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Sunday, October 23, 2011

The Puente form

By God and its a great poetical education I'm getting on Imaginary Garden with Real Toads. Last week, we faced up to the awdl gywydd, an archaic Welsh form that I'd never heard of and now the delightful Kerry O'Connor has challenged us to compose a Puente (or 'bridge' ) poem.
In a shell of a nut, and I am quoting directly here,
Constructed in three stanzas, the first and third are separate thoughts, conditions or elements, but share an equal number of lines (at the poet’s discretion) and the center "bridge" stanza. This middle stanza is but one line and is enclosed in tildes (~) to distinguish itself as both the last line of the first stanza and the first line of the last stanza.
The meter and rhyming are at the poet's discretion, free verse being perfectly acceptable.


Below is my topical, if somewhat contrived, effort. For more fluid examples check out the link above.

Liberation

They said he was a murderous dictator
on whose command the desert sands ran red;
who would not tolerate the agitator
and many took their families and fled;
whose rule of thumb was not designed to cater
for those who craved democracy instead.
Manhandled by the frenzied agitator

~ liberation was a bullet in the head ~

admitted the new government commentator,
explaining how they’d severed his life’s thread.
And now they proclaim praise to the Creator
on seeing the body stretched out in a shed.
But to the international spectator,
the way this haggard tyrant wound up dead
does not bode well for hopes of justice later.


10 comments:

  1. Anarchy usually isn't the right answer.

    Kay, Alberta, Canada
    An Unfittie’s Guide to Adventurous Travel

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  2. Coo! I couldn't quite grasp the italics explanation, and am mightily impressed that you've done it.

    And I've just written the same poem, but different.

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  3. timely.
    and a worthy response to the challenge. great work.

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  4. i do always enjoy poems that deal with society and politics in different ways.enjoyed this one as well.those who are backing the 'liberators' now should hope that Libya wouldn't become another Afghanistan.

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  5. Absolutely spot on!! This is a cutting (and I believe well-founded) commentary on the state of liberation struggles the world over. Justice is the first thing to fly out the window.
    Excellent words, thoughts expressed with great lucidity, and all wrapped in exemplary form.

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  6. Hi Kay, unless the question is What was the Sex Pistols first single?
    Laurie, thanks!
    Titus - you wrote the same poem only better.
    SMK - you're very kind
    Abin - thanks for that, yes, it can so easily turn into a nightmare
    Kerry - oh thanks!! And many thanks in return for the education!

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  7. Your poem speaks the truth. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss...

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  8. Such truth in your words...such power...great job on the poetic style

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  9. a little political puente well executed and timely on the subject. may they find their way to bridge the gap between regimes with peace and justice rather than a continuation of previous bloody crackdowns. Let us hope this act of murder was more a part of the chaos that reigns before the new government takes hold rather than the foundation of the new power.

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