The Versesmith

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 ...

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    

The J oseph's Star was created in 2007 by Christina R. J ussaume in memory of her father, J oseph.  It is a syllabic form with the following "rules" that should make the poem rather star-shaped. 8 lines 1/3/5/7/7/5/3/1 Unrhymed Any subject, and no limit to the number of stanzas, but each should be a complete statement. Center aligned  This sketch came professionally framed from St. Vincent de Paul for only 50¢. It is signed Paunch, and on the back is a doodle that reads PaunchoDoodles.    Jazz time to dance so strike up the band flute and drum and sousaphone tap your toes and nod your head leave off your worries tonight nothing like Jazz ©202 6 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved  

dVerse OpenLinkNight #400 "There is no specific form or theme required..." I saw the ravens again, waiting atop the lamp post, watchful as I walked past. A message to deliver, they attempt to catch my eye. It's best I acknowledge them. I write these words and wonder, do I trust myself enough? Heed a hunch? Believe a dream? The ravens' reappearance all the answer that I need. I'll leave them something shiny for their troubles. They journeyed far to strengthen me. ©2026 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved  

 Poets and Storytellers United  Friday Writings #196 " ...for today's optional prompt, I invite you to write poetry or prose inspired by Autumn (rituals, foods, colors, celebrations… or anything that makes autumn memorable and/or special) ." ©2021 Lisa Smith Nelson summer's last hurrah  has come and gone, once again brisker nights arrive one more blanket on the bed  long sleeves and socks for morning  ©2025 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #autumnpoetry #autumntanka #poetsandstorytellersunited #fridaywritings #syllabicpoetry

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  

  Poets and Storytellers United Friday Writings #187  "...write a poem of celebration, whether of a person, a thing, an event… Optional extra: do it in the form of a Sapphic ode." I got the syllables right, as for the meter?  I have no idea!  If not, it's a syllabic poem celebrating cooler days! ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson I rejoice in the cooler days of autumn,  when faces lift to October's soothing breath. With dying light, the season's hush appease a summer weary soul. ©2025 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved   #syllabicpoetry #poetsandstorytellersunitied #sapphicode 

  Ronovan Writes Cinquain Poetry Prompt 10: TREASURE is your inspiration.   after too many days of scorching sun garden  withered wilted harvests wanting sweet rain  ©2025 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved   #ronovanwrites #cinquain #poetryprompt #syllabicpoetry  

Ronovan Writes  Cinquain Poetry Prompt 8: RELEASED is your inspiration. image " Slack bitch ." He's drunk again. Too long I've held my breath,  feigned sleep. This night I gain release,  break free. ©2025 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved   #cinquain #ronovanwrites #syllabicpoetry 

Ronovan Writes Ovi Poetry Challenge 84: OPEN is your inspiration Open your heart, open your mind.  It costs you nothing to be kind.  Make an effort to not be blind  to those who need some assistance.  They may be down, need of a hand, open your eyes and take a stand. In days of woe, when much is banned, we all may need reassurance.   Open your wallet, if you're can, we're all worthy, no one less than.  "... evil men plot, good men must plan ," as proclaimed a man of wisdom.   ©2025 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved  The quote is a line from speeches by Martin Luther King Jr.  He may have been paraphrasing, or influenced by, an older quote by Edmund Burke, " The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing ."  #poetryprompt #syllabicpoetry #ovi #ovipoetry #ovipoem #ronovanwrites

Poets and Storytellers United  Friday Writings #160: Low Battery " So this week's optional prompt is "low battery". Interpret that phrase however you wish in either poetry or prose, fiction or non-fiction. " What a perfect prompt after yesterday's ordeal with a literal battery issue, leading into figurative low batteries in relation to life in general. I've written prose segueing into a tanka.  If it were haiku following the prose it would be a haibun idyll, but I don't know if there's a name for using tanka.   It’s one thing after another.  No, it’s one thing at the same time as another, with money for one.  Make a choice.  Put off the other.  Is this what prioritize means?  Top of list demoted once again.  How long before it cycles back up?  I can write prose and poetry, making light, when it’s sink or swim, isn’t it?  Life’s expensive, but it’s better than the alternative.  Most days.   yep, the car won’t star...

 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.

Ronovan Writes Ovi Poetry Challenge 82: AWARE is your inspiration We must take a strong stand to stop books being banned, get heads out of the sand, or we all will lose out. We must all stay awake, there is too much at stake,  it should make your heart break, watching this happen.  It may begin with some books,  then they'll sink in their hooks, and because they're all crooks, we'll lose some of our freedoms. ©2025 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved  #ovi #ovipoetry #syllabicpoetry #ronovanwrites #poetrychallenge 

 Colleen of Tanka Tuesday has offered the follow syllabic poetry prompt.  This will be the last Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge as Colleen has retired the challenge.  "This week, we’re using the Native American Zodiac for inspiration. Find your sign and write a syllabic poem about your zodiac animal." Image from Threads  Based on my birthdate, my Native American Zodiac Sign is The Salmon.* So, for this last Tanka Tuesday, on the last day of 2024, I offer a haiku.  Fortunately, " salmon spawning time " is indeed a kigo phrase. Kokanee salmon in Kokanee Creek, B.C. Canada  where the salmon spawn water runs shallow and clear bear, osprey, gather ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved  Lockhart Creek Camp - bears and osprey need not heed the warning! *Photos are from a childhood vacation in Canada.  Other than salmon as food (and my dog refuses any protein but salmon!) these spawning Kokanee are my only experience with the fish.  I w...

Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge: Haiga This week Melissa asks us to create a "'... haiga using a photo or illustration and a haiku ."   She asks that we remember in a haiga " The image is not an illustration for the poem, nor is the poem a caption for the image! Each should be able to stand alone, and neither should need the other to complete it." photo ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson #tankatuesdaypoetrychallenge #tankatuesday #haiga #photohaiku #haiku #syllabicpoetry 

 The Sunday Whirl  Wordle # 685   Prompt words in red.  In the remote and misty mountains the fresh snow dusts the path I follow . My candles provide minor light, but still the snow sparkles as if by magic , as the moonlight breaks through the clouds.  I reach the slippery steps leading up to a heavy oak door. It opens to my knock, and I hear the laugher from within. I carefully scrape the snow off my boots, leaving them in the entryway as I bask in the warmth of the fire within. my friends awaiting in the sunken living room strings ready to strum and crystal champagne flutes filled ready to toast the new year ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved

  Ronovan Writes Ovi Poetry Challenge 78: TEMPTATION is your inspiration. Temptations at this time of year include the cookies, I do fear. We offer up with our good cheer, and none are left for Santa. Sugar cutouts, gingerbread, frosting green and white and red. Save for later, or instead. let's eat them all right now! Hands are sticky, faces too, joyful children, baking crew. Messy house when we are through, but such a happy home. ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #ovi #ovipoetry #ronovanwritespoetrychallenge #syllabicpoetry #syllabicpoem #ronovanwrites

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...

Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge: Specific Form Cheryl has asked us to write a syllabic poem using the form of the shadorma.  The shadorma is six lines with a specific syllable count per line.          3/5/3/3/7/5 Multiple stanzas are permitted and are called a shadorma series.  Shadormas are usually unrhymed.   Even though I have written shadorma poems before, the three syllable lines were the most difficult for me this time.  I tried several poems to end up with one I was pleased with.  These are my results, and I am not terribly pleased with any!  This is not fishing for compliments, just the truth. Speaking of truth... Liar I like rain. No one sees my tears, just wetness on my cheeks. They can't see my heart shatter when I say “I'm fine.” Winter Chill   Ice-cold breeze this November day. Blasts of wind, trees stripp’d bare. You'd think it was December seeing snowy hills. Spring is in the  Air  Mailbox  Cat...

  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...