seeksadventure | Entries tagged with writing: poetry

Crossposts: http://carlamlee.livejournal.com/1527378.html

Had to take a couple days off for health reasons, but I'm back with the next step of the Lover's Chain. Still following Seanan McGuire's Lover's Chain tutorial. The tenth step is the decalet, which at first glance looks like hell in poem form. I am writing a love poem to a monstrous final girl.

The decalet is a ten line poem made up of two five-line stanzas. It has both internal and external rhyme schemes (WHAT?!), and is a counted syllable poem, ten syllables per line. I'm ready to throw up my hands and quit. This was not the poem to come back to after a break.

The external rhyme scheme is ABCDE EDCBA, and the internal rhyme scheme is EDCBA ABCDE. (WHAT WHAT?!) Yeah, okay, I am terrified.

A = blood, buds, flood (mud, flood, bud)
B = kiss, hiss, remiss (hiss, miss, dis, bliss, amiss, abyss, remiss)
C = bright, light, quite, right (bite, might, fight, sleight, quite, right)
D = mine, treeline, fine (fine, design, align, line, nine, dine, wine)
E = death, breath

1EA My bringer of death, dressed in tulle and blood,
2DB touched your lips to mine, peace in your sweet kiss.
3CC The moon, full and bright -- we bathed in its light,
4BD ignored the soft hiss, wind through the treeline,
5AE and the pale white buds floating on a breath.

6AE Remember my flood of fear for you, Beth--
7BD no, that'd be remiss -- fear of you is fine
8CC when you are not quite the girl I loved right
9DB off. Our hands align, ~~return~~ back from the abyss,
10EA of my fear of death buried in the mud.

Dear god, that's a hell of a form poem. That last line isn't working for me; I'm running short on the "eath" rhyme, and I think I'm going to have to force a rhyme there, because the repetition of death isn't working for me, even though I'm trying to tie it into her fear of Beth, the final girl, the killer, the salvation.

6AE Remember the mud of fear for you, Beth--

10EA my fear, dying 'neath the trees in the mud.

Lover’s Chain

1
The moon rises, bright and full, and with it comes peace.

2
Bloody, bruised, you escape death;
Come, darling, rest, catch your breath.

3
You wore a dress I love, bell skirt swinging;
we danced beneath the bright moonlight.
Kiss me, you said, and I obeyed — left us breathless, joyful, clinging.

4
Behind us, woods, empty and dark.
Silent, but for the crunch of broken leaves.
“Wait,” I said, chilled and leery.
You kissed me, you smiled — I’ll be right back.

5
I shiver, cold damp air on bare skin,
branches tremble in the wind, drop leaves.
It crashes through the brush nearby, big, furred — my breath goes thin.
Branches tremble in the wind, drop leaves.
I shiver, cold damp air on bare skin.

6
I froze, terrified, face to face with a beast.
It opened its long muzzle wide, flashed sharp, shiny teeth.
You were safe, my love, I thought, at least, at least.

Then you appeared, one hand on my arm, dragging me away beneath
the lowest branches, silver at your fingers, brow creased.
My hero, but you left me, fear holding me still, in the broken heath.

7
You ran, dress red-black as blood in the moonlight.
Darted through brush, over fallen branches,
until the monster, heavy, furred, rose on its haunches,
and you leaped, silver knife carving the night.

You ran, dress red-black as blood in the moonlight,
straight into the monster’s reach.
Knife flashed, blood, and with a howl-like scream, it launched into the fight.

8

Teeth, claws, weight — it tore into you, until
you stood above the fallen monster, bloody and free-
falling backward, knife, tangled hair, fallen and still.
Teeth, claws, weight — it tore into you, until
you punched up, knife flashing, fisted, iron-will
stronger than I’d ever seen, my gorgeous girl, wild, gutsy.
Teeth, claws, weight, it tore into you until
you stood above the fallen monster, bloody and free.

9

I am not the damsel in distress;
you are no shining armor knight.
You came to me, blood-soaked, and I confess
in that moment under the pale moon light

I was scared.

Your lip curled, flashed teeth, that grin.
I gathered myself, reached out
and you settled into my arms, warm as sin,
Touching you, I almost forgot my doubt.

10

My bringer of death, dressed in tulle and blood,
touched your lips to mine, peace in your sweet kiss.
The moon, full and bright -- we bathed in its light,
ignored the soft hiss, wind through the treeline,
and the pale white buds floating on a breath.

Remember, like mud, my fear for you, Beth --
no, that'd be remiss -- fear of you is fine
when you are not quite the girl I loved right
off. Our hands align, back from the abyss,
and I see your wealth, strength like a flood.

Crossposts: http://carlamlee.livejournal.com/1527092.html

Still following Seanan McGuire's Lover's Chain tutorial. The ninth step is the novet. It is two quatrains with a single line between them, and the standard rhyme scheme is ABAB C DEDE. Seanan's has the same meter for each line, but she doesn't say that's required, and I can't find anything elsewhere about the novet, so I'm just ignoring that part. (This is why I'm not great at form poetry. I start ignoring the parts I don't like. Except the damn rhyme, apparently.) I am writing a love poem to a monstrous final girl.

1A I am not the damsel in distress;
2B you are no shining armor knight.
3A You came to me, blood-soaked, and I confess
4B in that moment under the pale moon light

5C I was scared.

6D Your lip curled, flashed teeth, that grin.
7E I gathered myself, reached out
8D and you settled into my arms, warm as sin,
9E I remembered what our love was all about.

I'm not pleased with the last line, so it will need some tweaking. Though it's very different from the thought I started writing, I think I'm going for doubt instead.

9E Touching you, I almost forgot my doubt.

Lover’s Chain

1
The moon rises, bright and full, and with it comes peace.

2
Bloody, bruised, you escape death;
Come, darling, rest, catch your breath.

3
You wore a dress I love, bell skirt swinging;
we danced beneath the bright moonlight.
Kiss me, you said, and I obeyed — left us breathless, joyful, clinging.

4
Behind us, woods, empty and dark.
Silent, but for the crunch of broken leaves.
“Wait,” I said, chilled and leery.
You kissed me, you smiled — I’ll be right back.

5
I shiver, cold damp air on bare skin,
branches tremble in the wind, drop leaves.
It crashes through the brush nearby, big, furred — my breath goes thin.
Branches tremble in the wind, drop leaves.
I shiver, cold damp air on bare skin.

6
I froze, terrified, face to face with a beast.
It opened its long muzzle wide, flashed sharp, shiny teeth.
You were safe, my love, I thought, at least, at least.

Then you appeared, one hand on my arm, dragging me away beneath
the lowest branches, silver at your fingers, brow creased.
My hero, but you left me, fear holding me still, in the broken heath.

7
You ran, dress red-black as blood in the moonlight.
Darted through brush, over fallen branches,
until the monster, heavy, furred, rose on its haunches,
and you leaped, silver knife carving the night.

You ran, dress red-black as blood in the moonlight,
straight into the monster’s reach.
Knife flashed, blood, and with a howl-like scream, it launched into the fight.

8

Teeth, claws, weight — it tore into you, until
you stood above the fallen monster, bloody and free-
falling backward, knife, tangled hair, fallen and still.
Teeth, claws, weight — it tore into you, until
you punched up, knife flashing, fisted, iron-will
stronger than I’d ever seen, my gorgeous girl, wild, gutsy.
Teeth, claws, weight, it tore into you until
you stood above the fallen monster, bloody and free.

9

I am not the damsel in distress;
you are no shining armor knight.
You came to me, blood-soaked, and I confess
in that moment under the pale moon light

I was scared.

Your lip curled, flashed teeth, that grin.
I gathered myself, reached out
and you settled into my arms, warm as sin,
Touching you, I almost forgot my doubt.

Crossposts: http://carlamlee.livejournal.com/1526640.html

Still following Seanan McGuire's Lover's Chain tutorial. The eighth step is a triolet, an eight lined rhymed poem with repeating lines. It has an ABAAABAB rhyme scheme. I am writing a love poem to a monstrous final girl.

I love triolets because of the repeating lines, but I am not fantastic at them because of the rhyming. I think the first two lines are the most important, because the first repeats so often and because the second ends the poem. I want a strong ending, a strong final line for my final girl.

1A Teeth, claws, weight -- it tore into you, until
2B you stood above the fallen monster, bloody and free-
3A falling backward, knife, tangled hair, fallen and still.
1A Teeth, claws, weight -- it tore into you, until
4A you punched up, knife flashing, fisted, iron-will
5B stronger than I'd ever seen, my gorgeous girl, wild, gutsy.
1A Teeth, claws, weight, it tore into you until
2B you stood above the fallen monster, bloody and free.

Lover’s Chain

1
The moon rises, bright and full, and with it comes peace.

2
Bloody, bruised, you escape death;
Come, darling, rest, catch your breath.

3
You wore a dress I love, bell skirt swinging;
we danced beneath the bright moonlight.
Kiss me, you said, and I obeyed — left us breathless, joyful, clinging.

4
Behind us, woods, empty and dark.
Silent, but for the crunch of broken leaves.
“Wait,” I said, chilled and leery.
You kissed me, you smiled — I’ll be right back.

5
I shiver, cold damp air on bare skin,
branches tremble in the wind, drop leaves.
It crashes through the brush nearby, big, furred — my breath goes thin.
Branches tremble in the wind, drop leaves.
I shiver, cold damp air on bare skin.

6
I froze, terrified, face to face with a beast.
It opened its long muzzle wide, flashed sharp, shiny teeth.
You were safe, my love, I thought, at least, at least.

Then you appeared, one hand on my arm, dragging me away beneath
the lowest branches, silver at your fingers, brow creased.
My hero, but you left me, fear holding me still, in the broken heath.

7
You ran, dress red-black as blood in the moonlight.
Darted through brush, over fallen branches,
until the monster, heavy, furred, rose on its haunches,
and you leaped, silver knife carving the night.

You ran, dress red-black as blood in the moonlight,
straight into the monster’s reach.
Knife flashed, blood, and with a howl-like scream, it launched into the fight.

8

Teeth, claws, weight -- it tore into you, until
you stood above the fallen monster, bloody and free-
falling backward, knife, tangled hair, fallen and still.
Teeth, claws, weight -- it tore into you, until
you punched up, knife flashing, fisted, iron-will
stronger than I'd ever seen, my gorgeous girl, wild, gutsy.
Teeth, claws, weight, it tore into you until
you stood above the fallen monster, bloody and free.

Current Mood: apathetic
Crossposts: http://carlamlee.livejournal.com/1526364.html

Still following Seanan McGuire's Lover's Chain tutorial. The seventh step is the hexadine, a two stanza, seven line poem. The first stanza is four lines, ABBA rhyme scheme, and the second stanza is three lines, ACA rhyme scheme. The first line of each stanza is the same. I am writing a love poem to a monstrous final girl.

Because the first line of each stanza is the same, I'll start there, using it as an anchor line.

You ran, dress red-black as blood in the moonlight.

(It is also at this point that I realized I switched tenses on step five. Each poem is separate, so I am debating as to whether I can let that remain or rewrite it to make it all match.)

1A You ran, dress red-black as blood in the moonlight.
2B Darted through brush, over fallen branches,
3B until the monster, heavy, ~~and wide and~~ furred, rose on its haunches,
4A and you leaped, silver knife carving the night.

Yeah, I realize that B rhyme is pretty forced, but I wanted haunches anyway.

1A You ran, dress red-black as blood in the moonlight,
2C straight into the monster's reach.
3A Knife flashed, blood, and with a howl-like scream, it launched into the fight.

Lover’s Chain

1
The moon rises, bright and full, and with it comes peace.

2
Bloody, bruised, you escape death;
Come, darling, rest, catch your breath.

3
You wore a dress I love, bell skirt swinging;
we danced beneath the bright moonlight.
Kiss me, you said, and I obeyed — left us breathless, joyful, clinging.

4
Behind us, woods, empty and dark.
Silent, but for the crunch of broken leaves.
“Wait,” I said, chilled and leery.
You kissed me, you smiled — I’ll be right back.

5
I shiver, cold damp air on bare skin,
branches tremble in the wind, drop leaves.
It crashes through the brush nearby, big, furred — my breath goes thin.
Branches tremble in the wind, drop leaves.
I shiver, cold damp air on bare skin.

6
I froze, terrified, face to face with a beast.
It opened its long muzzle wide, flashed sharp, shiny teeth.
You were safe, my love, I thought, at least, at least.

Then you appeared, one hand on my arm, dragging me away beneath
the lowest branches, silver at your fingers, brow creased.
My hero, but you left me, fear holding me still, in the broken heath.

7
You ran, dress red-black as blood in the moonlight.
Darted through brush, over fallen branches,
until the monster, heavy, furred, rose on its haunches,
and you leaped, silver knife carving the night.

You ran, dress red-black as blood in the moonlight,
straight into the monster's reach.
Knife flashed, blood, and with a howl-like scream, it launched into the fight.

Crossposts: http://carlamlee.livejournal.com/1526244.html

Still following Seanan McGuire’s Lover’s Chain tutorial. The sixth step is the triat, a six line poem made up of two three-line verses. Again, it rhymes, and has an ABA BAB scheme, but no fixed syllable count or scansion pattern. I am writing a love poem to a monstrous final girl.

I froze, scared, terrified, faced face to face with a beast.
It opened its long muzzle wide, flashed sharp, shiny teeth.
You were safe, my love, I thought, at least, at least.

There Then you were thereappeared, one hand on my arm, dragging me away beneath
the lowest branches, silver at your fingers, brow creased.
My hero, but you left me, fear holding me still, in the broken heath.

I like it, but I want some stronger images, so I’ll play with the word choice.

Lover’s Chain

1
The moon rises, bright and full, and with it comes peace.

2
Bloody, bruised, you escape death;
Come, darling, rest, catch your breath.

3
You wore a dress I love, bell skirt swinging;
we danced beneath the bright moonlight.
Kiss me, you said, and I obeyed — left us breathless, joyful, clinging.

4
Behind us, woods, empty and dark.
Silent, but for the crunch of broken leaves.
“Wait,” I said, chilled and leery.
You kissed me, you smiled — I’ll be right back.

5
I shiver, cold damp air on bare skin,
branches tremble in the wind, drop leaves.
It crashes through the brush nearby, big, furred — my breath goes thin.
Branches tremble in the wind, drop leaves.
I shiver, cold damp air on bare skin.

6
I froze, terrified, face to face with a beast.
It opened its long muzzle wide, flashed sharp, shiny teeth.
You were safe, my love, I thought, at least, at least.

Then you appeared, one hand on my arm, dragging me away beneath
the lowest branches, silver at your fingers, brow creased.
My hero, but you left me, fear holding me still, in the broken heath.

Crossposts: http://carlamlee.livejournal.com/1525913.html

Still following Seanan McGuire's Lover's Chain tutorial. The fifth step is the paradine, a five line Italian poem with three unique lines, with a 1, 2, 3, 2, 1 pattern, with an ABABA rhyme scheme. I am writing a love poem to a monstrous final girl.

I've never written a paradine before. I like repeating lines, so this should be fun, if hard. (Making repeating lines work without it feeling forced is difficult. I'm not sure I can pull it off.)

Once I have my first line, I need rhymes for skin that fit with the monster in the trees. Thin, bin, win, fin, chagrin, twin, spin, original sin.

1A I shiver, cold damp air on bare skin
2B branches tremble in the wind, drop leaves
3A it crashes through the brush nearby, big, furred -- my breath goes thin
2B branches tremble in the wind, drop leaves
1A I shiver, cold damp air on bare skin

I'm reasonably satisfied with how this fits into everything else, and some punctuation will finalize everything.

Lover’s Chain

The moon rises, bright and full, and with it comes peace.

Bloody, bruised, you escape death;
Come, darling, rest, catch your breath.

You wore a dress I love, bell skirt swinging;
we danced beneath the bright moonlight.
Kiss me, you said, and I obeyed — left us breathless, joyful, clinging.

Behind us, woods, empty and dark.
Silent, but for the crunch of broken leaves.
“Wait,” I said, chilled and leery.
You kissed me, you smiled — I’ll be right back.

I shiver, cold damp air on bare skin,
branches tremble in the wind, drop leaves.
It crashes through the brush nearby, big, furred -- my breath goes thin.
Branches tremble in the wind, drop leaves.
I shiver, cold damp air on bare skin.

Crossposts: http://carlamlee.livejournal.com/1525688.html

Still following Seanan McGuire's Lover's Chain tutorial. The fourth step is the quatrain, four lines, no rhyme scheme or syllable count. I am writing a love poem to a monstrous final girl. I am not a huge fan of rhyme, so I'm going to eschew a rhyme scheme for this step in the chain.

Previous imagery includes a full moon on the rise, bloody skin, defying death, breathless, dancing beneath the moon, and kissing beneath the moon.

Per Seanan, this should end on a note of hope.

Behind us, woods, empty and dark.
Silent, but for the crunch of broken leaves.
"Wait," I said, chilled and leery.
You kissed me, you smiled -- "I'll be right back."

Well, it's sort of ending on a note of hope. Unless you are familiar with horror movies. Which of course you are, and of course you know what calling her the final girl means -- so still a note of hope.

Lover’s Chain

The moon rises, bright and full, and with it comes peace.

Bloody, bruised, you escape death;
Come, darling, rest, catch your breath.

You wore a dress I love, bell skirt swinging;
we danced beneath the bright moonlight.
Kiss me, you said, and I obeyed — left us breathless, joyful, clinging.

Behind us, woods, empty and dark.
Silent, but for the crunch of broken leaves.
"Wait," I said, chilled and leery.
You kissed me, you smiled -- I'll be right back.

Crossposts: http://carlamlee.livejournal.com/1525300.html

Still following Seanan McGuire's Lover's Chain tutorial. The third step is the triplet, three lines with no fixed rhyme scheme. I am writing a love poem to a monstrous final girl. For simplicity, I am doing a standard ABA rhyme scheme.

Previous imagery includes a full moon on the rise, bloody skin, and defying death. I need to avoid a death rhyme because I've already used it, and as previously discussed, I'm avoiding certain common rhymes.

Free writing to go with previous imagery: torn clothes, sharp knife, bruised flesh, killing, running, lost, night, empty house, cornfield.

You wore a dress I love, ~~starry silver, deep blue,~~ full skirt swinging;
we danced beneath the bright moonlight.
Kiss me, you said, and I obeyed -- left you breathless, joyful, clinging.

I went back and forth on whether I wanted "full skirt swinging" or "swinging skirt," but in the end, I wanted the swinging-clinging rhyme. As much as I like the description of the dress, I thought some of the words slowed it down too much. We'll work into that more later.

It wasn't until I edited it out that I realized I had too many uses of "full" too close together, so full skirt has to become something else.

Finally, I decided I disliked that the narrator left the final girl breathless, joyful, clinging. It's far stronger a story to have them both so happy, so lost in each other.

Lover’s Chain

The moon rises, bright and full, and with it comes peace.

Bloody, bruised, you escape death;
Come, darling, rest, catch your breath.

You wore a dress I love, bell skirt swinging;
we danced beneath the bright moonlight.
Kiss me, you said, and I obeyed -- left us breathless, joyful, clinging.

Crossposts: http://carlamlee.livejournal.com/1524702.html

Still following Seanan McGuire's Lover's Chain tutorial. The second step is the couplet, two lines of rhymed poetry. As Seanan suggests, I'm trying to avoid more standard rhymes, such as love and dove, eye and die and lie, etc.

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm writing my Lover's Chain to horror stories, or more particularly, as I decided last night, watching clouds over the moon, to a monstrous final girl.

With that in mind, I still want to avoid what I think are more common rhymes along this theme, so I don't want to end a line on moon or sky. This may prove difficult, considering the imagery and tone I started with in the compliment focuses on the moon: The moon rises, bright and full, and with it comes peace. This feels like an end to a final girl's story, and if that's where I'm beginning this courtship with her, I'll need to go back and capture some of the more complicated concepts of her story. Later steps in the Lover's Chain use more complicated poetry forms. Both of these thoughts are things I'm keeping in mind as I work on the couplet.

Based on Seanan's example, the couplet is a great place to expand upon the imagery that will be threaded throughout the rest of the poems. Brainstorming final girl words include blood, fight, death, monster, transformation.

First attempt:

Blood-soaked, broken, you escaped your death;
come with me, darling, rest, catch your breath.

I like pieces of this, but not the pacing itself. Plus I want the tone to better capture the awe I feel for the final girl. She's amazing. She's strong. She's won, but at what cost?

Second attempt:

Bloody, bruised, you escape death;
Come, darling, rest, catch your breath.

I like this better. It's tighter, flows better, and better captures that sheer shock and awe of her survival. This final girl will show you something new.

Lover's Chain

The moon rises, bright and full, and with it comes peace.

Bloody, bruised, you escape death;
Come, darling, rest, catch your breath.

Crossposts: http://carlamlee.livejournal.com/1524398.html

Inspired by my friend Chanda, I'm attempting to write a poem a day for National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo). Even though I did NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) for a number of years in the 2000s, I had no idea NaPo was a thing that existed until Chanda asked if anyone was participating.

My history with poetry is fractured. I didn't like poetry until I was working on my undergrad (in writing and publishing), and first discovered Daphne Gottlieb's WHY THINGS BURN (and then FINAL GIRL), and I fell in love with poetry. I wrote a lot during undergrad and a few years after, and was a member of Prescription Strength Poetry, so participated in guerilla poetry performances, but poetry was one of the things I set aside when I went to law school. (My writing time went to legal writing and fiction.) I'm not great at poetry, nor do I always understand it well, but I've missed it, and I'm glad to be making this attempt.

A few weeks ago, I read Seanan McGuire's series of essays about the Lover's Chain, and now that I'm doing NaPo, I decided to give it a try myself. Historically, the Lover's Chain was used by Victorians to conduct courtship. I am going to use it to write a love letter (poem, I suppose) to horror stories. Or something.

The first step of the Lover's Chain is a one line compliment. Per Seanan's series, it establishes imagery to be used throughout the chain, as well as the tone.

Compliment: The moon rises, bright and full, and with it comes peace.

Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: the relic

I track my writing using an excel spreadsheet provided by

getyourwordsout. The one I'm using this year shows me how far I am off my target for the year. I started this month 3600 words behind. Currently, I am 11,500 words ahead, and I just broke 61,000 words so far this year.

In something that wasn't written this year,

elisem just linked to the masterlist of the Oracles poetry, Nine Things About Oracles, which if you haven't seen it, basically went like this:

elisem made this gorgeous pendant named "Nine Things About Oracles" and then people started writing poetry based on it.

I just reread my contribution, and for once I continue to like a piece of my poetry.

"Pieces of Nine Oracles, Scattered (and Silent Ten)"

Part of me wants to expand it. Maybe write short stories from the pieces of it.

My sister left me one of the greatest comments ever, which was that she wished to make art off of my writing inspired by art. The circle of inspiration gives me chills. (Plus I love art based on my writing.)

Stupidly, I napped this afternoon and couldn't get back to sleep when I tried tonight. Maybe I can sleep now.