Holmes Minor

Welcome, everyone!

Now, during these little get-togethers, our little circle sometimes contemplates the unusual and novel, but there is room for the mundane as well. And Mrs. Frankles has informed me she has no idea how a detachable collar works, so this seemed like the perfect subject for this month’s gathering. I have asked my cousin’s son Horace to come along and give us a short talk and demonstration and—

Yes, Mrs. Frankles? Well, yes. Of course there’s going to be an actual demonstration. Mrs. Frankles, you are a grown woman. I really think you can cope with seeing a man in his shirtsleeves and with his collar remove—

Oh, no.

Right, can someone put Mrs. Frankles into the recovery position? Do I need to fetch the smelling salts…? Ah, wonderful, you’re back with us, Mrs. Frankles. Mrs. Small-Hobbit, would you be a dear and take Mrs. Frankles to my room so she can lie down with a damp flannel on her forehead?

(It’s probably for the best. I think Horace is going to be mentioning a “stud puller” later on and I fear Mrs. Frankles might be able to briefly overcome her natural feminine modesty to make some risqué joke.)

So, begin whenever you’re ready, Horace!


How to Wear Detachable Collars! (+ Cuffs & Bibs!)


Thank you so much, dear. Do remember me to your parents!


Hopefully this will give you some ideas for your poems. And as extra inspiration, here is a quotation from Dr. Watson’s work, “A Study In Scarlet”:


By a man's finger nails, by his coat-sleeve, by his boot, by his trouser knees, by the callosities of his forefinger and thumb, by his expression, by his shirt cuffs—by each of these things a man's calling is plainly revealed.



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 while you begin on your poems, I will write up my notes on the talk for the benefit of Mrs. Frankles. Wouldn’t want her getting “shirty”! (Oh great heavens, I have spent far too long in the company of Mrs. Frankles...)

Welcome, everyone! And thank you for joining me in my back garden.

As the weather becomes warmer and more clement, now I feel is the time for me to start clearing up my garden a little. It is of course rather small, with a very modest area of grass, but nevertheless I thought it might be interesting to try out a lawn mower. I have obtained one on approval—this model being recommended for ladies by the actress Marie Studholme. (Though unlike Miss Studholme, I will not be popping on my finest hat and frock to deal with the mowing…)

There are plenty of refreshments, so I hope the rest of you might also like to take a turn and between us we will soon get the place into perfect shape! And while our bodies are occupied with labour, hopefully our minds can be busy with producing poetry.



As extra inspiration, here is a quotation from Dr. Watson’s work, “A Study In Scarlet”:

I enumerated in my own mind all the various points upon which he had shown me that he was exceptionally well-informed. I even took a pencil and jotted them down. I could not help smiling at the document when I had completed it. It ran in this way—

Knowledge of Literature.—Nil.
Philosophy.—Nil.
Astronomy.—Nil.
Politics.—Feeble.
Botany.—Variable. Well up in belladonna, opium, and poisons generally. Knows nothing of practical gardening.



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 so, let us begin!

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!

Welcome again, everyone!

One of the advantages of having Mr. Holmes as a tenant is that his generous rent has allowed me in recent years to employ a dressmaker. However now Mrs. Scott is retiring and moving to be with her married daughter in Kent. And we are living in more straitened times, so to keep my accounts in order I thought it was time for me to refresh my skills and begin making my own garments again.

And I have invited Miss Bernadette Banner along to help me in this by showing us all how to make a bang up-to-date waistcoat!



Hopefully one kind of creating will then lead you to another. As further inspiration for your poems, here is a quotation from Dr. Watson’s work, “A Case of Identity”:


"The double line a little above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the broadest part, as this was."



Here as always is the list of poetry forms: [Note from Mrs. Frankles: Apologies for any broken links. I’m hoping to go through them before next month’s poetry page. I've now gone through all the links and updated them as necessary!]

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, Miss Banner, please take it away!

Welcome again, everyone!

Collecting is of course one of the most popular recreations of our time and comes in many forms. But this time I thought we would concentrate on scrapbooking.

Mr. Holmes naturally likes to deal with his newspaper cuttings but there are other kinds of scrapbooks. And my guest Madame Patricia has consented to come along today to show us the scrapbook of a young acquaintance and discuss some of the many interesting scraps within.


I’m sure this will give you a plethora of material for your creative endeavours. But as further inspiration, here is a quotation from Dr. Watson’s work, “The Adventure of the Empty House”:


“My collection of M's is a fine one,” said he. “Moriarty himself is enough to make any letter illustrious, and here is Morgan the poisoner, and Merridew of abominable memory, and Mathews, who knocked out my left canine in the waiting-room at Charing Cross, and, finally, here is our friend of to-night.” He handed over the book, and I read: Moran, Sebastian, Colonel.



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 so, let us collect ourselves and begin!

Welcome everyone!

I am taking the opportunity this month to show off my Christmas present from Mr. Holmes, a copper and brass tea caddy that has been produced by the Newton School of Metal Workers. The Newton School is part of the Home Arts and Industries Association, which itself is part of the Arts and Crafts Movement.

It’s a beautiful piece and I am deeply grateful to Mr. Holmes for his kind and thoughtful gift. Though if he thinks this means I am going to ignore the significant charring to the table in his living room he has another think coming.

But moving on! I have here a brochure which shows you several more of the gorgeous objects produced by the Newton School and I hope that something there might inspire you.


And as further inspiration, here is a quotation from Dr. Watson’s work, “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches”:

We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been standing smiling on the door-step.



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 so, each artist to their craft!

After quite a hiatus, it’s lovely to begin these little get-togethers again. And just in time for the Christmas festivities! I believe Mrs. Small-Hobbit has recently bought a circular knitting machine, and has kindly been busy making everyone who wants one a Christmas stocking for when Father Christmas passes by with the satsumas and silver sixpences! Well… that’s if Father Christmas does pass by. (Hopefully Mr. Holmes setting fire to the chimney last Christmas didn’t put me on the naughty list…)

And Mrs. Small-Hobbit has also kindly offered to give us a demonstration of just how she does make the stockings. I have to say, it’s a fascinating little machine and I’m keen to learn more. Oh, you might be having a crack at a handbag too, Mrs. Small-Hobbit? Excellent!


Hopefully this might lead to you feeling the urge to compose. To further encourage that urge, here is a quotation from Dr. Watson’s work, “The Adventure of the Three Garridebs”:

“Well, well, I had no idea I was so obvious a Britisher. But business brought me over here some time ago, and so, as you say, my outfit is nearly all London. However, I guess your time is of value, and we did not meet to talk about the cut of my socks.”



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 so, Mrs. Small-Hobbit, do please cast on, dear!