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

[scfrankles]

Welcome, everyone!

And to begin with, my apologies. I have made rather a mess of the timing, as our April gathering is now taking place in early May. But thank you for coming to help me deal with another kind of mess—that which is to be found in my uppermost lumber-room.

Now, inspired by Mrs. Marie Kondo, via La Poetisa Okapi, we shall be going carefully through each item and anything that doesn’t “spark joy”, I will be donating to the poor.

What’s that, Mrs. Frankles? Oh, very amusing, dear. No, of course I won’t be donating Mr. Holmes and the Doctor to the poor.

I think the poor have suffered quite enough already.

And anyway, Mr. Holmes’ princely rent always sparks joy, I’ve found. So, if you’ll follow me up…? Hopefully this process will also spark creativity within you.


And here is a quotation from Dr. Watson’s work, “The Five Orange PIps”, to further aid matters:

“Yes,” I answered, laughing. “It was a singular document. Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the main points of my analysis.”

Holmes grinned at the last item. “Well,” he said, “I say now, as I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he can get it if he wants it.”


Here as always 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 let us begin to tidy!

Comments

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

you are hilarious. full stop.

[scfrankles]

Don't encourage me ^_____^

[smallhobbit]

It will come in useful sometime
Is something we have all said in the past
But now we're happily discarding
Anything which really won't last

The pile of chipped cups and saucers
Were dropped by dear Mr Holmes
The rather singed antimacassars
Would only fit chairs for some gnomes

That hideous present from Blackpool
Can go with the ghastly shell gifts
There's so much we need to get rid of
We'll have to do it in shifts

We've found a very large spider
And called it Moriarty
It's been told to vacate the premises
Before it gets faced with a fee

This morning has seen some good progress
We can now get in through the door
It's time to go back down the stairs
For some gin since we've done well at our chore

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I am sorry it's taken me this long to read this gem. I like all of the things, especially the spider Moriarty.

[smallhobbit]

No worries. I'm delighted you enjoyed it - especially spider!Moriarty :)

[scfrankles]

I'm rather taken with that detail of That hideous present from Blackpool ^____^

[smallhobbit]

Given by a distant relative who by now will have completely forgotten about it :)

inconsiderate, triolet, gen

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

donating this sleuth to the poor
would be too inconsiderate
they’ve suffered enough, to be sure
donating this sleuth to the poor
would force a destitute majeur
to stand a bedlam deliberate
donating this sleuth to the poor
would be too inconsiderate

Re: inconsiderate, triolet, gen

[scfrankles]

I am so, so tickled that you wrote a poem inspired by Mrs. Hudson's cheeky comeback ^____^

Re: inconsiderate, triolet, gen

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you! I am glad you liked it. I want to do another poem about the difference between the attic and the lumber room but I haven't got it thought out well enough yet.

I know I'm three $%#@ months late (pantoum)

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

so I keep in my little brain attic
information I am likely to use;
stored in the lumber-room of my library,
the rest, where I can get it if wanted

information I am likely to use:
mud, streets, blood, speech patterns. I work and work;
the rest, where I get it, if wanted,
arrives sporadic, fitful, then at once

mud streets, blood speech, patterns I work and work
refuse to make sense, something familiar
arrives sporadic, fitful, then at once,
something from the attic, when the pieces

refuse to make sense, something familiar,
your touch, returns me to where I belong
something from the attic, when the pieces
wrapped in paper-something that won’t be

your touch returns to me to where I belong
so I keep in my little brain attic,
wrapped in paper, something that won’t be
stored in the lumber-room of my library.

Re: I know I'm three $%#@ months late (pantoum)

[scfrankles]

Oh, crikey. That's so elegant and clever, and rather touching.

Re: I know I'm three $%#@ months late (pantoum)

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you very much!