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This challenge was conceived by Paul A. Freeman after reading a sonnet in iambic monometer by James A. Tweedie, “Allergies.” Mr. Freeman’s example is below.
Make your own and post it in the comments section below!
.
by Paul A. Freeman
My mind
these days
can’t find
always
good rhymes
to write.
Sometimes
I might
pen weak
rhyme words
that reek
like turds.
__Though versed,
__I’m cursed.
.
.
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Bless you, Bhikkhu Nyansobhano! The story I read from which I wrote the poem made me contemplate as well.
I had to take up this challenge!
Brave New World or OK, Doomer
When weather
Has come
Together
In some
Disaster,
It’s climate-
No master
Can rhyme it.
Now, science
Is hate.
Compliance
Is fate.
The ‘Doomers’
Blame ‘Boomers’
L;ve these and will take up the challenge myself as I need to write a poem before tomorrow evening
Freeman’s poem is a delight …especially the ending,
Thank you, kindly. The poem came in a flash, but unfortunately those flashes are few and far between.
Especially in lockdown! So thanks for the challenge.
To write
My lines
So tight!–
The signs
Of strain
Are clear
To all, I fear.
Should I
Expand
And try
A brand
Of verse
Less terse?
Signs of strain are all too clear, I’d say. The best I can do (not that great) by way of correction:
…
The signs
Of strain,
I fear,
On brain
Are clear
…
It’s actually the way it is, if “I fear” is dropped down to make it’s own monometric line, and making the poem have the correct 14 lines. More a typo than anything. To all/I fear should be 2 separate lines, and then it’s a perfect example.
Julian! In your iambic monometer poem~ it was akin to gazing into my own soul.
Thank you. I enjoyed your write, very much.
Patricia Redfern
10/1/2022
What is your opinion on this sonnet? I just saw this challenge and thought about writing the form for the first time.
Arrows of Plague
By Maurice DeLivre
Apollo
Had sent
Arrows
With intent
To rain
Sickness
And pain.
To bless
Mankind
For their sin
And wrong mind.
Through his plague
Thus we ache.
So far
Away
Will play
The star
On par
With day.
Relay
This bar,
This poem,
This strange
Attractor
Whose phloem
Arrange
This actor.
I yearn
At night
To learn
To write
But rhyme
Is nought
When time
Is short
And so
The muse
I’ll go
And use
I’ll start
With “art”
Then “heart”
And “fart”
Jeff, this is a humdinger. Your last line is the bomb.
This is a very tough challenge! Here’s my attempt:
The Ghost
What sprite
All night
Must haunt
And taunt
This room?
Of doom
He groans
And moans.
I toss
Quite cross
Then shake
Awake
To see
It’s me.
Writer’s Cramp
.A year
I fear
Since shade
Fell here.
Below
The stair
Parade
Of chairs,
A row
Of rare
Wine there.
No poems
I write
Approach
The light.
There us light here. I know the
feeling.
Defeatist
My friend,
I fear
The end
Is near.
Since I
May fall,
Why try
At all?
Why break
My heart?
I’ll take
No part.
That’s it —
I quit.
This is one of the best posted here. The hardest part about monometer is keeping the syntax and the narrative in orderly standard English.
Thank you, C.B!
Anna, I love it! You inspired mine!
I like it too!
Sonnets
Give birth
To words
Of worth
In thirds,
And end
your verse
well penned
And terse;
But not
With prose
That’s fraught
With throes.
Use rhyme
Sublime.
Good one!
He passed
Away
That day,
So fast.
Aghast,
I may
now pray
my last,
For his
shall be
the bliss
while we
do miss
him. See?
I like this mini-Petrarchan.
Time on the Tip of the Tongue
A steady
lip,
a heady
sip:
the whiskey
is
no risk
to his
old tongue,
but burns
the young
whose turns
go past
so fast.
(Rhymes broken over lines written in the most readable, if not the “most correct” way.)
It’s your choice, Daniel, how you will go about solving this sort of problem. I’ve seen it done both ways, by some rather notable poets.
Journey’s End
A ship
my eyes
viewed dip
and rise,
its sails
unpinned
in gales
of wind,
on seas
that smote
with ease
the boat.
Men fated –
Death sated.
Liberals’ Love for Free Verse
No rhyme
They pen
That’s crime,
Say men,
Libtards
Like farce,
And nerds
Free verse.
Meter
Is strange
Bitter
It’s range.
Tough game
For them.
The Words
By Maurice DeLivre
A word
So curt
When heard
It hurts.
Like a knife
Words send men
To strife
Again.
A careless
Word breaks
A heart’s mess
When spake.
When we speak,
Pain we wreak.
Canceled Possibilities
The knowns
Are but
The bones
Of what
Should be,
And ifs,
A sea
Where skiffs
Will ride
The swell
Of tide
Where Hell
Destroys
Good boys.
Bad Hair Day
For thee
scalp itch
can be
a bitch.
You shed
dandruff;
it’s said
that’s rough.
But this
grim state
I miss
of late.
Please spare
some hair!
I Herd …
Grouchy * the Ghoul
Follows no rule.
Doctor of Lies,
He takes the prize.
Satan he courts,
Truth he aborts.
I wonder why?
Breathe free or die.
* a nod to C.B. Anderson
Swoon
The moon
Unfurls.
A bloom
Of pearls
Ignites
The sky,
Excites
My eye,
With beams
So bold
In dreams
Untold…
Of you…
In blue.
Lovely!
Thank you, Beverly!
Nicely put, Susan, with superb thematic integrity.
Thank you, C.B., much appreciated.
Yes, beautiful.
I absolutely love this poem
In love
am I.
‘White dove’,
I sigh,
‘Where are
the blooms
Ishtar’s
perfumes
might fill
to tempt
her will’?
Preempt
the No
I know.
All praise to the Goddesses
This is brilliant. Powerful imagery and strong emotion, tied in a clean tight package. Well done, Susan!
The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) Is Easily
The C-
CP
is eas-
ily
our great-
est foe.
(I hate
it so.)
It’s tied
its strings
to Bid-
en’s wings—
It loves
Such doves.
It would be funny, Evan, if it weren’t so chilling and true.
Evan, edgy, scary and effective!
Evan, My favorite of the lot so far.
“The CCP is easily”
The greatest threat that I can see.”
Evan, There is no doubt in my mind the linkage with the “great pretender” doubled their own perception of power along with those of us like you who understand the gravity of the situation. Your poem is an accurate reflection of the current most dangerous external threat. You are both wise and poetically adept!
Yes!
In Any Language
One, two,
Three, four,
Je tu
Amore.
A bee,
A fish,
Ich Lie-
Be dich
A dove,
A cow,
I love
You now
It’s true,
I do.
Enjoyed!
The fix
Is in.
Biden
Will win
So place
Your bets
And pass
The gin.
Dear Joe
I know
you read
your mail
but why
don’t you
answer
a plea
from jail?
Pan Cakes
Some just
Dream of
Cake and
Others
Bake it
happen.
I don’t
bellyache
instead
I try
to make
no bake
pan cakes.
I kneed
the dough.
Love the clever ending, Beverly,
and the other flipped phrases. I don’t really
know the rules of the form or the rules
on this forum but if the form demands (?)
two syllables per line, complaint would
work. (Can you tell I’m one of those rule-
freaks?)
jd
clever