Friday, October 29, 2010

Sarah's Life: A Ballade

"The ballade is a fairly complicated verse form with a heavy stress on rhyme. It is an old form. French in origin,...of three stanzas, followed by an envoi (a short final stanza) that addresses an important person and sums up the point of the poem."
--Handbook of Poetic Forms, 21



Sarah died brokenhearted
for the sake of a beloved son
and while Abraham bartered
strange souls of God, a choice cave of Ephron,
Sarah was, at heart, alone.
In her dreams, a bloody knife,
a reckless king, a child's bone --
the span of Sarah's life.

Chosen -- forced -- a life apart
mercy rarely shown
in exchange, a bed too hard --
too beautiful -- unreal conditions
and far from home.
Adrift in tidal winds of strife
so much unknown --
the span of Sarah's life.

While new gold bands adorn her arms,
Rebekah, though also chosen,
chooses. Though offered her part
in God's story, though driven,
she goes, willingly, to Canaan
to become a rich young wife.
She is drawn and she responds.
The span of Sarah's life.

Daughter, reap what our mother has sown --
new mistress of the tent, strive
to surf God's wild stormwinds blown
-- the span of Sarah's life.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

need to add to the ballad of Abraham
stuck in the mud of rhyme
and time

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Go Yourself Forth Allegory

"An allegory is a story whose characters, things, and happenings have another meaning. Allegories are written to explain ideas about good and evil, or about moral or religious principles."
--Handbook of Poetic Forms, 7


A person was chosen to journey to an unknown home or maybe chose himself (he happened to be a man). It was said he would be blessed and of great name. On that day it was said and only he heard but time would prove the promise true. The person traveled with others whom he loved, among them his beautiful wife. She was chosen to journey (or maybe chose herself) and she endured many hardships. Were they happy? Unknown. They sojourned with some, separated from others. Together they were as barren as dust and warfare filled their tents. And though victorious against kings, their mouths were dry. They split their sacrifices. He congregated in an aisle of blood that he himself spilled. She sat in the mouth of her tent, counting stars. At her insistence, he betrayed her; she chose and her heart turned cold. Their journey seemed to go amiss but in truth it did not. Their names were changed to confuse the demons that plagued their hearts, and they added quiet breath to the letters they claimed. Was it enough? Unknown. He spilled more blood, this time his own, and surely she cried out. A chosen journey gives birth to stars, breathes life into names. A journey chosen reveals the unknown home of the heart and a legacy of dust.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

struggling with the allegory of going forth
unsure of the lesson of the command
within us to journey home

Friday, October 8, 2010

Noah Acrostic

"...the basic acrostic is a poem in which the first letters of the lines, read downwards, form a word, phrase, or sentence."
--Handbook of Poetic Forms, 5



Now this is the line
Of all that lives, of all flesh
And the floodgates of the sky burst open
He was blameless in his age
Never again will I doom the earth
Of all that lives, of all flesh
And the floodgates of the sky burst open
He drank of the wine and became drunk
An altar to the Name
Require a reckoning, I will require it
I will see it and remember
God caused a wind to blow
He was blameless in his age
Two each of all flesh
Earth was filled with lawlessness
Of all that lives, of all flesh
Upon the Earth, increase
Some are guilty; all are responsible
Make an opening for daylight in the ark
And the floodgates of the sky burst open
Now this is the line

Beginning Abstract II

(to be spoken aloud)

began create being sweeping said was saw separated. called called was was. said let separate made separated was so. called was was. said let gathered appear was called called saw. said sprout was so brought saw was was. said let separate serve serve shine was. made dominate dominate set dominate separate saw was was said. bring created fly brought saw blessed saying be fill let was was. said bring was. made saw said make rule. created created created blessed said be fill master rule said see give be saw found was was. were finished doing. ceased done blessed declared ceased. done is created.

Beginning Abstract I

"...words are removed from sentences and meaning...words become secondary to their sound..."
--Handbook of Poetic Forms, 1



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