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

[scfrankles]

Ah, Mrs. Frankles, you’ve managed to make it just in time!

And so for February, let us go on a mini-bummel! Mrs. Frankles previously has informed me that her favourite film is "Carry On Cleo" and that is why—

Actually, Mrs. Frankles, I don’t think I’ve seen that one. What’s it like? Oh, it’s a comedy. With puns. No, dear! I don’t think you need to go into detail! Knowing your particular tastes, I’m sure it’s hilarious.

Yes…

Anyway, having been inspired by Mrs. Frankles’ favourite film, I thought we might go and visit Cleopatra’s Needle on the Victoria Embankment. A real ancient Egyptian obelisk, with its twin standing in New York’s Central Park, I believe.


And as added inspiration for your poetry, here is a quotation from Dr. Watson’s work, “The Adventure of the Devil's Foot”:

It was a country of rolling moors, lonely and dun-colored, with an occasional church tower to mark the site of some old-world village. In every direction upon these moors there were traces of some vanished race which had passed utterly away, and left as its sole record strange monuments of stone…



Here as usual is the 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


And so, let us make our way to the obelisk!

Comments

[smallhobbit]

We've been to visit old Cleo
And stood and admired her needle
After which we went for a drink (or two)
Until thrown out by a beadle
We raised a toast to old Cleo
And Caesar and his famous plea
When attacked by the Roman senators
He yelled loudly 'Infamy'...

[...'Infamy. They've all got it in for me.']

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I really think you missed your century. You could've definitely written songs for the music hall! I feel like raising my non-existent pint and singing along right now.

[smallhobbit]

Thank you - I enjoy writing doggerel as you may have noticed!

[debriswoman]

Channelling your inner Kenneth Williams?

[smallhobbit]

Sometimes one has to!

Under Cleopatra's Needle (pantoum)

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

the Bard once wrote of Cleo’s purple sails
their perfume rode upon the air so thick
of cypress reed and laurel bough, the trails
of scent so arch to render winds love-sick

their perfume rode upon the air so thick
across the tide of time, fate’s unfurled whims
of scent so arch to render winds love-sick
now thread through Cleo’s Needle by the Thames

across the tide of time, fate’s unfurled whims
deposit roguish mud-lark on the bank
now thread through Cleo’s Needle by the Thames
a fugitive and London’s sweet and rank

deposit, roguish mud-lark on the bank,
she bears a nose that none could ever match
a fugitive, and London’s sweet and rank,
she sniffs, this runaway from Bedlam’s hatch

she bears a nose that none could ever match
her gift called ‘taint’ and ‘curse’ by kith and kin
she sniffs, this runaway from Bedlam’s hatch,
her nose knows every niffy origin

her knack called ‘taint’ and ‘curse’ by kith and kin,
then under Cleo’s pin, her fortune shifts
her nose knows every niffy origin
and by the bank, sharp sleuthhound’s trade wind drifts

then under Cleo’s pin, her fortune shifts
she aids keen tracker, seeking treasure lost
and by the bank, sharp sleuthhound’s trade wind drifts
detecting in her skill, true trove embossed

she aids keen tracker, seeking treasure lost,
revealing nostrils’ flair and muzzle’s might,
detecting in her skill, true trove embossed,
the sleuth deduces just how dire her plight

revealing nostrils’ flair and muzzle’s might,
she finds a champion, too, in Sherlock Holmes,
the sleuth deduces just how dire her plight
and offers flight from Bedlam’s toothy combs

she finds a champion, too, in Sherlock Holmes,
his proposition promises real means
and offers flight from Bedlam’s toothy combs
as partner in his puzzle-solving schemes

his proposition promises real means
employing her olfactory expertise
as partner in his puzzle-solving schemes
a salary, a balm for want’s disease

employing her olfactory expertise
she starts to work, to change her cursèd fate
a salary, a balm for fear’s disease,
then Bedlam’s threats retreat behind its gate

she starts to work, to change her cursèd fate,
her benefactor once more intervenes
then Bedlam’s threats retreat behind its gate
the case dismissed before displays of spleens

her benefactor once more intervenes,
to France they go, pursuing fruity plot,
the case dismissed before displays of spleens,
revived when sleuth and co. untie the knot

to France they go pursing fruity plot
of famous perfume formula purloined,
revived when sleuth and co. untie the knot
her nose is drawn to Grasse, her fame is coined

of famous perfume formula purloined,
the headlines scream and newsboys sing off-key
her nose is drawn to Grasse, her fame is coined
of attar fields and eaus and chemistry

the headlines scream and newsboys sing off-key
when she returns to London, grime and irk
of attar fields and eaus and chemistry,
she only dreams and then gets back to work

When she returns to London, grime and irk,
a pilgrimage she makes, to Cleo’s spot
she only dreams, and then gets back to work
so grateful for the changes to her lot

a pilgrimage she makes, to Cleo’s spot,
she thinks of cypress reed
and laurel bough
so grateful, for the changes to her lot
and how
the Bard once wrote of Cleopatra’s sails

Re: Under Cleopatra's Needle (pantoum)

[smallhobbit]

What a superb poem and with a very satisfying outcome for all.

Re: Under Cleopatra's Needle (pantoum)

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you! It was a challenge trying to tell the narrative in this form, but I stuck with it.

Re: Under Cleopatra's Needle (pantoum)

[debriswoman]

This is excellent…and such a hard form to glean sense from:-)

Re: Under Cleopatra's Needle (pantoum)

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you! Yes, it's one step forward, two steps back, so it seems to take twice as long to advance the plot.