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

[scfrankles]

If you could just remove your elbow from my ribcage, Mrs. Frankles…? Thank you, yes, that is a little better.

Now, to continue with the theme of ‘freedom,’ we were of course going to go out and buy new outfits of rational dress and consider alternatives to, ahem, corsets. But I think we are going to have to postpone that, seeing as we are now all locked in my broom cupboard.

(Honestly, why you all had to come in with me to search for my purse—! Sorry. Sorry. No use crying over spilt milk. Or indeed slipped latches.)

Small blessings—at least we are not locked in with Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson, or various Scotland Yard inspectors. Though those first two gentlemen will likely be our saviours, when they arrive back from Birmingham in, oo, 12 or 13 hours. (Stay calm, Mrs. Hudson, stay calm. You’ve been through worse. No, I don’t think a hug is going to help, Mrs. Small-Hobbit. But thank you for the offer.)

To pass the time, shall we make a start on composing poems? Perhaps musing on possible escape plans, both realistic and outlandish?

As extra inspiration, here off the top of my head are some lines from Dr. Watson’s story ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles,’ quoting specifically Mr. Holmes:



“It is a singular thing, but I find that a concentrated atmosphere helps a concentration of thought. I have not pushed it to the length of getting into a box to think, but that is the logical outcome of my convictions.”




And let me also list 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. It’s going to be a long, long wait...

Comments

[smallhobbit]

Sitting in my box
Helps my thinking lots
Now someone’s fastening down the lid
And all my thoughts have gone and hid

[scfrankles]

Now someone’s fastening down the lid... I wonder who that someone is...? There's such a long list of suspects ^___^

[smallhobbit]

Well quite. I'll leave it to Holmes to deduce ;)

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Isn't that just the way?
Just when you know what to say--
you forget.

I'm Shakespeare when peeling potatoes.
A young Keats when stewing tomatoes.

But when pen is finally, finally in hand,
I can't tell my butt from my but from my--what?--oh, AND!

[smallhobbit]

Very clever and so very true.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Very fun!

My sister's Christmas gifts for the boys arrived in one enormous box and we've kept it since December in the living room. The boys love that box.

[smallhobbit]

Oh dear, what can the matter be?
Several ladies in a cupboard, good job they’re not fatter (hee!)
Mr Holmes doesn’t get home ‘til next Saturday
What will they do while they wait?


They came in to help find a purse for the landlady
They couldn’t have known that the latch was quite shady
It’s been so misused that it’s well past its heyday
And now they’re in quite a state

[scfrankles]

D'you know, my parents used to sing it as: "Oh, dear, what can the matter be?/ Frankles is locked in the lavatory./ She's been there from Monday to Saturday/ And nobody knew she was there!" ^____^

I do particularly like the lines: They couldn’t have known that the latch was quite shady/ It’s been so misused that it’s well past its heyday ^___^

[smallhobbit]

I thought you might recognise the song, although I didn't know it had quite such a personal version!

Those lines were fun to write :)

[debriswoman]

Excellent:-)

[smallhobbit]

Thank you!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Although quite strange,
it such a change
because it's quiet.
No sleuth-and-doctor riot
to disturb.
Quite absurd, of course,
but,
I rather like it,
this bedsit.

[smallhobbit]

Make the most of it, Mrs H, it won't last!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Absolutely!

[debriswoman]

Once I’ve elbowed a small hobbit, and I’ve dented Frankles bonnet
And I’ve squashed dear Mrs H...there’s room for me,
Mrs P.
So my hoop skirt stays uncrumpled and my hair remains unrumpled
And my friends should view their lack of extra space
With poise and grace.
I have brought some random knitting as I’m not a girl for sitting
Doing nothing in this cupboard, like my friends,
Until this ends.
Though the others may be moping, I am valiantly coping
And my needles aren’t a hazard, not a bit,
Whilst I knit.
We’ll be freed when mops are needed, or our plight won’t go unheeded
If the doctor or inspector can’t resist
A little tryst.
I shall keep the ladies cheerful, and rebuke them if they’re tearful
When all seems lost, I truly can attest
I’m at my best.

[scfrankles]

*shakes out bonnet and replaces it* Always a pleasure to have you on board, Mrs. P.! *evades knitting needle*

Particularly taken with:

We’ll be freed when mops are needed, or our plight won’t go unheeded
If the doctor or inspector can’t resist
A little tryst. ^____^

[debriswoman]

Thank you:-)

[smallhobbit]

We’ve found a ball of wool, which we’re kicking, one and all,
And we’ve made a veritable cat’s cradle
And next we’re playing cricket, with Mrs P’s skirt as the wicket
And a bat improvised from an old soup ladle

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Brilliant.

But, hark, what's that I hear?
The tick of a clock
or
perhaps
the pick of a lock?

I hope that someone comes soon
far too many elbows in this room
for me.
Ow!

[smallhobbit]

Great reply!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you.

A box (Keatsian Ode)

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I find a concentrated atmosphere
begets a concentrated state of mind
and concentrated thought. Such thoughts adhere
to walls, un-cling, re-shape, and breed confined.
The logical conclusion of such thought,
of such a singular conviction is
to get into a box to think, I think.
Is such a length too far to seek what may be sought?
Too deep to plumb for man and powers his?
Once body’s bound, won’t mind push past the brink?

But man’s a boy for all that, and a box
is just a cave. Explore, escape, cocoon,
exchange this world for one less orthodox
if only for a Sunday afternoon.
Be still and I’ll be peacefully ignored,
forgotten by the world beyond thin walls.
Be quiet. No one’s looking for me—yet.
The boring, having quite mislaid the bored,
are slow to drive away abandon’s palls,
the clouds of benevolent neglect.

But boy-years pass. The man can now discern
between restraints which succor thought and bars
which cage the soul. Not so simple to learn
but worth averted madness, worth the scars.
The difference lies in whom is architect
and mason-carpenter and engineer:
puritanical them or noisome us.
The walls they impose, the walls we erect
are not the same. It’s mine, this atmosphere.
Clear the air but don’t call it poisonous.

Re: A box (Keatsian Ode)

[debriswoman]

I really like this, you make a great deal out of a strange subject:-)
Particularly like...
“The walls they impose, the walls we erect are not the same.”

Re: A box (Keatsian Ode)

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you! Yes, I was thinking of rules/restraints society imposes vs. the voluntary choice to restrain oneself in order to liberate one's mind. Holmes is clearly in favour of the latter and I think he tries to rise about (some) of the former too.

Re: A box (Keatsian Ode)

[smallhobbit]

Lovely! And I do like the contrasts mentioned in the third verse - so very true.

Re: A box (Keatsian Ode)

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you! I know how much the boys love to play in our box but I was thinking of getting in a box to think vs. being forced into a box by society and really it's about choice.