The Versesmith

 dVerse: Compounding the Stem So for today’s prompt we are turning our attention to compound words and... a prompt... that is the Compound Word Verse...  a poetry from invented by Margaret R. Smith. 15 lines 5 stanzas 3 lines per stanza rhyme scheme a,a,b meter 8/8/3 last line of each stanza includes a compound word using the same stem the poem’s title includes the stem word appearing in the east tonight reflectin g through the trees its light the moonrise luminous in the flower bed towering over roses red moonflowers in my hand held up to her beam I sense a calmness, as a dream my moonstone the glow and play of light within remind me of the light akin to moonglow later on, through curtains of lace celestial light that shines from space a moonbeam ©2026 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved   In Roman Mythology moonstones were believed to be the tears of the goddess Diana, who was the personification of the moo...

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  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...

dVerse   MTB: Ubi Sunt and that Where, Oh Where?   And our MTB prompt today is simply to use this Ubi Sunt motif in your poetry as such: title your poem with the question – where are the/they… use the questioning within your poem, even with repetition DO NOT ANSWER it though – the questioning is rhetorical employ concepts of mortality, the transience of life, a sense of nostalgia ubi sunt is a term meaning "where are they??" taken from the Latin phrase "ubi sunt qui ante nos fuerunt," or "where are those who were before us?"   Where are the friends who promised forever? Who vowed a cradle to grave? Where are the sisters who pricked their thumbs? Who undying kinship gave? Have they forgotten those carefree days? Broken our childhood pact? Have they forgotten we were as one? Ignoring our solemn act? Where are the friends we used to know? Those we held so dear? Where are the ones on whose sides we stood? W...

dVerse #229 Just pen us a poem of precisely 44 words, not counting the title, and using some form of the word jabber . image public domain Stop your jabbering, chattering drivel. When in public  you must speak civil.  You run off at the mouth, babble and yak. You sound like a duck the way you quack. You mummer and mutter all the day. Stop the yapping, you’ve nothing to say! ©2025 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved    #quadrille #dverse 

  Poets and Storytellers United Friday Writings #189: The Most Important Step "...for today’s optional prompt, I invite you to write poetry or prose which explores the same question: What’s the most important step a person can take? "   Perhaps the hardest step to take, yet the most important, is the first step away from a toxic relationship, be it romantic partner, family member, or employer. Those on the outside may find it easy to give the advice, “ Leave, just walk away .” Easy to say, hard to accomplish! But, once that first step is taken, the next steps become easier. Step away. Step away. I know it's harder to do than say. I was young once, and in your same shoes. I didn't step away and I'm paying my dues. Step away. Step away. I know it's harder to do than say. It's better now than in a few years, before there are children, who will add to those tears. Step away. Step away. I know it's harder to do than say. Take the first step. Hold onto my ha...

Poets and Storytellers United Friday Writings #188  Rather than the optional prompt, I've gone with a triolet .   The summer days are long this year. Our garden planted dry as bone. With scorching sun, the skies are clear. The summer days are long, this year I miss you more than last, my dear. I tend our garden all alone. The summer days are long, this year our garden planted dry as bone. ©2025 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved  

 I wrote a poem inspired by this Oaxaca postcard before deciding not to participate in a postcard poetry exchange.  Not to waste it, I've posted it here and on my other blog.  Two demons shooting the breeze, their work-week done. Sipping their lager carefree as you please, it’s their time for fun. ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved 

  Tanka Tuesday Halloween Poetry Challenge: Witch's Brew Poetry Colleen tells us " Witches and their potions are synonymous with Halloween. Let’s create a spellbinding poem. (longer syllabic forms work best). You can write freestyle, but you must include a syllabic form too! Write a syllabic poem about a witch brewing a potion. Include vivid descriptions of ingredients and their effects.  You can make the poem a rhythmic chant or incantation, enhancing the magical feel of your words. The idea is to have fun, so humor works! Feel free to use end rhymes on forms that don’t usually have them. Please let us know the form and if you’re using end rhymes. (The use of end rhymes is optional). For this challenge, if you’re using end rhymes on forms that don’t usually have end rhymes, you’re creating experimental syllabic poetry. Or, write from the perspective of an ingredient, expressing its fear or excitement at being used in the brew." A very good thing were are e...

 Ronovan Writes Ovi Poetry Challenge 6: GOOD is your inspiration.  What things, when asked, would I term "good," things both unclear and understood? Forgive me please for if I should take so long deciding.     One thing I know is good for sure, with heart of gold and love so pure, who cheers me up, who is my cure, no surprise, it's Mickey!   He's by my side both night and day, placidly napping, or at play, comprehending most words I say. His vocabulary!   Yes, he's my dog, yet so much more, with a face you cannot ignore He's clearly not a Labrador, largely Border Collie. ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved I had a little fun writing this one today!   #mickey_chicky_boom_boom #ronovanwrites #ronovanwritesovipoetrychallege #ovipoetry #ovipoem #dogpoem #rhyme #syllablicpoetry 

Ronovan Writes Ovi Poetry Challenge 4: RACE is your inspiration. Determined to win the foot race, he kept running a steady pace. Near the end tripped on a shoe lace, to come in next to last ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved

 Poets and Storytellers United Friday Writings #75 "...  take a well-known myth or fable and write as one of the main characters  (not necessarily retelling their story so much as inhabiting their skin).   And tell us who; please don't make us guess!" You won't need to guess, mine is obvious.  A bit too obvious. *see below for who this is Illustration from Stories That Never Grow Old , edited by Watty Piper, ©1938 by The Platt & Munk Co, Inc. N.Y. This job is so boring. So boring, this job. Most of the day, I sit by the hob.   Watching those damn, woolly dumb beasts, a job that more suits, the dull mind of the priests.   No, I am more worthy than just Shepherd Boy . One day I prove it with some clever ploy. ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved *The Shepherd Boy is from The Boy Who Cried Wolf , an Aesop's Fable.  It's the origin of our expression "to cry wolf" when giving false alarm.

  Tanka Tuesday No. 316 Poets and Storytellers United: Friday Writings  : time affects all things This week is a Special Birthday Prompt for Colleen's 65th birthday.  She has asked us to create a syllabic form with 65 syllables, or a combination of words that amount to 65.  I have chosen to create a syllabic form with the following requirements. 9 lines 10/5/10/10/5/10/5/5/5  rhyme abaababbb (so 10 syllable lines all rhyme with each other, and the 5 syllable lines have a different rhyme with each other) I call it The Five and Dime because the 10s and 5s written out made me think of the old five and dime stores, which at age 65, I remember! To say that Time awaits no man is so. Still, he seeks to block, and stop the hands of Time to halt its flow. If within my power, I would forgo, not dare slow the clock. So grasp whatever age Time does bestow. Looking back, take stock, head held high, and walk, to Time’s door and knock. ©2023 Lisa Smith Ne...

  They say that March comes roaring in, then sheepishly departs.   I disagree for me, you see, it’s a month of fits and starts.   March warms the bulbs who peek their heads, then hide beneath the snow.   The peas I planted hoping spring, rot in the earth below.   March is fickle. March is cruel. Eliot was wrong.   April is the kinder month, March winter does prolong. ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved

Poets and Storytellers United Friday Writings #67  “ Write love letters to wild flowers. ” I chose three of the wildflowers that grow in my yard.    Floral Friday Fotos     To the Blue Flax in My Garden Delicate blue heads Nod in the slightest breezes Darling of the beds video copyright Lisa Smith Nelson  ©Lisa Smith Nelson My Dear Wild Violet The first to flower in the herbs, whilst they are still aslumber. You brighten up my winter days. I welcome all your number .   Dandy Dandelion Some may curse your pretty head. Some may mow you down. I like to see your sunny hue all the year around. You make the lawn a tapestry of happy yellow dots. I let you stay, and never mind the scowling neighbor thoughts.     And when you’re finished blooming, a lovely clock appears, to float away with counted puffs, a game in child’s play. ©Lisa Smith Nelson ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #...