Equilateral Proverbs: A Poetry Challenge
Construct a rhyming, rhythmic intelligible proverb or saying where the first and last words in each line rhyme. Twin couplets are preferred but not required. My examples alternate trochaic tetrameters and pentameters, but any form is acceptable so long as it is consistent. And if you can’t think up a proverb, then any poem on any subject will be fine, so long as each line begins and ends with the same rhyme. Post and share your inspired “Equilaterals” in the comments section.
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White the day and black the night.
Light reveals and darkness veils from sight.
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Died to sin? Or sin denied?
Pride denied may lead to deicide.
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Bury what is dead or scary.
Marry what is extraordinary.
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Thirst is rare when one’s submersed.
First and last determines best and worst.
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Yin and Yang are kith and kin.
In the end is not where we begin.
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Glitz and glitter—opposites.
It’s the pits to be in the obits.
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Post yours in the comments below.
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Note: This doesn’t mean the entire poem has to use the same beginning/end rhyme all the way through. Just so long as it has a rhyme pattern like some regular poetic form.
Good luck. (Personally I find these “gimmicks” help make me become better at creating regular poetic forms).
It’s sort of like the old vaudeville joke where someone new to New York asks a passerby “How do I get to Carnegie Hall?” And the other person says, “Practice, practice, practice.”
Sell your soul, discard your shell.
Smell the sulfurous whiff of Hell.
Nice couplet/proverb, Paul. You caught the spirit of the thing perfectly!
Seek your greener pastures, out on other slopes or where you will,
But the grass is always greener on the same side of the hill.
Nice couplet, Stephen. Thanks for giving it a go.
God said not to spare the rod.
Claude went fishing for some cod.
Plowman plowed behind a plow.
How dirty is plowman now?
Vance was searching for romance.
Chance overtook him at the dance.
Burns was a poet with longing and yearns.
Turns out he was a farmer who learns.
James went up in fiery flames.
Blames his loss on stupid games.
Queen of Corona made a scene.
Queen was fat while he was lean.
Roy, that first couplet had me rolf! I had an 18th century Scottish ancestor who was brought before the Elders of his kirk and rebuked for having skipped worship to go fishing on the Sabbath. In any case, this is a nice twisty play on the word, “rod!”
The rest and the whole is quite impressive. Good go!
I just knew you would “catch” the one about the rod! Thank you, James, for your story.
Meetings of minds, warm greetings,
Fleeting worlds, time bewitching.
Stay, stand your ground and slay,
Pray to keep the fool at bay.
Intentions create dimensions
Foundations of rock or rocky subversions.
Blind to the grind,
Mind in tune with the sublime.
Blame does shame,
Lame is the fool that plays that game.
Mia, my favorite line in the lot, “Pray to keep the fool at bay.,” proves that sometimes truth can be funny and serious at the same time!
Thank you James and SCP for another fun challenge.
I would also like to say how much I have enjoyed reading all the proverbs on here.
friends not seen but yet are met
devise poems of sage advice
Practice Makes Perfect
How do you make it to Carnegie Hall?
Vow not to turn down a gig, big or small.
Take enough time to make practice habitual.
Make mock recitals an every night ritual.
Mark, Your wit is as quick as ever. Funnee! I see the potential for another challenge hidden in your poetic riposte to a prose comment!
When men live full of fear, wondering why they were made, they will dwell on how quickly their own star will fade.
Men who dwell on how each has God’s image displayed, will all know they were fearfully, wonderfully made.
Warren, This has a nice reversal of thought and a good theological twist with more than a plate-ful of truth in it. Thanks.
Tired of working but still hardwired,
Mired in chores, so glad I’m retired.
Carl, yours is the first to which my immediate response was to say, “Ament!”
A child that’s taught no moral restraint
will fall far short from being a saint.
The chip you carry upon your shoulder,
if nursed will grow into a boulder.
Words have a way of flying south
when one inserts foot into mouth.
Ha ha ha ha, Carol! What a great set of truthful mirth! Proverbs to ponder!
Denied their A’s, my students, wild with pride,
complied with calls for my tyrannicide.
Really good and funny. Don’t let the students see it.
Thank you!
Paul, I remember during my undergraduate years receiving all “A”s on class assignments but a “B” final grade. After inquiring I found that the instructor was up for tenure and was told she was giving too many “A” grades. So she chose several students at random and arbitrarily lowered their grade. I was well aware of the politics and game-playing associated with tenure so, out of respect for the teacher’s dilemma, dropped my plan for an appeal. Even so, as a university Prof, my wife had to deal with student anger and threats over grades every term. So your proverbial couplet is both well-done and, unfortunately, an all-too accurate description of the way things are these days.
Thanks, James. Interesting feedback!
BTW, thanks for the fun challenge!
Ever so proud at appearing clever,
Never admitting that his endeavor
Loses readers with the words he uses,
Chooses coarse slang that appalls the Muses.
Pity the boor that thinks cussing’s witty –
Pretty some rhymes while others are sh-tty.
Where is the ‘laughed ’til I cried’ emoji when you need it? Love this. Thanks for the rofl level humor–needed it this morning.
Thanks. Showing my age but had to look up “rofl”.
Even better is this one: rotflmao. It stands for “Rolling on the floor laughing my ass off.”
Witty and sh-tty! Lol. Fortunately there are far more of the former than the latter here at SCP! Nice extended flow of thought as you met the challenge head-on and did it well.
Thank you. It was a fun challenge.
Love this one Carl. Super funny.
Thanks. Glad you liked it.
or,
Among the sh-tty poems he strung
Some unsung nuggets of fertile dung.
Really good and funny. Don’t let the students see it.
Choose drunk company when you schmooze,
Lose your way into vats of booze.
Love it, Mo!
Why don’t you this contract man, while you’re a little plastered?
I wrote the small print and I can assure you I’m a b*st*rd.
Ha! Funny, MHS!
Good fences, Frost said, make good neighbors.
At least they aren’t at drawn sabers.
When the false promise of first love has set your hormones surgin’,
Then recollect a man can be, but not become, a virgin.
Brilliant. Sad. Wish we all were as wise and thoughtful in foresight as it is possible to be in hindsight.
What love that truly never fails, though troubles come to all
The one whose perfect love prevails, to raise you when you fall
Always good to be reminded. Very neatly written and comforting in troubled times.
Morrison, thank you for your kind words; I’m so glad to hear that you found them comforting.
All those who will not heed God’s call
Fall hard and fast, so warns St. Paul.
In a life that’s filled with sin,
Begin to learn: sin cannot win.
Obey your parents all the way.
They want you to do well someday.
Mary never was contrary.
Nary a sin—extraordinary!
Always walk down the selfsame hallways,
Today, as in a very new way
You showed your prince to be a true toad.
Ha! You doubled up on that last one! To which you might add, “Two-toed sloth composed a shrewd ode.”
I didn’t think there would be so much creative fun from so many people.
Mute musicals are moot.
Cute cuticles? A hoot!
That’s it.
No more from me.
CD, I can’t see you, can you see me?
Amen, I did it again . . .
Sorry
You are all so clever, I failed in each endeavor… no, that’s not right!
First word must rhyme with last word cursed… is that correct?
Casanova drove her to Dover…. huh!?
Left her there, sad and bereft. How am I doing now?
Norma,
You are funny and clever in each endeavor yourself! I particularly like #3 which works in some locales but not others, depending on local accents!
I’m glad you took the time.
Thank you James. It took me long enough though!
Suffering and seasons give rise to latitude
Jointly they breed a more Stoic attitude
We are living in the age of madness,
Just ask the woman who they say has a penis.
Jim, I was shaking my head at how many people weren’t following the rules and then I wrote one and realized I didn’t quite follow them either…
Though promising a precious thing,
Equality tastes emptily,
Communism comes as prison,
Evolution’s no solution…
Tradition holds our lives’ true mission.
Face a failure’s rough embrace
Misplace your pride to win the race.
Efface the mark mistakes debase.
🙂
Woke’s a leftist masterstroke-
Smoke to shield a socialistic yoke.
A label lies so I’ll decide which fable’s wise.
I’ll table guys and gals who fly unstable skies.