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...

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  

For  dVerse MTB : cinquains revisited The American cinquain "... is a... five-line poem with a syllable count of 2-4-6-8-2, but there are plenty of variations . You may use this form as a single stanza, you may reverse and/or do it as a mirror. When done well it also bridges into concrete or shape poetry, as it may be shaped as an arrow, you may even want to use it as the poem of a haibun." I have chosen to write a Butterfly Cinquain. 2-4-6-8-2-8-6-4-2 centered my Queen of the Garden saved from the neighbor's trash now stands regal in the garden golden armlet, a crown upon her head amid a scent of herbs among the bees she reigns ©2025 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved  #americancinquain #butterflycinquain #dverse #syllabicpoetry 

  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: 182: Anger As (Healthy) Fuel  LA Burning 3 - edition 2/40 by Linda Lyke, in author's collection   My fury burns hot, leaving nothing but ash blown off by my searing breath. That is you, the ash, whisked away from my life, I’m all the better for it. ©2025 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved  

 Poets and Storytellers United #159: Making it New  " So, for your optional prompt this week, I invite you to look through your writings and see if there is anything you might remix to make a new piece. " Years ago I started working on this little  senryū for a prompt I later found I couldn't post (it required WordPress pingbacks).  So, here it is. Or, as edited, I guess it's a photo  senryū.

It's Haibun Monday at dVerse . "Hello dVersians! Welcome back after the holidays break. This is Li(sa) and it is my pleasure to host Haibun Monday today.   While looking for something different but still within the parameters of haibun, I came across a form called, burning haibun..." Now it has come to the place where I lay out your choices to inspire you today. Please choose one (or more) of these options: 1: Write a burning haibun based on an interior journey you’ve taken. 2: Write a burning haibun using the lyrics from a favorite song to inspire you. If you choose #1 or #2, please show all of the incarnations, from original prose, to first erasure (or bolding words, as done above) to the second erasure verse using the chosen bolded words, to the final haiku or senryu (aka personalized haiku) If you’re not feeling adventurous, please choose #3: 3: Write a haibun on any topic you choose. Burning haibun is a brand new form for me and in the world of poetry in general....

Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge: Javanese Poetry Shalom, Friends! For those who may not know me, my name is David (‘ben Alexander’) Bogomolny, and I’m really happy to be hosting this week’s #TankaTuesday challenge. This week we are going to try a new (to us) poetic form. So, this week’s challenge is to compose a ‘Sekar ageng’ poem of your own, according to the following rules, as laid out by Murisopsis: Sekar ageng – This Javanese form is traditionally recited as a song. The modern form is comprised of any number of quatrains (4 line stanzas) with 17 syllables per line. Each line is divided by caesurae (breaks) after sections of 4 syllables, 6 syllables and 7 syllables in that order. potato soup / a simple winter meal / warm with crusty sourdough bread not my tubers / my neighbor shares with me / I'll save a bowl in return along with bread / it's the least I can do / to repay his gracious gift at the window / I watch the snow falling / grateful the day's chores are...

 X - Xanthic Oh, X.  The problem letter for many of the A to Zers! I have used the word xanthic. Once you read the poems the meaning of the word will come clear!  Or, you may be familiar with it already. I wasn't.  I discovered it looking for an X word prompt!   https://freepngimg.com/png/4849-banana-png-image The daffodil wasn’t yellow, nor was the banana, unripe. They both were xanthic in color. Now, don’t you put up a gripe. Xanthic is important to describe a yellow with green. Once you’ve seen it, you understand, so just stop being so mean. ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved  Xanthic: https://thecontentauthority.com/blog/xanthic-vs-xanthous

  K - Katauta The katauta is a Japanese form that is considered an incomplete poem. Katauta are written in 3 lines, syllables of 5-7-5 or 5-7-7 (more common), and addressed to a lover.  If paired together they offer a question and answer between lovers, and are called sedoka.   I have written just the one, as an unanswered question.  Why do you cry out? Are your dreams frightening things that I should wake you? ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved

Kim at dVerse  has given us the following prompt for today's Haibun Monday . "No matter how you feel about the first day of 2024, I would like you to write about it. Have you set your heart on a new beginning, a move, a relationship, a hobby, etc.? Are you resolved to being stuck indoors until spring or have you been / are you going for a New Year’s Day walk? Is the first day of the New Year a time for reflection, or are you nursing a hangover and just need a little peace and quiet? Aim to write no more than three tight paragraphs, followed by a traditional haiku that includes reference to the season."  I stayed up until midnight last night.  Nothing unusual about that, it's something I usually do.  Have some snacks, watch the ball drop from New York, belatedly, as I'm in Oregon, then off to bed well past my "bedtime."   Too early I'm up, cranky and tired.   The cats kept me awake, coming and going, coming and going, knocking things off the bedsid...

 Somehow I neglected to post Wrath , the last of my Seven Deadly Sins poems until now.  The others date from April 2022 to December 2022.  If you are interested, click the Search at the top of the page and type in "sins." Here's Wrath . We are not to be wrathful, nor actions irrational. Yet, are we not prone to both? We are not perfect creatures, when true anger rages hot. Admonishments do nothing to cool fiery tempered heads. ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved

Tanka Tuesday Weekly Poetry Challenge No. 331  Synonyms Only words: flow and wave  I have written three, 5/7/5. on these summer nights my only cool breezes from circulating fans flapping banners high the vast crowd streams through downtown demands of justice the trickle tells all a pipe leakage underground my cash flutters off ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #tankatuesdayno331 #haiku #zappai #syllabicpoetry #syllabicpoem #synonympoetry #senryu 

 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 

  Tanka Tuesday Weekly Poetry Challenge No. 330 Ekphrastic Poetry "This week, using the painting below as your inspiration, please write either a syllabic poetry form or a freestyle poem, including a syllabic form (both on the same post) ." Wivenhoe Park , by John Constable  My ten line poem would ordinarily be called an etheree, however the last line repeats the first four lines, making it a dectina refrain.  Both the etheree and the dectrina refrain are invented forms.  You paid how much for this pastoral scene? Constable, you say? It should be Picasso at that price. Or a Warhol would be far cheaper.  Send it back. You wasted my money once again. You paid how much for this pastoral scene?   ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved As you can see, I am not a fan of Constable!  My son summed him up well this morning with, "It looks like a jigsaw puzzle."  Well, to each his own, I know he sells for incredible amounts of mi...

  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...

Tanka Tuesday Weekly Poetry Challenge No. 313 "This week, share the view outside your window by writing a poem in syllabic form.  If you write a freestyle form, please add a syllabic form to your post.  Have fun!" I view my garden,  waking from too long winter, from behind the glass. Years of masks, vaccinations, with my guard down, COVID strikes. ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #tankatuesdayno313 #tankatuesdayweeklypoetrychallenge #tankapoetry #tankapoem #COVIDpoetry #syllabicpoetry #syllabicpoem #COVIDpoem #COVIDtanka 

Tanka Tuesday Weekly Poetry Challenge No. 311 words: spring and green  First, a light hearted senryu. the pear trees blossom on time, regardless of me and my novice care  Then, I've written a ya-du, a Burmese form of climbing (staircase)verse.  Ya-du means "seasons," so it should include a seasonal reference, which makes it ideal for the prompt.   A ya-du is usually written in three or fewer stanzas of 5 lines each.  Lines 1-4 each have 4 syllables, the last line has 5, 7, 9, or 11.   The staircase rule applies to lines 1-4 with rhymes  xxxa xxax xaxx xxbc line 5 ends with a rhyme of c xxxxxxxxc (in my poem's case of 9 syllables) (If I mistyped the rules, forgive me and point it out in the comments!) ©Steven Miller   the vernal pond  with fern frond jade so fond to me  I bring thee here to sit, to listen, our minds to clear    ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #tankatuesday #yadu #burmesepoetry #sylla...

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 #...