The Versesmith

Bloom is the prompt word for today's dVerse quadrille.  Write a quadrille (a poem of EXACTLY 44 words, not including the title) AND include the word “bloom” or a form of the word within the body of the poem. A synonym for bloom does not fulfill the prompt. It must be the word “bloom”, or a form of the word, for example “bloomed, or blooming or bloomin’”. The bearded iris started blooming last week. Purples first, then the orange. “Mango Passion” it’s called. Fancy! My purples were free off a curb. They are the nameless mutts of the garden. Beautiful none the less, like the proverbial rose by any other name. ©2026 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved   Mango Passion

A Z appai is often referred to as a "pseudo-haiku," and haiku societies dismiss the from as having little literary value.  A  Z appai follows the 5-7-5 syllable lines of haiku, but never has seasonal references.  What I have written isn't even a proper Z appai!  I have laid it out as one sentence of 17 syllables, which is an American Sentence.    It's a Z oo Out There was bought at Goodwill for $2.69.  How could I resist!  There must be a story behind this trio of Washington D.C. powerhouses!  The title is one I used for the Challenge, I usually call it Animals in D.C .   This isn't the first time I've featured this artwork in a poem.  Here's the other .  If I say they act like animals, that gives animals a bad name. ©202 6 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved     Thanks to all who dropped in this month for the A to Z Challenge!  It was fun!  

Alphabet haiku using the letter Y .  Alphabet haiku is an invented form created by Beatrice Evans. Invented forms are new poetic structures that do not necessarily follow traditional or established "rules."  Alphabet haiku follows the traditional haiku syllable count of 5/7/5.  The only change required is each word begins with the same letter.  My twist? Only the first word of each line begins with the same letter. After all, it’s an invented form, and they do not necessarily follow established “rules”!  Y ang Jian is a figure in Chinese mythology.  I found this mid-century half-tone print of Y ang Jian in an Italian frame in the Goodwill Outlet bins.  It's not unusual for his third eye to be missing, as exports (the print isn't Italian, only the frame) "softened" the supernatural elements for the Western markets. Also, his celestial dog is often left out of these small prints, the focus is on the central figure.    yang jian, warrior ...

X is always the hardest letter, especially for a poetic form.  So, this artwork was chosen not for an X as a title or subject of the artwork, but for the red X I see across the image.  It may not have been the artist's intent, although it would fit his theme.  So, no specific poetry form, some lines free verse, some rhymed, it's just a poem based on the red X .  This is a print of Franz Marc's   Fate of the Animals , painted in 1913, here renamed by the publisher, for an American market, as   Animals at Bay .  The artist wrote on the back of the original canvas, " And all being is flaming, suffering ," or " And all being is flaming sorrow ."  Marc had a feeling of foreboding, a premonition of society's apocalyptic shattering.  He sensed the coming World War, and his painting depicts the price of human conflict on nature, the animals as innocent victims.  The dark portion of the painting was damaged a few years later, after the...

  The  W aka   is a 5-line Japanese poem which is sometimes confused with the tanka.  Both have a 5/7/5/7/7 syllable structure, however the W aka's lines are arranged in a particular way.  The first 2 lines make up one piece, the second 2 lines another, then the final line can be part of the second group, or stand on its own.  W restlers I (there is another I call W restlers II ) was painted in 1960 by my father, W in Smith. as in ancient G reece the three men wrestle naked the early morning sunrise seeps through open doors shadows dance on the gym floor ©202 6 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved  

 The V erso- R hyme was invented by L. Ensley Hutton.  It is written on a subject the poet feels emphatic and enthusiastic about, as it ends in an exclamation point. * 8 lines (an octastich) * syllables 6/4/6/4/6/4/6/4 * rhyme pattern  x a x b x a x b * usually right margined  * the only punctuation is an exclamation point at the end   (I am not religious, so please forgive me if the poem has things incorrect.  Read it as a poem, not a how-to for prayer.) I found this hand-painted Mexican devotional Madonna painting in the Goodwill Outlet bins.   It's about 75 years old, not a tourist item. Virgin, we pray to you our pleas be heard your generous comfort never ending we supplicate you now to hear our word we kneel before you our prayers ascending! ©202 6 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved