The Poetry Page: On The Bummel with Mrs. Hudson

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Thank you everyone for joining me here on the pavement outside 221, Baker Street! I see everyone is well wrapped up against the winter chill. But the snowdrops and crocuses are out and the daffodils are sprouting—a reminder that spring is on the way.

And to keep that imminent flora in mind I thought we would just make a short trip today—a quick walk down to the local chemist’s in order to sample and purchase the latest perfumes! Hopefully these will inspire us in our poems.

So off we go!

Of course, I do have the… advantage… of having a chemist living on the premises. His latest experiment being the reason we had to meet outside the building. Here is a relevant quotation from chapter nine of Dr. Watson’s story ‘The Sign of the Four’, which may further assist your compositions:


He would hardly reply to my questions, and busied himself all evening in an abstruse chemical analysis which involved much heating of retorts and distilling of vapors, ending at last in a smell which fairly drove me out of the apartment.



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



And here we are at Strickland & Gill’s Pharmacy!

Oo, I see they have rose scent. And lavender… And jasmine.. And of course the scent of violets is currently very popular. Do see what most appeals to you personally.

What’s that, Mrs. Frankles?

Yes, it is all rather expensive.

However I believe Mr. Holmes has an account here so you all must feel free to treat yourselves...

And as always, all poems can be left as comments on my page!

Comments

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

This should be fun. I love photos of old timey apothecary shops. I will also add this quote from HOU: There are seventy-five perfumes, which it is very necessary that a criminal expert should be able to distinguish from each other, and cases have more than once within my own experience depended upon their prompt recognition.:

If it weren't bloody 75, I might have a go at all of them. :)

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

If anyone could write a poem about 75 scents, it would be you ^_____^ But yes, 75 is somewhat excessive ^^"

I am smiling though, thinking about Holmes inhaling and memorising all those perfumes ^__^

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I suppose he went investigating in a perfumery or some such. I can't imagine him buying that many bottles and storing them (I mean, there wouldn't be space for the ears, then, would there?). I don't think I could do 75 fragrant notes, much less 75 perfumes. But I'll give a few a go.

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

And may all your results be sweet-smelling - unlike some of Holmes' experiments.

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

thank you!

Lavender (Puente) Holmes/Mary/Watson Rating: Teen

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Beneath the violet-coloured sky, a violet-coloured field exhaled its perfumed breath,
its scent as known to all as English garden prose, as heralded for loveliness.
It vowed to work-worn maid, domestic sweetness, and to doomed crusader, fragrant death.
A prim bouquet of purple blooms as strong and true as milky tea with governess.
So commonplace its charm, so near, so dear, ubiquitous its spell to have under
The one, the all, these three, to have beneath the sky, betwixt the stems of lavender.

~ Ours was a lavender marriage ~

We walked beneath a plum-wine sky and drank too deep of heady fields of lavender
and hand in hand in hand decided path too short for other’s rules to live under.
Let true affection guide our steps, said we, not nurs’ry governess with milky tea,
and so, we laid beneath the sky and strew about bouquets of little, fragrant deaths
and wondered, as we wished our craft of three a maiden voyage calm on tumult sea,
how long had we to reap this love, to exhale sweet perfume and never catch our breaths.

RE: Lavender (Puente) Holmes/Mary/Watson Rating: Teen

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

That's beautiful.

Re: Lavender (Puente) Holmes/Mary/Watson Rating: Teen

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I think you'll like the next one even more.

RE: Lavender (Puente) Holmes/Mary/Watson Rating: Teen

[debriswoman]

This is wonderful:-)

RE: Lavender (Puente) Holmes/Mary/Watson Rating: Teen

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much!

Re: Lavender (Puente) Holmes/Mary/Watson Rating: Teen

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

What an inspired idea to use a lavender marriage for lavender. And I especially love those final two lines:

and wondered, as we wished our craft of three a maiden voyage calm on tumult sea,
how long had we to reap this love, to exhale sweet perfume and never catch our breaths.

Re: Lavender (Puente) Holmes/Mary/Watson Rating: Teen

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much!

Parallelismus Membrorum

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Exalted is the name, shouted from the rooftops, of the natural philosopher who sets his peers’ cobwebbed doctrines aflame with the fruits of his abstruse efforts, the heating of retorts and the distillation of vapours.

But woe is the name, shouted from windows flung open, of the incorrigible tenant, of the insufferable co-lodger, who sets his landlady’s curtains, and his companion’s Clark Russell, afire with the sparks of wick’d and wicked burners, condemning all to a collective fit of the vapours.

RE: Parallelismus Membrorum

[debriswoman]

Oh, very nicely put:-)

RE: Parallelismus Membrorum

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

RE: Parallelismus Membrorum

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Haha! Brilliant!

RE: Parallelismus Membrorum

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

I thought you would like it.

Re: Parallelismus Membrorum

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

^_________^

That's just perfect ^__^

Re: Parallelismus Membrorum

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

The form probably has a name ...

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

The retort has been heated
And so we are treated
The vapours distilled
Our baskets are filled
An unfortunate smell
Floral scents shall dwell
Will drive me from my rooms
As we purchase our perfumes

An acrid smell in my nose
A bottle scented by the rose
The retort is in the bin
Another smelling of jasmine
Somewhere there was an error
And lastly one of lavender

Re: The form probably has a name ...

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Hee, hee! I think it'd make a wonderful duet for the musical stage.

Re: The form probably has a name ...

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Yes - Gilbert & Sullivan style!

Re: The form probably has a name ...

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I think it's a bit like a xenolith - a poem inside a poem ^_^ Neatly and cleverly done.

RE: Re: The form probably has a name ...

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I found the xenolith too constricting. As Okapi suggested this is more G&S.

RE: The form probably has a name ...

[debriswoman]

Neatly put:-)

RE: The form probably has a name ...

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

Pantoum (with an extra line)

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

[More about the flowers than the scents. I hope the mods will forgive the digression. Stanza 1 & 4 refer to Queen Victoria; Stanza 2 Irene Adler and Stanza 3 Hatty Doran of "The Noble Bachelor." Venus' car means 'fly away with me' and common laurel 'perfidy.']

In the year eighteen-forty,
orange blossoms for the bride
in manner regal, courtly.
Dye was cast as tears were cried.

“Orange blossoms for the bride?”
“If Venus’ car too rare.”
Dye was cast as tears were cried.
“I’ve two grooms too rapt to care.”

“If Venus’ car too rare,
why not a common laurel?
I’ve two grooms too rapt to care
about my choices floral.”

“Why not a common laurel
in manner regal, courtly?”
About my choices floral,
in the year eighteen-forty,
dye was cast as tears were cried.

Re: Pantoum (with an extra line)

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Nicely put - I like the comparisons.

And the thought of various scents, like that of orange blossom, has clearly inspired the poem, so it's well within the rules. They say scents bring back memories.

Re: Pantoum (with an extra line)

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Thank you! The pantoum is a very difficult form. And I wanted a play on words with Holmes and Norton being Irene's two 'grooms' and Hatty having her old love and her noble bachelor. And Queen Victoria wanting something simple for her bridal wreath and everyone aghast because the laurel means perfidy and she really can't wear 'treachery' on her head when she's marrying a German and so a trend for brides is born.

Re: Pantoum (with an extra line)

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

*applauds*

Crikey, such a lot you've managed to fit into here ^^" I did particularly like the play on 'two grooms' for Irene Adler and Hatty Doran - that was so wittily done.

Re: Pantoum (with an extra line)

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It was a tough form but luckily ACD provides some patterns to mine.

RE: Pantoum (with an extra line)

[debriswoman]

Cleverly done:-)

Re: Pantoum (with an extra line)

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Otto (palindrome poem)

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Arose,
providentially-bestowed gift, mine,
senses-all, with wealth, observe
see here, smell here,
oil and water of aroma un-mixing,
muddling scent-hound following fragrant trail.
Absolute in fortune-seeking, darkness-cloaked villains betray
embellishments. Life’s
pieces puzzle like ruffled petals pink.
Mystery, like
scent, is distilled
times hundred,
a unfolding
love
of
Otto
of
love,
unfolding a
hundred times,
distilled, is scent.
Like mystery,
pink petals ruffled like puzzle pieces,
life’s embellishments,
betray villains. Darkness-cloaked, fortune-seeking in absolute
trail fragrant following, hound-scent muddling,
un-mixing aroma of oil and water.
Here smell, here see,
observe wealth with all senses,
mine gift, bestowed providentially,
a rose.

Re: Otto (palindrome poem)

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

That's amazing! Such a very clever way of sharing an observation.

Re: Otto (palindrome poem)

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It is a true drabble for the one hundred leaf rose used to make some of the attars (or ottos, which was better for palindrome purposes).

Re: Otto (palindrome poem)

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Bloody hell ^____^ Well played, madam. Very well played ^__^

I really admire how differently each half reads and feels, despite using the same words. I'll just pick out two sections that I particularly liked:

Absolute in fortune-seeking, darkness-cloaked villains betray
embellishments. Life’s
pieces puzzle like ruffled petals pink.
Mystery, like
scent, is distilled
times hundred...

Like mystery,
pink petals ruffled like puzzle pieces,
life’s embellishments,
betray villains.

Re: Otto (palindrome poem)

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! *bows* It may or may not reappear in my perfume series/collection as part of a ficlet. I did like everything hinging on otto.

musette

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

perfume
seventy-five
in bloom

scents loom
in air, alive,
the room

consume
all breath, they thrive
entomb

Re: musette

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

From living flowers to bottled scent - lovely!

Re: musette

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I had the idea of Holmes conducting his research on the 75 perfumes at Baker Street all at once and the fumes becoming overwhelming. There was to be rebuttal from Mrs. Hudson that he had to get the stuff out of there but I couldn't get the rhyme right.

Re: musette

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

You started off with seventy
You’d think that would be plenty
But then added another five
You’re lucky to be alive
The whole caboodle will have to go
Do not argue; for I have said so!

Re: musette

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Ha, ha! Perfect!

I think
dear Mister Holmes
you stink!

Don't blink
or it's all down
the sink!

Don't wink
my patience's on
the brink!

Re: musette

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Great choice of rhymes ^__^ And I love the idea of the perfumes being 'in bloom', and of them 'loom[ing] in [the] air'. It really does suggest the experience of being surrounded by heavy scents.

Re: musette

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I am making my way up the list of forms.