me
it took a gardener and a stranger to inject me
I never saw what happened next, cuz I fainted
but the next thing I knew I was sipping koolaid
from a plastic cup and wearing a wet compress
all this fuss because of a bad reaction, dum bee.
Nov 30, 2019
Not for contest.
erratic affairs muddle mindsets
confront life with unlike aspects
can’t let the wiseacre tell a lie
I cried the day the music died
fractals repeat their eternal patterns
like fairy tales forever and after
chanciness of life unravels
alter egos by-gone in travels
early on pace your time deftly
and scrawl your own bio wisely
Shut up! Go to Hell! Damn it!
Yes, swears were coming from the dining room, and they were not pretty.
I knew as soon as I heard them, whose voice it was.
I rolled my eyes. Whose idea was it to have Sam watch Dum Dum?
Yes, my husband's fifteen-year-old nephew had been keeping an eye on the parrot while we were on vacation.
He and my husband were doubled over with laughter next to the cage.
My husband had tears in his eyes from the levity.
It’s the first time I had seen my husband laugh like this in a long time.
It was so good for him!
I turn my head, so if they would peek out, they would not know that I had been just as sneakily been peeking in.
We all know I am the enforcer, and they obviously do not want to be caught.
Tonight when the Bible Study Group gets here, Dum Dum's cage will be secure in the basement, however.
I'm not the one named DumDum.
you are a shell
god blows music
of bliss you are
a string god
caresses
green chords of love
just be you let
the god enter freely
prepare to receive
music flows
clean up your shells
tune up your strings
god surprises
be ready prepared
live in this moment
you cannot prepare
too late god gone
you cant dwell
in yesterday
dusted shells
untuned strings
god wont return
be ready for the
music each moment
love is an ocean
god resides
taste it drink it
god relishes
god is love
love you will
dum spiro spero
There once was a lady from London
Whose blouse inadvertently came undone
Out popped this guy
With two dark brown eyes
And a jolly jiggle, dum-dee-um-dum
© Jack Ellison 2015
Meet Tweedle Dum and Tweedle-Dee
Two of a kind they both lived in a tree
Way high up on the upper most branch
Not afraid of heights but why take a chance
I fail to see why they're living up there
They don't have a bed, they don't have a chair
Must be uncomfortable and hard on the bum
Hope they're not bothered by splinters, by gum
These guys are strange, they're nincompoops
They've never liked living in community groups
Independent old souls most all of their lives
Some call 'em snobby, these guys they deride
Society is made up of all different trolls
Some are hot headed with holes in their souls
Some are real happy, like those guys the best
Sure happy I got that stuff off of my chest
Meet Tweedle Dum and old Tweedle-Dee
Two of a kind they both lived in a tree
If you guys want my opinion and advice
Get the hell down here and I won't tell you twice
© Jack Ellison 2013
Through the sandy paths of Mbaraegbu
Egbu's menacing stature a spur on
I balled through dusty Mbaraobom
Bought agidi ocha at Mbaraicheku
Unfulfilled,I waltzed pass Ndoru
To Okpara Square,then Eleme
Golden Tulip held no solace
Rosie,a snooker consolation
I wanted more
Emptiness,my gratification
Then,you nimbly came
Greatness in physique was not your gift
But your brains over boiled!
That,I saw(I know you didn't know)
Our meeting was like
Bonnie meeting Clyde,
But in sameness of sexes!
And a new world was created!
If I love you,it is because
When a kindred spirit meets another
The communion gives birth to
A new world order
Sex with a virgin mother non-inclusive
Tweedle-dum and twiddle-dee-dee!
Fiddle-faddle and fiddle-dee-dee!
Now who can make sense of that silly verse?
Now that I think on it, I've written much vurse!
Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired
(c) All Rights Reserved
Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum
are two friends of mine.
They hung out with dear Alice.
They knew her in her prime.
They smoked some dope,
least that's the hope,
in caterpillar time,
oh, tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum,
they are two friends of mine.
Mr. Dum loved the Cheshire cat
Mr. Dee the Jabberwocky,
both of them shunned the Hatter,
he made the bitterest tea.
Why Dad named them
both the same thing
only the rabbit knew.
What he'd done was a shame
seeing that they were TWO!
Just two boys, round formed,
beak capped, and bow legged
but, oh the trouble that they caused,
they never were up staged!
My deadly duo,
famous two-o,
who would there be but thee,
just ask Alice, she'll agree
twin boys of dread debauchee.
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