The Versesmith

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 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  

L anturne,   or L antern poetry has only two requirements and forms more or less a Japanese lantern shape.  5 lines syllable count per line: 1/2/3/4/1  The L ighthouse is a lithograph copyright Henry B. Sandler Co. Inc. New York City published around 1962-1964.  The artist of the original painting is shown as Alfieri, most likely a publisher house artist or contract artist.  The name Alfieri is found on multiple Sandler Co. prints from the 1960s.  I found this in its original frame (Sandler lithographs were sold in frames, ready to hang) in the Goodwill Outlet bins.  10¢ a pound glass price! his safety dependent on the steady light ©202 6 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved    

  K imo  is the Israeli version of haiku.  Like haiku it is 3 lines, however the syllable count differs.  A K imo is  10/7/6.  It is not rhymed, and is a single image, no movement, frozen like a photo.  I'm not sure how well I did with that part! These are titled by the artist, K analen I and K analen II, monotype mixed medias by Helle (Melchoir) Hamilton 1989. K analen means "canal."  A monotype is a one of a kind artwork, which is why these are numbered 1/1.  Ms. Hamilton was born in Denmark and moved to the U.S. in 1965 at the invitation of her grandfather, Lauritz Melchior, a world-famous tenor who also performed in musical films. Two years later she married David Hamilton, the brother of actor George Hamilton, who was the best man at the wedding.  I rescued these, literally, as one was fallen out of the frame, from the Goodwill Outlet bins.  They still had the gallery artist's information on the backs.  I paid $1 each....

   B ird Women (my name for it) is a ink on paper I rescued from the Goodwill Outlet bins. B lackout is a type of Erasure poetry where you take existing text and black out words to reveal a new work from what remains.  The B lackout follows my poem. Dryope was a mortal woman in Greek mythology who was transformed into a tree nymph. She sighs, this nymph, her arms all verdant boughs, with blossoms. Her sister found her rooted in the ground. A f ace , tr embling and weep ing. ©202 6 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved     The Fable of Dryope - Ovid's Metamorphoses by Alexander Pope  The Fable of Dryope - Ovid's Metamorphoses Book 9, [v. 324-393] She said, and for her lost Calanthis sighs , When the fair Consort of her son replies. "Since you a servant's ravish'd form bemoan, And kindly sigh for sorrows not your own; Let me (if tears and grief permit) relate A nearer woe, a sister's stranger fate. No Nym...