Poetry Project — October, 2023

Our poetry assignment this month was tricky — a poetic game of sorts called a Bouts-Rimés. Each of us contributed not just rhyming words, but purposefully incongruent ones, and we were then asked to write sonnets using those very words as the end rhymes.

Our list of words included:
profuse/abtruse
chartreuse/truce
incline/shine
resign/supine
various/gregarious
hilarious/precarious
ceasefire/quagmire
higher/dryer
transform/barnstorm
uniform/conform
humility/futility
nobility, tranquility
perturb/superb
reverb/disturb

And I chose to write a Shakespearean sonnet, which required me to pluck 2 words from every set of four. (Plus, as a reminder, our overall topic this year is transformation and my own personal challenge has been to focus on a scientific process each time. There are several in this poem, most obviously waxing, waning and rising.) Anyway, here goes…

The Moon and the Rising Sea 

A drama queen, a harlequin abstruse.
Look here, she’s dark, and then she takes a shine
to you, her focus full, her face chartreuse.
You’re helpless at her feet and you resign

yourself, become – like her! – gregarious,
till sailors weep, beg for a ceasefire,
till shores erode, become precarious.
You carry on, rising ever higher

beyond her ruling reach, your role transforms.
Now we reflect her new futility —
we push you back and hope that you’ll conform,
we beg the gods for some tranquility.

Who broke what worked, who stirred, perturbed
the peace? It’s us, our voices, waves, reverb.

Read the others here:
Sara
Tricia
Mary Lee
Tanita
Kelly
Laura

And dig into Poetry Friday at The Apples in my Orchard!

Finally, we invite you to join us next month as we write “In the Style of…” Valerie Worth — what fun! Be well, all. That’s not easy right now but I wish it for you all.

10 Responses to “Poetry Project — October, 2023”

  1. Mary Lee

    What a fun compare/contrast of moon and sea. And that final stanza!

  2. Tricia Stohr-Hunt

    First, I love that we used exactly the same enjambment for resign! I’m especially fond of your final couplet, which packs a powerful punch. You’ve pulled the theme of transformation, your science focus, and a gaggle of difficult words together beautifully.

  3. tanita

    You guys with your enjambment! Liz, this is. Just. Gorgeous. The moon as a flirtatious harlequin, giving come-hither energy until even the sailors beg for mercy. It’s definitely our own fault, though.

  4. Laura Purdie Salas

    Ooh, interesting, Liz. I can’t BELIEVE how many rules you set for yourself and still emerged with something lovely. Like Tanita, I’m taken in by the coquettish harlequin moon.

  5. Sara Lewis Holmes

    This is my favorite line: “Look here, she’s dark, and then she takes a shine
    to you, her focus full, her face chartreuse.” The playfulness, that end line turn, that clever use of chartreuse…I could go on. The push and pull of this poem is extraordinary.

  6. Denise Krebs

    Liz, your Shakespearean sonnet is spot on, and on this full moon night–it’s perfect for reading. As others have mentioned, it’s amazing that with all the constraints you put on yourself that you came up with such a winner. I like the enjambment between stanzas.

  7. Carol J. Labuzzetta

    Liz, I think you all did a fabulous job with these poems. to me, it doesn’t seem easy. I like your subject matter. Out of curiosity, why your focus on the scientific process? I have a science background and am interested in this choice of yours.

    • liz

      Thank you, Carol. I’ve got a science focus all year, maybe because it helps make sense of things? We need all the help we can get….

  8. Carol Varsalona

    Liz, your ending lines are so strong. I see you deftly introduced the word transform. This is a beautiful example of a Bouts-Rimes poem.