Poetry Friday: Dizzying Dizains

I think Tanita was kidding when she suggested "dizzying" as a requirement for our March dizain challenge. But maybe not. Writing in a form with several rules can be head-spinning. That said, I quite like this form, having written two in the past few years (Squaring up the Dizain and If Digitopolis Had a Chapel.) The line count (ten) equals the syllable count (ten per line) which makes it compact and sturdy.  As does the core of double couples in the middle of a solid rhyme scheme (ababbccdcd.)  

So I thought it safe, in such a well-built poem, to play with the dizzying wanderings of life.  And even though the completely square form of a dizain is counter to the lovely curves of a labyrinth, I find exploring them both to bring a sense of peace. Exploration within boundaries, life both circular and purposeful.  

Labyrinth

If everything adds up, days fairly squared,

if I mark my hours, no circling around,

even then, I am undone, unprepared

for the arcs of my years, how I am bound, 

bent, broken to the curve of old ground;

battle lines not straight but a swelling spin;

what I leave behind circles, floods back in;

seeking center, even math undulates: 

all was once, all will be, all will have been;

what is life but the path our dance creates?

         ----Sara Lewis Holmes (all rights reserved) 

Poetry Sisters links:

Liz

Tanita

Tricia

Andi

Kelly

Laura

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Soul Blossom Living. 

Poetry Friday: If Digitopolis had a Chapel

May's "hindsight" challenge seemed simple:  pick one of your old poems to revise and/or write a new poem in conversation with it.

Turns out, that wasn't enough guidance for me.  I had glimmers of ideas, but nothing that developed a real shine. (I apparently also caught a case of the extended metaphor.)  In any case, I decided to go back and attempt a Poetry Sisters challenge I missed. There weren't many, but in our ekphrastic (image-inspired) posts, we were often given more than one piece of art or photo to respond to.  Could I write to one I'd passed over the first time?

I could. In January of last year, Tricia shared images from an art show in Richmond, and I wrote an alphabetically themed poem to some cool type fonts.  In the interest of fairness to the Math Kingdom, today I've chosen one of the other images, "Color Equation," and written a numerically themed poem for it. (Pretty sure this idea of two kingdoms has been with me since I read the Phantom Tollbooth as a kid. But the poem decided to go deeper, so I followed it.)  

Oh, and the "square" form of the dizain we tried in May last year seemed perfect to use here so I re-visited that challenge too (ten lines of ten syllables, rhymed ababbccdcd.)

Color Equation 2 
by Janine Wong (American, born 1956), 
2017 monoprint with etching, aquatint,
 chine collé and hand-sewing on paper

All things being equal 

If Digitopolis had a chapel,
math icons—color equations, in fact,
might glow from windows, and squarely dapple
parallel pews with the light they subtract
from stained glass, and add to the unsung acts
of the Apostles of Arithmetic—
who counter division with deeds that quick-
en the dead, and insist, true as the sun:
Peace requires deep math, most poetic:
one life must equal one life, all one.

                  ----Sara Lewis Holmes (all rights reserved) 


My poetry sisters "throwbacks" can be found here:

Laura
Rebecca
Tanita
Tricia
Liz

SPECIAL INVITATION:  Poetry Friends who have seen our Poetry Princesses/Poetry Sisters/Poetry 7 posts for many years -- After more than a decade of writing together and several years of monthly assignments, we wondered if any of you might like to play along?

Here's what we propose: Once we agree to our poetic prompts and calendar, we'll share them with you and invite you to write and share, too. We'll remind you once a month or so (via our various social media megaphones) and you're welcome to tag us (or not) when you post.

Now, to that end, here's what's cooking for June, posting on the last Friday of the month: theme is susurrus, or an image of thick woods, whatever form we wish! Join us?

Poetry Friday is hosted today by A Year of Reading. 

Poetry Friday: Squaring up the Dizain

The May challenge (chosen by me) is a French Dizain:

One 10-line stanza
10 syllables per line
Uses the following rhyme scheme: ababbccdcd

Bonus points for using the word “square” somehow (since the form IS a square)


For once, my mind went somewhere literal to begin my poem. I immediately thought of a builders square (or steel square) and quickly Googled it to see what that tool actually DOES.  I thought it was for drawing right angles. 


 Ha!  It's so, so much more.  A craftsmen wrote a whole book about it, and then condensed that book down to a booklet, which is now available as part of Google's Project Gutenberg.  And boy, is he opinionated about how to use it:

"I will not attempt in this small treatise, to give an historical account of the origin, growth and development of the square, as the subject has been treated of at length in my larger works, as I do not care to pad out these pages with matter that is not of a severely practical nature." ----ABC of the Steel Square and its Uses by Fred T. Hodgson

Severely practical...okay then.  

But..here's the thing...he then can't resist this bit: 

"It is no sin not to know much, though it is a great one not to know all we can, and put it all to good use."

And he goes on to chastise those too lazy to learn what to do with their tools. Not only practical, but MORAL severity.   It's enough to chill a poet facing a new form....

Am I using my tools well? 
Have I learned all I can? 
What if I'm only "padding out pages"?? 

Thankfully, I also discovered that beneath Mr. Hodgson's gruff exterior is a heart for making things of beauty and use.  And, I'm happy to say, his trade...a builder's trade... is filled with poetic language. 

That steel square?  The two arms are called the blade and the tongue.  

Building a roof?  The rafters might need to be "cheek-cut." 

Plus carpenters use all sorts of solid, juicy words like "run and rise" and "pitch" and "joist." 

I can get behind that. 
   

A Builder's Creed

Stair math: rise and run (or how high? how long?)
Roof math: pitch and width (or how steep? how spanned?)

Each step, each rafter, sawn true, and laid strong

by tools wiped of sweat, kept square and at hand.

So, too a poem is constructed and planned;

words measured by tongue, syllables cheek-cut

into blade-sharp lines which open and shut,

rhyme-fit like a bloodied paw to a snare;

a poem, a cathedral, both framed out of what

is redoubted, joisted, strung to mid-air.

                                 ---Sara Lewis Holmes (all rights reserved)

Participating poetry sisters can be found here:

Liz
Tanita
Rebecca
Tricia


Poetry Friday is hosted today by the incomparable Jama Rattigan at Alphabet Soup.