Today's prompt:
And now for our (optional) prompt. Have you ever heard or read the nursery rhyme, “There was a man of double deed?” It’s quite creepy! A lot of its effectiveness can be traced back to how, after the first couplet, the lines all begin with the same two phrases (either “When the . . .” or “Twas like,”). The way that these phrases resolve gets more and more bizarre over the course of the poem, giving it a headlong, inevitable feeling.
Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that, like this one, uses lines that have a repetitive set-up.
This prompt very much appealed to me. The combination of pattern and rhythm is quite playful and I enjoyed having a think about it. I've been inspired by the difficulties of getting kids to sleep:
She would not sleep - she had took fright
She’d seen a shadow upon the wall
The shadow moved and that was not all
The shadow swirled and whirled and weaved
It whirled about and would not leave
The shadow danced and sang a song
And as it danced it banged a gong
The gong it was so loud she said
That she could never sleep in bed
Sleep I said, it was just a light
And began again to say goodnight
No comments:
Post a Comment