To Them, to Us

. . . .

v - v - - - To Them, to Us

 

8 - a - - - He wished she would have said to him

6 - b - - - Please won't you spend the night

8 - c - - - Since she didn't that was okay

6 - b - - - Another day alright 

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2 - d - - - Don't cry,

6 - d - - - Her inner being sigh

2 - c - - - Her way,

6 - e - - - Head to keep her heart mum .
.

8 - a - - - Meanwhile the two, heads in a swim 

6 - e - - - Await, right time would come

- - - - -
. Photo, poem Copyright, © 2011 (link), 2014 Jimmiehov, All Rights Reserved

Today I'm linked with Kerry at the "Real Toads, Play it Again, Toads" (link)

Her model for me was from an earlier Challenge,Saturday, December 29, 2012 (link) to write a poem after the Robber Herrick's stanza form.
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[The earlier instructions were that the first 4 lines follow the 8,6,8,6 (or 4 feet, 3 feet, 4 feet, 3 feet of iambic stress pattern) of Common Measure rather closely, but then the poet introduces a variation in his stanza from lines 5 to 8, of 2, 6, 2, 6 and then back to 8, 6 to close lines 9 and 10.  The Ryme scheme is to be abcb ddce ae.]

China sans pictures

China Things I Remember;

I have pictures but none to show

Been there and memories suffice

Climbed the Wall, sailed the dirty Yangtze

Ate the dumplings and lots of "pork"

.

Twenty-one days of my life spent

Spent there amongst the yellow race

Talked with teens in the Metro rail,

practicing their English on us

.

I remember most the boat cruise

Lijiang River, Guilin, China

With the Haystack hills protruding

They cooked us a meal on the boat

.

Toilets on the floor in the back

men's and women's, butts off the floor

Wine for sale, snake in the bottle

My pictures I'll find, not today

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Li River Cruise Boats--our boat was larger (Photo credit, courtesy of Wikipedia at http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/The_Li_River.jpg/800px-The_Li_River.jpg )

Poem Copyright, © 2014 Jimmiehov, All Rights Reserved

Today I am linked with Hannah at the Real Toads, Friday Challenge 

Hannah wants us to share some things concerning China in a poem.  My visit there would have been better sharing if I had pictures of our visit.  Unfortunately I do but they aren't digital and are not in a book.  Some shoe box tucked away hides them for now.

So, yes, I've been to China, it was on my retirement bucket list.  We did most of the things tourists do, visited the Terracotta Warriors, saw the Panda Bears too, shopped the open and covered markets, rode in a rickshaw, visited in a home, walked over Tiananmen Square, and a whole lot more.

My Ship and Me

 

My Ship and Me 

.

When my ship comes in

It will be full of money

Gems and valuables

 

Private wharf I'll park

Spend for my needs and whims

Give away the rest

 

 

I'll buy my own hall

So my friends can have a ball

We'll dance--night be gone

.  ..

Picture and Poem Copyright, © 2014 Jimmiehov, All Rights Reserved

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Today I am linked with Mama Z at the Real Toads, Words Count Challenge

 

Her challenge:  The number of the day is three. Throughout time and across cultures, the number three has been held as significant.   As it relates to writing, it's pretty simple, really. 

Three is more satisfying to a reader than two.  Three stanzas, three adjectives, three examples of something . . . three paragraphs, three elements, three rhymes . . . see what I mean?  Play with the rule of three in any way you like . . . just keep it to 90 words or less.

 

I wrote three Senryū (definition) stanzas; 17 syllables each X 3 = 51; 3 lines per stanza X 3 = 9; but best of all only 45 words, half of her maximum (please note, I did not count the title, by the time I decided what it would be I had already counted everything).   

The River

..
I looked up the river
.

I looked up the river for more

I saw what everyone else sees

Bridges, and boats going to sea
Children walking along the shore
But there was more than that, I knew
Men, women who built the bridges
Where are they now? On the edges
Famous and rich, only a few
.
More one does not see, nothing new
For every child who walks the shore
Those hungry and cold, hundreds more
Destitute, poor, more than a few
The river is pretty, bustling
Economic activity
Shows its best, yet a brevity
Shadows hide the beggars hustling

.  ..

Picture and Poem Copyright, © 2014 Jimmiehov, All Rights Reserved

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Today I am linked with Kerry at the Real Toads, Sunday Form Challenge
and Tomorrow I will be linked with Kerry at the Real Toads, Open Link Monday

The Yeats Octave

The basic structure of this 8 line stanza is iambic tetrameter or pentameter (eight or ten syllable lines for those who do not feel comfortable working with meter), with the rhyme scheme:
a b b a c d d c. The poem may then consist of any number of stanzas.

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I chose two 8 line stanzas in iambic (not perfect) tetrameter
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I took this picture in May, 2014, looking South up the Thames River from the London Eye