Admin Post: The Poetry Page: Social Distancing with Mrs. Hudson

[scfrankles]

And so, after a series of curious events that I needn’t recap here, we find ourselves quarantined in Queen Victoria’s summer home Osborne House, together with a fashion expert, a make-up artist and an actress. To pass the time, Miss Butchart and Miss Butterworth, with the help of Miss Hales, have agreed to give us a lecture and demonstration of which cosmetics our monarch may possibly use.

You may notice Mrs. Frankles is watching from the very back of the room. She is still currently working as a shopgirl and mixing with the public, as her place of employment is classed as selling essential items. Thus she has told me that despite paying careful attention to hygiene, she thinks it best to keep her distance because of my “advanced age”.

And I told her that after that crack, she had d--- well better keep her distance.

But I digress. Before Miss Butchart and Miss Butterworth begin, I give you this quotation to ponder for your poetry, from Doctor Watson’s story “A Study in Scarlet”:



My companion flushed up with pleasure at my words, and the earnest way in which I uttered them. I had already observed that he was as sensitive to flattery on the score of his art as any girl could be of her beauty.



Beauty is of course purely a female concern, as Mr. Sherlock “I have at least three dressing gowns and like to take an hour over my toilet” Holmes and Doctor “But are you sure this new style of moustache suits me, Mrs. Hudson?” Watson will tell you. (Once we’re out of quarantine that is…)



And here of course is the usual list of 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! Queen Victoria’s make-up routine. Ladies, please take it away!

Comments

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I watched the video. It was lovely. Thank you!

[scfrankles]

I'm really pleased you enjoyed it ^___^

[smallhobbit]

We've applied some powder
And plenty of rouge
But then got distracted by gin
And chocolate from Bruges
We thought we'd adopt
The look of a gipsy
But it all went quite wrong
Since we were all rather tipsy

[scfrankles]

Brings tears to the eyes ^___^ But I'm glad to hear gin and chocolate are on hand ^___^

[smallhobbit]

Her Majesty was not amused!

Osborne Myrtle Crown (a variation on a bref double)

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

My love refused a knight’s own hood
for services to royal cause.
Instead of ‘sir,’ he said he would
accept an Osborne myrtle crown.

His vow to take no other good
gave Queen and Boswell certain pause,
but soon decree arrived that said we should
depart for Isle of Wight’s most hallowed ground.

As crested gardener clipped, we stood.
There were no speeches, no applause.
My love looked pleased as any could
at tender blossoms sweetly wound.

With just one glance, all understood
how wise, how beautiful he was.

Re: Osborne Myrtle Crown (a variation on a bref double)

[smallhobbit]

Oh, so lovely.

Re: Osborne Myrtle Crown (a variation on a bref double)

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thanks!

Re: Osborne Myrtle Crown (a variation on a bref double)

[scfrankles]

That really is so beautiful ^__^ It reminded me a little of Beauty and the Beast - Beauty wanting a rose over jewels. She appreciates the transitory beauty of roses and gives that beauty equal weight, despite the fact jewels have more monetary worth and would be more admired and envied by others.

I suppose Holmes wants to accept the honour from the queen, but he doesn't want the permanent title that would provoke jealousy or would make people feel they had to defer to him. The crown of flowers from the queen's own garden is a lovely symbol of the honour and even though the flowers will fade, Holmes will always keep the memory of that honour inside. The honour is for him a personal reward to be shared with close friends and family, not something to give him high social status.

Re: Osborne Myrtle Crown (a variation on a bref double)

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you very much! I am so glad you liked it. Yes, I think it is as you say about honour. And he sees it as a rare and beautiful gift and at the end Watson comes to see it too. I was also thinking of the rose speech and him considering the myrtle to be a similar blessing and good portend.