Welcome, my dearest digital friends!
Another week closer to the launch of my new poetry book, Echoes Lost in Stars – coming Sunday, March 17 ☘️ to all Amazon outlets. After you have read this week’s poem, please feel free to visit the bottom of the page for more details, videos, and links.
Onto this week’s poetry…
To avoid influencing your reading of this week’s poem, I would like to leave it up to each of you to comment and tell me your interpretation.
I anticipate there being multiple ways to read it. And I cannot wait to hear what it meant to you!!
Instead, as someone who loves New Formalist poetry, I would rather comment on the fun I had constructing this dark love song.
RHYME
Each stanza follows an ABABCC rhyme scheme with 8 syllables per line, aka it is octosyllabic.
The trick to not make it feel like a Hallmark greeting card, with their oft trite, sing-songy feel, is the use of enjambment.
In other words, the lines to do not necessarily end with the eighth syllable. They continue flowing until the next punctuation point in the next line. Make sense? Read to the punctuation.
METER
Each line (loosely) follows an iambic tetrameter meter. Big words for literature nerds. I know. It’s really not that difficult.
Take the opening line…”the music of the darkness calls”
Now say aloud da-DA da-DA da-DA da-DA. Say the da softly and the DA with an accent… it should feel lilty and bouncy. Like hoofbeats on a hard street.
THE CHALLENGE
So, for me, the challenge was in seeking to make the poem work both lyrically and emotionally, while sticking to these rhyme/meter strictures of form.
It is a lot of fun… and also quite difficult. Many poets I know have been raised to write only in free verse. Simply stated, no adherence to meter or rhyme.
Personally, I adore all poetry that is well-written, cohesive in tone and theme, and literate. As long as the poem does not become a glorified paragraph… I am in! Hehe
Please let me know your thoughts, feelings, and reactions to this week’s poem in the ‘Leave a Reply’ comment section at the bottom of this page.
-PS Conway ☘️ ☘️ ☘️
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when nothing left of us remains
the music of the darkness calls
in minor key, sloe shadows dance
along the walls, its silent pall
such dreams recall that sweet romance,
those ebon flames which cast no light
provide us succor deep in night;
love’s lyrics flow in wine-stained waves
unseen but felt within our souls,
we are but ghosts, soft-echoed slaves
chained to the heat of passion’s coals:
each kiss a salve on blistered lips
so mesmerized in heartbeat skips;
this symphony of heart and mind
cannot decline each tender touch,
each mending grace, returned in kind
while we heal, while we fade, not much
awaits, relentless light of day
shall turn this gloaming into gray;
our song repeats its last refrain
with subtle strings, such tender things
we have become, transformed by pain,
cannot explain how darkness sings
when nothing left of us remains…
succumbed to absence, solace brings.
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My dearest digital friends! As a reminder, my first book of poetry, Echoes Lost in Stars, will be published by Literary Revelations Publishing House and available on Amazon.com this St. Paddy’s Day 2024 (Sunday, March 17☘️). Click the link below to hear my eldest daughter, Bridget, read an excerpt from the book (“empty canvas”). Enjoy. More to come!
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Literary Revelations Publishing House https://literaryrevelations.com/journal/
Short Prose (blog) https://shortprose.blog/
I really like the rhythm of this poem, it flows beautifully. You set the mood perfectly.
Reva
I really appreciate your kind words, Reva. Thank you. 🙏🏻💙🍷🌹✨
Very poignant, Patrick and the cadence is perfection. I loved it! I am looking forward to the release of your book on St Paddy’s day.
I’m so happy you like it, Wendy!!! Always means so much. 22 days and counting… so excited to release my first book. It only took me 55 years to get here! 😂😂🙏🏻💙🌹🍷✨
Beautifully written Pat ❤️ I love when I can translate poetry in different rhyme, meter and challenge myself with the emotional, comical or lyrical aspect of each stanza I write.
My morning lead, your words I read
Coffee sips could be heard.
Not that difficult, being an adult
Or even a literature nerd.
Great poem Pat and I look forward to your new poetry book coming out 🤩 Congratulations 🥳
Yes! Yes! Yes! Thanks so much, Catherine. I absolutely adore this response! Always love to hear from you… so psyched for the book, too.. 22 days and counting 😊☘️🙏🏻🌹💙✨
I am getting a dying person thinking of all their past loves and realizing that these were the defining moments of their life. They can literally feel each lover’s touches from the past as a way to escape their own bodily pain for a few seconds. Beautiful poem Pat. 💖
OMG, Naomi! I absolutely love that read of the poem! Thanks so much, my friend!! 🙏🏻💙🌹🍷✨
A part of us will always remain, the essence of us, the energy that touches everything and everywhere we have been. Love will remain in the hearts and souls of those who have been in our life, no matter how fleeting. We remain in the lives that we have created.
We will never not be.
Love the poem
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So beautifully said, Sandie!! Thanks so much. 🙏🏻💙🌹👏🏻👏🏻✨