Admin Post: The Poetry Page: On The Bummel with Mrs. Hudson

[scfrankles]

Now spring is formally here, I thought we might have a pleasant day-out at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew.

We will be visiting such attractions as the Palm House (some more information on it here), the Temperate House (some more information on it here), and the Great Pagoda.

And I have brought along a modest hamper but we will be supplementing that with a few comestibles from the Tea House!


Has everyone got their notebooks ready for composing and sketching? Excellent! To further assist you in your poems, here is a quotation from Doctor Watson’s story ‘The Adventure of the Copper Beeches’:


It was an ideal spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, which set an edge to a man's energy.


And here are the usual suggestions for poetry forms:

221B verselet, abecedarian poetry, acrostic poetry, alexandrine, ballad, barzelletta, beeswing, blackout poetry, blitz poem, blues stanza, bref double, Burns stanza, call and response, chastushka, cherita, cinquain, circular poetry, clerihew, clogyrnach, colour poems, compound word verse, concrete poetry, Cornish verse, curtal sonnet, débat, décima, descort, diamante, doggerel, double dactyl, echo verse, ekphrasis, elegiac couplet, elegiac stanza, elfje, englyn, enuig, epigram, epistle, epitaph, epulaeryu, Etheree, fable, Fib, florette, found poetry, free verse, ghazal, haiku, hay(na)ku, In Memoriam stanza, Italian sonnet, jueju, kennings poem, lanturne, lies, limerick, line messaging, list poem, lyric poetry, mathnawī, micropoetry, mini-monoverse, musette, nonsense verse, palindrome poetry, pantoum, Parallelismus Membrorum, poem cycle, puente, quatern, quintilla, renga, rhyming alliterisen, riddle, rimas dissolutas, rime couée, rispetto, Schüttelreim, sedoka, septet, sestina, shadorma, sonnet, stream of consciousness, tanka, tercet, terza rima, tongue twister poetry, triangular triplet, tricube, trine, triolet, Tyburn, villanelle, xenolith



So let us begin our musings with a walk in the Rhododendron Dell...

Comments

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I don't have a verse yet but I'm not certain that SOME of our group won't make a detour around anything called the Temperate House.

[smallhobbit]

If we nip round the back of the Temperate House
And have a quick nip of the gin
We can be back with the group in the blink of an eye
Before they can ask ‘Where’ve you been?’

(And before you ask, those of us with Cockney in our blood do rhyme gin and been)

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

That was precisely the plan I was envisioning.

[Americans, too, no worries!]

[smallhobbit]

You can climb up the pagoda to see the view
But I’m staying on the ground
You’ll be all breathless and turning blue
It’s never worth it I have found

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Ha! There's something to be said for keeping one's feet on terra firma.

[debriswoman]

I’ve sharpened my pencils, and cleaned my eraser, unfolded my easel...I’m set to begin.
I’ll start with the Temperate House and...Good Heavens! Okapi and Hobbit, partaking of gin!
They both look quite merry, and both are, it seems, unable to act in a ladylike way.
I pity their kinfolk, it’s always so sad when drink leads the gentlest of creatures astray.
~0~

[smallhobbit]

I think you are jealous at seeing our drink
Go back to your sketching with pen and with ink
We’re simply indulging for a momentary spell
Before we promenade along the Rhododendron Dell

[debriswoman]

Jealous of over indulgence? Not I.
I am sure Mrs Hudson would help you defy
The lure of this demon which has you in thrall.
She’s never drunk gin in her life. Not at all.

[smallhobbit]

Mrs H remains silent, why can that be?
I've had a thought and it seems to me
It may have something to do with the bottles of drink
Which she has hidden underneath her old kitchen sink.

[debriswoman]

Ha! Mrs Hudson’s sober duty is quite plain.
She intends to empty the bottles down a convenient drain.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I must blame Mrs. Hobbit.
It's her fault, I'm quite *hiccup!* sure
that I'm singin' the chorus o' "Champagne Charlie"
and a verse (or four!)

[smallhobbit]

Dear Mr Nash has a poem
Which sums up my feelings quite well
It's only a little drop of liquor
I doubt that anyone can tell

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Hee, hee! This is great!

[debriswoman]

I am shocked that you’ve passed Mrs Hobbit the blame
You appear to be drinking precisely the same.
To prove it I’ll taste a small sample as well...
Now, off to the Rhodo...den...den...den...dron Dell!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Ha, ha! Nicely done!

[debriswoman]

Hic!

Sestina

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

So many mysteries to be found in the Gardens in Kew.
The Palm House, its long, inverted ship’s hull commanding eye.
The Temperate House, guarding delicate fronds behind glass.
The Great Pagoda, hatted, stacked, and towering above.
The Tea House, offering respite from Nature’s abundance
So much to see, explore, investigate at Paschaltide.

‘Come, Watson, there are blessings aplenty this Paschaltide
and murder in bountiful bloom at the Gardens in Kew
Ah, here we are! But where to begin with such abundance?’
‘I’m no detective, Holmes, but doesn’t that arrest the eye?
I mean, that figure hanging by the neck from high above.’
‘Death by Madagascan suicide palm! Head for the glass!’

‘It was the aunt, dear Watson, taken quite mad by a glass
of fresh papaya juice bestowed to her at Paschaltide
by a dear nephew. He said, ‘No more.’ She strung him above.
As gardener, he’d leave to partake of the sweetest of Kew,
you see.’ ‘By Jove, Holmes, it’s all rather fruity to my eye!’
‘Yes,’ groaned Holmes, ‘But some things are still ripe and in abundance!

Look, Watson! To the Temperate House! An abundance
of police can be observed beyond and about the glass.’
‘A youth and his mother’s sister could not see eye-to-eye.
From words to blows to boulders. Shard-split at Paschaltide!
There are too many glasshouses to throw large stones in Kew!’
Then ‘twas heard a scream, seen a figure falling from above.

Off to the Great Pagoda, one looking down, one, up above.
‘Go, Watson!’ ‘Where?’ ‘Up!’ ‘Oh, Holmes, that’s an awful abundance
of steps!’ ‘A hero of Maiwand can brave the stairs of Kew!’
Later, while mopping his brow, Watson groaned, ‘I need a glass.’
‘Indeed, a most unchristian occurrence at Paschaltide.
A niece’s hat finding grave disfavor in an aunt’s eye.’

Glass before him, Watson sighed, ‘More to Kew than meets the eye!
For this Tea House and its libations, thank the Lord above!’
‘And to your rugby-tackle, Watson, a boon this Paschaltide!
Then Holmes’s expression changed. ‘Stop, Watson! There’s abundance
of poison!’ ‘Where?’ ‘There, my dear man. In yours and every glass!
Oh, I see, the Agony Aunts have brought their dark trade to Kew!’

The beauty of Paschaltide is in the beholder’s eye:
for Holmes, the Gardens in Kew were a gift from above,
a murderous abundance of aunts ‘midst flora and glass

Re: Sestina

[smallhobbit]

Watson would no doubt enjoy simply admiring the plants, but for Holmes the murderous abundance of aunts is a great improvement. What a brilliant sestina!

Re: Sestina

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you! There was a pun about too many aunts spoiling a picnic, but I didn't have enough space to work it in.

Re: Sestina

[scfrankles]

Oh, I see, the Agony Aunts have brought their dark trade to Kew!’ Oh, this is just perfect ^____^

Re: Sestina

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I was running out of synonyms and variations on the aunt theme and was trying to think of something clever to call the serial-killing aunts, and that's what I came up with! I think it fit!