One Saturday I was back in the mood to dabble in some new forms and dipped back into my trusted Crafty Poet book for inspiration. Armed with the random theme of ‘skin’ as suggested by Android I penned the following Quatern poem. This form is comprised of eight syllables per line and the first line of stanza one, the second line of stanza two, the third line of stanza three, and the fourth line of stanza four.
Cutaneous Quatern
Try not to let them get beneath
Some say it’s better that you’re thick
Below you are my core beliefs
You bleed with just the slightest prick
True beauty lies inside your hold
Try not to let them get beneath
My heart is warm though you are cold
You cover flaws like a fig leaf
Jump out of you when I’m afraid
It makes you crawl to feel disgust
Try not to let them get beneath
You forge the contact of my trust
You pimple, dimple, peel and burn
Some decorate you with motifs
You wrinkle as the pages turn
Try not to let them get beneath
Photo : http://www.differencebetween.info/difference-between-goose-bumps-and-goose-pimples
so beautiful!
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Thank you 🙂
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Deep and true poem Sam. It isn’t easy to avoid bleeding at times unless you have ” fig leaf ”
protection. Alternative is to just think , they know no better.
miriam
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Thank you Miriam! 🙂
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Reblogged this on anita dawes and jaye marie.
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Very nice poem Sam. Blessings to you!
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Thanks very much and to you too! 🙂
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This is a fine example of this poetic form, well done!
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Thanks so much!
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Reblogged this on John Cowgill's Literature Site.
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Thanks John!
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You are very graciously welcome so much Sam.
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Hi Sam,
I enjoyed your quatern, the literal and metaphorical ways you address skin. I especially like how you’ve upped the difficulty factor by working from a prompt and adding the rhymes. If you like reappearing lines, you might try a cascade or kyrielle, or the ultimate interweaver of lines, a pantoum. Here is an earlier version of “There’s a Poem For You,” the quatern you read on my site. It takes place mostly in my imagination:
WHEN WE CAN’T SEE YOUR POEM
Someone says, “There’s a poem for you!”
as if eight pen-ready stanzas
blazed atop Grandpa’s birthday cake
instead of those inane, joke-shop
candles that re-light themselves. When
someone says, “There’s a poem for you!”
and I can’t see it, my mind ad-libs:
He huffs, he puffs… Holy Poli-Grip!
His dentures arc toward the cake and
Aunt Rose snatches them mid-air and
someone says, “There’s a poem for you!”
She clacks the teeth like castanets
and the toothless birthday boy laughs.
She chomp-chomps them across the cake,
ravaging the smooth buttercream, and
someone says, “There’s a poem for you!”
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Thanks Joan and I like the earlier version too! Thanks for sharing. I have tried all of the forms you mention but this is a good reminder for me. I really do enjoy reappearing lines and must dive back into these forms. Lovely to be connected!
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Great poem! Thanks for sharing!
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Thank you 🙂
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So true, Sam, letting it roll off your back like the proverbial duck is hard to do, I have to truly the Lord to guard my heart because inevitably people do get under your skin.
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I am also sensitive like that so can relate!
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I like this! Strange coincidence but I learned for the first time what a quatern was for the first time just hours before reading this when I was listening to a podcast about Rumi, who wrote thousands of them. Nice work!
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A first time for everything, hey! 😉 Thank you so much for taking the time to leave me feedback Jordan!
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*Aaaand I just wrote “first time” twice in my last comment. 🙈
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This is simple and yet profound. “You wrinkle as the pages turn.” What a wonderful metaphor for the passage of time and its effect on our bodies. And you chose the perfect phrase to repeat in every stanza: “Try not to let them get beneath.” It seems we spend our entire lives learning how to keep them on the surface. 🙂 I’m glad you found my poem and led me to yours.
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Thank you Abigail 🙂
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You’re welcome, Sam 🙂
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This is a gorgeous poem, Sam! I kept re-reading over and over. Thank you for opening my eyes to a new style but also giving us such a beautiful post. 🙂
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Thank you Susi – I really enjoyed writing this one and very much appreciate your comments 🙂
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Your joy is evident with this one! 🙂
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Thanks Susi am pleased this comes through!
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🙂
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