Welcome to our weekly poetry stars’ celebration. This week’s challenge was to write our choice of syllabic poem, using a form from the cheat sheet or a syllabic form from the Poetscollective.org.

Many thanks to everyone who joined in below:

We’re almost at the end of our bathroom renovation. One more week… because of a cracked counter top which had to be replaced. By next weekend, we should be finished, fini, terminado, done!! I miss writing poetry! I am renovation’d out! It’s been a long year and a half of waiting for contractors, waiting for supplies, and waiting for it all to be over. If you’ve never done renovations, let me tell you, it’s messy, dirty, and hugely disruptive. We’re almost at the finish line!

Many thanks to all of you for writing syllabic poetry this week. I apologize for the time it took me to read and comment on your poems. On top of the renovations, we found another leak under the sink, and my Wi-Fi/computer had hiccups again! The plumber gets another call tomorrow, and I think I solved the issues with my Wi-Fi. Trouble shooting is a wonderful thing.

I want to thank Willow for providing the photo of the statue from St. Pancras station. Margaret, from FROM PYRENEES TO PENNINES shares more information about the statue and the station, which I found really interesting.

This statue inspired a wide range of poetry. I loved how everyone interpreted this piece of art differently. That’s important to your poetry and sharing what you see or feel is the whole idea behind Ekphrastic poetry.

Reena’s Blason poem really spoke to me. The form is interesting—a new form for me. Also, I detected some negative energy from the statue, as did a few other poets. (This was before I read Margaret’s informative post about the statue).

Reena’s poem is an excellent example of selecting the perfect form to portray the “spirit” of the statue.

Poetscollective.org states:

“Blason is a genre of poetry committed to the praise or blame of something through the use of a series of images that support the theme. It is a variation of the ancient Catalogue Poem. From French heraldry, blason translates as “the codified description of a coat of arms” Originally French poet, Clement Marot, wrote a poem praising a woman by listing parts of her body with metaphors to compare with them. Parts of the female body became a recurring topic of the Blason and continues to be the focus, although other subjects could be adapted.

Although the concept of the Blason can be applied to any verse form such as the sonnet or Blank Verse, the Blason often takes the form of octosyllabic or decasyllabic verse that ends with an epigraphic conclusion.

The Blason is often
• framed at the discretion of the poet, although lines are often syllabic, 8 or 10 syllables long.
• composed with a list of different images of the same thing with accompanying metaphors.
• written with a sharp conclusion.”

Blason: poetscollective.org

“Threat”

She raises her foot to meet his sharp gaze
yet her trust fails to see the looming threat

She fails to see the support underground
people wish well, but fear the bayonet

His manner spells danger, he’ll get his way
pretends to kiss, wants to intimidate

she has time to loosen his deathly grip
jump out, be rescued rather than regret

© Reena Saxena

This week, I’ve asked Reena Saxena to choose the photo prompt for next month’s challenge. Please email your image (with credits) to me at least a week before the challenge to tankatuesdaypoetry@gmail.com. Thanks.

See you tomorrow for the new challenge!