The Versesmith

dVerse Poetics   Launch: light and truth of painting Today for Poetics, I thought we might write from a selection of Rousseau’s artwork. Choose one of the paintings in this post and let it be your muse. Additionally, use the above epitaph as a launch point to describe where the painting takes you, the viewer. Oops... I jumped into it after reading just the first sentence, neglecting to read " Choose one of the paintings in this post ..." until I'd already written to this painting, The Equatorial Jungle .   image You do well to stay hidden. Man comes. Everything he touches, everywhere his feet roam, where his eyes wander, he desires to Conquer. Dominate. Crush. ©2026 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved  

 Poets and Storytellers United Friday Writings #237 For your optional prompt this week, please return to one of your favourite Friday Writing prompts of the past, and to that same prompt write something new.  My choice is: Friday Writings #105: ‘Starry, Starry Night’ from December 1, 2023, which I did not do then. ...your optional prompt this week is to be inspired by the song, ‘Starry, Starry Night,’ and/or by Vincent Van Gogh himself.   The Starry Night:  Wikimedia Commons The stars are spinning. My head is reeling, drunkenness sans drink. T he stars accelerate, spiraling, whirling, gaining speed. Or, it it me, racing 770 mph* through space, laying stationary on my back, staring up at the wheeling stars? I once read, The s tar s are in constant m otion. Barnard’s Star, 4 th nearest Earth , will bridge the diameter of the moon every 180 years. A century, a millennium, to notice change in the constellations....

  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  Q uintilla is a Spanish poetic form.  Five-line stanzas Eight syllables per line An ab rhyme scheme in which at least two lines use the "a" rhyme and at least two lines use the "b" rhyme... But the stanza cannot end with a rhyming couplet. These are the possible rhyme pattern variations: abaab ababa abbab aabab aabba The most common of these is ABAAB, which is what I used.   This is Q ueen Isabel , my name for her.  I have always seen a woman in a royal type headdress, and my imagination sees the background as ship sails!  You're welcome to see something else, that's the beauty of an abstract without any artist information.  To me this looks like a black ink print over paint.  I bought her at a Goodwill for $5.39, in an amazing, and expensive, frame and matting.  If Helen launched a thousand ships in myth. Y ou, Q ueen, in history, launched many with commanding lips. F ...

The P areado dates back to the 12th century in Spain.  It consists of two lines with end rhymes, either consonant or assonant).  It can be syllabic, and in the Spanish tradition, are, but it's not necessary. Usually a P areado expresses a joke, or a twist of some sort.    P ompeii. The Race  ( P ompei. La Corsa )  i s a watercolor painting signed Scognamiglio,  inspired by ancient Roman wall paintings in the Pompeian style.  Scognamiglio is a common surname in Naples, and several family members would work in the Neapolitan workshops near P ompeii producing fresco copies for tourists.  This piece dates to between 1935 and 1950. These dates are based on the paper type, and border and signature style.  I bought this at a yard sale with a lot of other works of art, so divided evenly probably cost a bit under $1. cherubs race and stags beware of Dionysus' mad ones' snare ©202 6 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reser...

O vi or O vee is a form from India which was commonly used in the folk-songs and narrative poems of the 12th century, and is still used today.  There are two forms, literary and women's.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovi_(poetry) O vi is written in 4 line stanzas, any number of stanzas.   8/8/8/less than 8 lines 1, 2, 3 in each stanza rhymed, line 4 unrhymed   O ut of Order  gets its title from the sign on the bathroom door in this pen and ink drawing I got at a Goodwill, framed, for $1.65.   I read the sign, was thunderstruck. It's Out of Order , just my luck. No other place, I'm kinda stuck. I might just wet my pants! Perhaps though, I could sidle in, simply shut the door, just begin. But, would that be a mortal sin to disobey a sign? I've stood before the door too long. My need to get in much too strong, that even though I know it's wrong, I push my way inside. ©202 6 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Ri...

A  M ondo is a poem with a question and an answer, often written by two poets in collaboration.  The focus of a M ondo is on nature.  It is comprised of two 5/7/7 stanzas, the first being the question, the second the answer.  M agpie Goose (artist's title) is a limited edition (154/500) print by Australian artist Doris Gingingara (1946-1999).  I bought it as Goodwill for $2.06 with the signed and dated (9/99) Certificate of Authenticity on the back. Beautiful you are. I will ask you only this; are your eggs pure gold? My eggs are golden, this is true, for they contain my priceless goslings. ©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....

The I mayo is a 4-line Japanese poem that has 12 syllables in each line. There is a planned pause (caesura)) between the first 7 syllables and the final 5 in each line.  I created those pauses as best I could!  The I mayo was originally written to be sung, but that's not a requirement. Poets have free range on subject matter. I nés  is my name for this painting on canvas I found unrolled in the dirt of a yard sale.  I got it for under $1.00.   She watches out the window, as she often does. Light shines behind her; there's a gap in the curtains. Her vigil began at dawn, it is evening now. Soon she'll sigh, close the gap, and slowly climb the stairs. ©202 6 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved  

F ree Verse is poetry f ree from limitations, it does not follow a regular meter or rhyme scheme, poets are free to shape lines freely.  I bought this antique print, F rost Breaking , c.1850s-1880s, in 1969 or 1970 in Portobello Market, London, when I was 13 years old. Fox Terrier wants to be one of the big boys howling at dawn. His strident “yips” bring s laughter to the Huntsman as he mixes their morning pudding.                                                        ©202 6  Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved   (Hounds were usually fed early in the day. The huntsman would prepare a mix called “hound meal” or “pudding,” often boiled grains, meat scraps, and broth.)

An   E levenie  is a short poem with just e leven words in five lines.  It is also called an E lfchen.  " E lf" is German for e leven, and "chen" is a term of endearment and denotes something small.  Each line in an E levenie has two specific requirements.  First, what words are used.  1 - a thought, object, color, etc. (some instructions list this as just a noun) 2 - what does that word in line one do? 3 - where is that word, or how is it? 4 - what do you mean by that? 5 - What is the result?  Second, how many words in each line. 1,2,3,4,1 The E ye of God , or   L’Oeil de Dieu , is not the title Salvador Dali gave this print, however it is the dealer title, or marketing name.  He created it for one of the illustrations in  The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini .  This is not from the book, it's a later print.  While some think " Oh!  A Dali print!  That's valuable! "  Not really....

C ognac and C actus, my name for it, is a pastel I got at St. Vincent de Paul.  The poetry form is a cinquain, a syllabic form of 2/4/6/8/2. cognac and cactus pair strange bedfellows indeed one goes down smooth, the other not so much ©202 6 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved  

    Welcome to Day 1, or Day   A , of the Blogging From A to Z April Challenge !  Each day of April, with Sundays off, I'll be posting artwork from my collection A to Z with a few short lines about the work and an A to Z poetry form.  So, on with the Challenge! The  A rtist was painted by my father, Winstead D. Smith, in 1962.  I didn't know until I was in my 50s, when my brother told me, that this was me! The A quarian  is an invented form created by Mari e Mazz.    * Syllabic, 2-4-6-2 syllables per line, any number of   quatrains * Unrhymed lines within each quatrain I sit at the table too intent on my work to see. He stands behind, silent, sketches for a painting to come. Hanging in my bedroom, at last I learned the trut h. I t’s me! ©202 6 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved  

Poets and Storytellers United  Friday Writings #214: Love, love, glorious love! detail of stone lithograph in author's collection, 1909 - K. C. Baking Powder - ©Jaques Mfg. Co., Chicago  White roses by moonlight. Butterflies in the hollyhocks. Scent of vanilla rising from my coffee. Roses dry as bone. Butterflies have flown. My coffee cold and bitter. Love-lost, I live in shadow. ©2026 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved   #poetsandstorytellersunited #fridaywritings #sevenling #lovelost 

  dVerse Prosery : Oh, Umbrellas  For your prompt today, I’d like you to use the following lines in your Prosery: “What will I do there without my hands upon your summer face?” lines from the poem, Oh, Umbrellas, by Jeffrey Hermann Write a piece of prosery of up to or exactly 144 words, including the given line in the order in which it has been given. You may add or change punctuation, but you may not add or delete words. 144 words rainy city scene on newsprint, by Mary Pedri, in author's collection       S ummer was ending. I was told I was going to go to school in the city. I didn’t want to go. For all the glitz and glamour my mother insisted I’d enjoy, I knew I wouldn’t. I hate the city. It was noisy in the city. I preferred the country. The country… melodies of meadowlarks… chirping of crickets at dusk… f rogs in the pond (my brother called it The Lake ) croak ing to one another. In the city you couldn’t hear a bird to save your life. Tr affic,...