The Versesmith

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.)

Quadrille #207 Poem Spin Cycle " Don’t go into a tailspin. Just spin us a poem of precisely 44 words (not counting the title), containing some form or other of the word spin. Post the poem on your own blog and link up using the Mr. Linky below. Then spin out into that beautiful blogosphere to enjoy all the amazing poems. Some of the most incredible poets spin their stories right here at dverse. The Q is open all week long, so be sure to come back and take a second spin around the track. " He spins in circles ‘round and ‘round, a silent hunter, makes no sound. He eyes the prize, and sets to motion. He will get that thing, Land o’ Goshen! Now he’s so woozy, the silly boy! He’s found his tail is not a toy! ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #dverse #quadrille #wordcount #poetryprompt @mickey_chicky_boom_boom 

 Mindlovemisery's Menagerie Wordle #299  Prompt words in red.       I feel the pressure of his body against my back.  It’s actually rather nice, the warmth pressing right where my back likes the support.  He seems to believe the queen mattress is one big dog bed, and by morning he’ll be in the center, with me on the edge, bound for the floor!      His previous family adopt ed him from the shelter as a tiny pup, only to abandon him back a few short months later when his sibling’s DNA showed something they didn’t appreciate .   They didn’t even give him a chance to finish his puppy classes.  I’m his family now.  He’s my family .  You don’t give up on family .      He’s the brave (or timid, depending on his mood) defender of our home.  A staunch protector of the garden from cats hiding in the rosemary , the fragrant needles not fooling him. He smells cat!  Not that he’d...

 These the the next two of my Seven Deadly Sins series of poems.  Pride was posted in April for the letter S in the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.  As I mentioned then, I started out planning each to have seven lines of seven syllables per line.  Then, I got mixed up along the way, so some of the poems are seven lines of seven words per line.  Greed and Gluttony are one of each. GREED Never enough for those who are greedy, they come back for more and more.  Never sated, never full, forever empty, just as "Dingo--Yellow-Dog Dingo " always hungry, ran the legs off the Old Man Kangaroo. Demanding more and more and ever more, never satisfied, on a never ending quest.   GLUTTONY Gluttony and Greed walk hand in hand, two kindred spirits with the same end goal in mind. Gluttony is ravenous, Greed is happy to oblige. Both, insatiable and fat, ready to gorge themselves sick. ©2022 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved...

 A bit of nonsense I wrote for H Day during the April A to Z Blogging Challenge, but didn't end up using. print by Terri Kupietz in author's collection Hounds! Beagles and Bassets, and baying Walkers. Deerhounds and Elkhounds and Wolfhounds so tall. A hound for each taste! A hound-dog for all!   Sight hounds, and scent hounds with long floppy ears. Low to the ground hound or tall to astound.   Hounds that hunt otters. Hounds that hunt fox. Smooth-coated. Wire-haired. Long silken locks.   There are hounds from Ibiza and Africa too. Hounds we've all heard of. Hounds quite unknown. French hounds, and Finnish,   American grown.   Hounds are a favorite, from Dachshund to Plott. Many people love hounds, so happy and jolly. I though, for my part, prefer Border Collie!   ©2022 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved