Short Iambs Poems

A lim'rick needs to be anapest
or maybe not; for I'll now suggest;
it may talk amphibrach
and thereby walk the walk,
but don't use those iambs or the rest....

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The comments we like for dessert 
Are iambs that writers here blurt
But eating foul crunch
That slaughtered lambs munch
Tastes toxic like trumped-up bad dirt...

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if meter refers to a poem’s beat ~
    why are iambs, spondees, and trochees feet?






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Measuring with Metrics by Milt Hankins got me thinking......

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Wyatt's alexandrine combined a rhyming fourteen
To introduce a novel verse,to the poetry scene;
For we poets he bequeathed this literary treasure
In couplet of iambs,some christen a 'poulter's measure'....

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Mix the meters
Color the cadence
Intermingle the breaks of line
Torture the iambs
Scent the flowers
Tint the edges of sunrise
Mellow the moonbeams
Offer an invitation
A subtle “come hither”
Of mystery
Slowly close the door
As you are drawn
Into inky shadows
Left alone
To fathom
The cut, fit and drape
Of garments
Woven with words
Stitched with secrets


John G. Lawless
©5/4/2023...

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A bewildered alphabet
Struggles
To form words
Its letters tumble
Through the turbulence
Of thought’s tyranny
Syllables scamper sillily
In search of Iambs
Stretching the seams
Of ill-fitted suits
As punctuation ponders its place
Lost in a colonic comma coma
As the meters peter out
Amid the harsh drumming
Of repetitive endings
Thus, do the letters taunt
the free range haunts
of cage free thought
...

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I prefer my own company
or accompany of a dog.
We do not speak the same language
but we understand each other.
I haven’t an urge, if I could,
to sniff the butts of passerby’s
as he would any passing pooch;
nor is he engrossed in iambs
and inspiration as I am.
yet we enjoy our company
and need each other very much
simply because we’re together
and for our brief intimacy
we both are assuredly free....

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To write a mad song takes
so very little time:
just jot some words
not too absurd
and make sure that some rhyme.

The first line stands alone;
the next rhymes with the last.
Then you can do
the middle two;
I tell you, it’s a blast!

The meter’s all iambs;
the lengths all six and four.
It’s nice and neat,
so short and sweet;
you’ll soon come back for more.

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A Mad Song Stanza: 6x:6a:4b:4b:6a, using iambs...

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Wyatt's alexandrine combined a rhyming fourteen
To introduce a novel verse,to the poetry scene;
For we poets he bequeathed this literary treasure
In couplet of iambs,some christen a 'poulter's measure'.

Note:Thomas Wyatt(1503-42) used over 70 different stanza forms,but now is best known for this poulter's measure form(couplets of 12 syllables,alternatingwith 14,often used for serious statements or for burlesque.

see more at my blog today Aug 9th...

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Wyatt's alexandrine combined a rhyming fourteen
To introduce a novel verse,to the poetry scene;
For we poets he bequeathed this literary treasure
In couplet of iambs,some christen a 'poulter's measure'.

Note:Thomas Wyatt(1503-42) used over 70 different stanza forms,but now is best known for 
this poulter's measure form(couplets of 12 syllables,alternating with 14,often used for serious 
statements or for burlesque.
I label this quatrain version a 'wyatt'...

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The phrases lurch unkempt and trite.
The meter’s wrong, iambs lack grace.
One rarely ever gets it right,
and just like that, it falls in place.

The meter’s wrong, iambs lack grace
like two left feet’s unhappy dance;
success seems purely happenstance.

One rarely ever gets it right,
consuming vast amounts of time.
The process lacks both reason, rhyme.

And just like that, it falls in place.
Of brilliance, I must disabuse;
I simply want to slap the muse.
...

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