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| My flowerpots, pre-squirrels |
March's challenge was to write a pantoum featuring an animal. Mine is a modern pantoum, which repeats lines in the right order but doesn't use rhyme like a traditional pantoum would. Usually, I love playing with rhyme (even making up words) but I kind of liked attempting this without rhyme this month---it forced me to focus on images and verbs instead of word play.
A pantoum is not complicated but it does have strict rules. If you're intimidated, or feeling stuck, you can do as some of us did, and use this lovely exercise. Just answer the questions about something "ordinary" in your life, and a pantoum practically falls into your lap. Or at least a rough draft of one!
Here's something ordinary that I mined for my pantoum:
Squirrels in the Flowerpots
Spring blooms, gone,
scattered soil on the steps,
holes big as my fist
a hail of empty walnut shells
scattered. Soil on the steps
near thin-fingered roots, torn;
a hail of empty walnut shells—
something no longer buried
near thin-fingered roots. Torn,
my hands twist and clutch;
something is no longer buried
in this broken pot that
my hands twist and clutch.
Time and earth were found
in this broken pot—that’s
nothing, really—
time unearthed; found
holes big as my fist;
nothing, really—
spring blooms, gone.
------Sara Lewis Holmes (all rights reserved)
My poetry sister's pantoums can be found here:
Kelly
Poetry Friday is hosted today by our own Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect.
