I’ve had a common experience with other writers from what I can read and hear in that Covid has brought a brain freeze for our normal writing practices, followed by experimenting with forms of writing outside our comfort zones. Since this pandemic has occurred almost simultaneously with our move to the country, I compare it to entering the gate to our new digs. I’ve tried my hand at poetry about the varmints that turn up here on a regular basis with a new form that I found in Writer’s Digest and will share some of them with you in this April poetry month. The form is five lines, all with six syllables except the third which has five. Lines two and five have assonance (same vowel sound) which means they may or may not rhyme, but must have the same vowel sound. I haven’t done one yet that didn’t wind up rhyming.
Crawfish (My husband is not that enthusiastic about these homes that get in the way of his mowing.)
Bubbling gurgling waters,
Traveling down the creek,
Rippling over stones,
Drenching the boggy land,
For homes the mudbugs seek.
Tadpoles (These brought back childhood memories.)
In a swampy haven,
nestle the polliwogs,
turning tails to legs.
Beneath the drain, tadpoles
grow into singing frogs.
Dragonflies (In addition to being beautiful, they eat mosquitoes!)
Searching during its flight
Speeding toward winged pest
Fragile dragonfly
Sweeps across the garden
Finding no time for rest.
Lizards (So sorry I didn’t have my camera with me for this one! I throw in an extra dragonfly picture instead.)
Brown anole on a log,
hoping he will be seen,
Puffs his red dewlap,
Skitters into the grass,
Turning his body green.
Woodpeckers (This is the tree where they pounded in the tippy-top, but they scattered before I could get their picture or are too far up to see.)
Noisy rat-a-tat-tat,
coming at day’s dawning,
pileated birds,
wood-pecking a dead tree.
What a nest they’re forming!
Dirt Dauber (These I could do without.)
Summer wings make cardboard
Rounded lumpy dwelling
Case for growing child
Sheltering from weather
While his body’s growing.
Help yourself to the form and have some fun playing with words. It’s a great way to celebrate Poetry Month.