Spirits In Peace Blog

When it’s a prose poem, of course!

Not all poetry arrives in neat, tidy stanzas. Sometimes a poem arrives almost as prose, but is distinguished from that by still retaining poetic characteristics and language usage. Kahlil Gibran wrote prose poems, for example, as in the famed “The Prophet.”

Recently, as piece arrived in that format, basically requiring almost no editing other than the usual correcting of typos. When that happens, a poet knows the piece is in some way special - a gift from the universe, and the writing is often spiritual in theme or somehow related to spirituality.

Nature is always a great source of inspiration for me, and my muse is often most generous on a balmy day. After this summer’s incessant rains, the past couple of days have been sunny yet with a haze in the distance due to my proximity to rivers and the bay. Just the sort of weather when the Muse often visits quite spontaneously.

Here, then, is the prose poem that chose me as its author just yesterday.

The Hazy Day of Great Abundance

On certain summer days, when the southerly breezes off the bay brought a torrid heat accompanied by gentle mists in the distance, her imagination took flight as it rarely did in any other season. She hardly experienced epiphanies in winter, for example, her soul being too congested with the back-breaking labour of ice and snow for the whisperings of the universe to enter. But on this particularly hot day, with its incipient fog, she began to note stirrings along the lines of abundance and its relationship to addiction.

Let it be said that over the course of her three-score and some-odd years, she had come in touch with the usual assortment of addicts. When she was young, she encountered some who seemed unable to exist without a drug-induced high, and eventually the inevitable alcoholic or two made an appearance. Many of her female friends seemed obsessed with weight and food; some were overly concerned with relationships. And more recently, as face-to-face conversations were replaced with electronic chat rooms and dating sites, she came to the conclusion that many were hooked on these forums as well.

And thus, on this hot and hazy day, came to her a rather obvious realization: that which we feel we are lacking, we crave. The person lacking in human warmth and communication becomes addicted to chats; those lacking the high of euphoria become hooked on drugs, alcohol, and occasionally exercise. Persons who believe themselves unloved become love addicts, and those who perceive themselves as unseen and unheard crave attention. The second fiddle craves the praise normally awarded first violin. A dieter, believing herself to be lacking food, craves more of it, quite a self-defeating pattern, and one which she herself had often endured.

Realizing the perception of abundance to be the root of all contentment, as the mists rolled in off the surrounding rivers and bay, she said to herself in an unabashed manner, “I have enough.”

And this had been the gift brought in by the heat and humidity, of which there was most assuredly an abundance on this particular day…

Photo Courtesy Of BigFoto

My usual style is free verse with ventures into form poetry such as haiku, tanka, and the etheree. I don’t normally write rhyme, although I have done rhyming etherees. But this piece presented itself more or less in non-metrical couplets, and all I had to do was arrange them in sequence. The Muse was most generous in sending me the lines in their entirety.

When I lived in Montreal, I saw so many lost teenage girls. Behind the heavy make-up of the prostitute was the face of a child of no more than perhaps at most fifteen. Something I recently read in a novel reminded me of that scene. How sad that our society lets this happen to its children - I used to wonder what kind of horror they were escaping at home if this life was perceived as better…

Montrealers commonly refer to rue St-Laurent, a long street which divides east from west, as “the Main.” By day, it is captivating and fascinating, and one can buy groceries or a lunch of any ethnic persuasion and do the usual shopping, etc. After 10 p.m., it turns into a nightmare…

I did not really intend this piece to be strictly metrical but rather rhythmical, and wanted to try some rhyme.

St-Laurent Strut

Little girl lost on rue St.-Laurent
top tugged down her breasts to flaunt,
black vinyl skirt and knee high boots -
she’s all alone, no talk of her roots.

Striding with sharp stiletto’d strut
she spends her nights in hovel and hut.
Arms gray-veined from needle and knife,
on fear and addiction she bases her life.

Prom preempted by pusher-pimp
who walks with a syphilitic limp,
she’s owned, dishonoured, and poorly kept.
How many tears has her mother wept?

On the street where daughter-dreams
are daily dashed amidst the screams
sirens are shrieking once again -
girl-child murdered on Montreal’s Main.

Picture Courtesy Of BigFoto

Not long ago, I encountered a website displaying a few rhyming etherees and providing some possible rhyme schemes. I didn’t tackle one right away, but more or less let the notion simmer on my mind’s back burner for a couple of months while I dealt with the horrific winter nature offered us.

Then, just this past weekend, I suddenly found myself working on one. I had not set out to do this so much as one wanted to be written, as often happens with poetry of all types. Over the past few days, I have played around with rhymes schemes, working to incorporate the additional pattern into the already highly structured etheree format. In my first attempt I used couplets(a-a-b-b- etc.), which are fairly straightforward. I then worked with alternating lines in the a-b-a-b-c-d-c-d pattern.

My most recent effort was with a rhyme scheme beginning with a-b-c-b, and I found this more intricate pattern interesting to work with, trickier than the simple couplets but perhaps less difficult than the alternating form. Nature, as usual, provided me with a metaphor for this somewhat spiritual piece.

A Heavenward Glide: A Rhyming Double Etherée

Let
me not
shed a tear,
so overwrought
about matters which
are well past my control
that I make myself daft, my
thinking on an unpleasant roll.
For I need to realize what dwells
within my power to alter or change,
conducting my affairs in a calm style
in such manner as I might arrange.
I must let worries and concerns
which simply add up to pride
float on the western wind
and heavenward glide
past clouds to safe
realms above
in God’s
Love.

© Carol Knepper

Photograph Courtesy of BigFoto

There is something about spring that, for me at least, gives rise to quick burst of energy. Winter is long and slow, and I sometime set myself to work on time-consuming tasks, but at the first whiff of spring, my energy level kicks up a notch. I want nothing to do with anything long and labourious, and prefer to work with more speed and intensity. Perhaps I simply want to abandon the computer and head outside, even though the air is still a mite chilly. Perhaps, like the nature I see around me, I am reborn in some sense and more childlike in my attention span.

But, in any case, spring always brings forth a burst of poetry. I like to experiment with forms, and one of my more recent forays has been into the area of tanka, with the assistance of Richard Doiron, a definite expert in such matters. I had attempted this form in the past, but from him I learned a great deal.

The changeable weather and emergence of spring flora together with the inevitable backward glimpses of winter at this time of year inspired some recent tanka.

her poem painted
- tanka x 5-

silently cursing
the apparently endless
blizzards this winter
surely an indication
of a planet in distress

her spirits sinking
on noting the ankle-deep
early spring snowfall
as good as fertilizer
for emerging daffodils

her concept of spring
does not in her books include
unwelcome snowfall
considered an obvious
redundancy in her mind

april erupting
in glorious colours she sees
her poem painted
with saffron of crocuses
staining each verse and stanza

colourful darwin
tulips earning her praises
their scarlet cheerful
unlike bloodstains of battle
wherein darker sides revealed

©Carol Knepper

In this lesson, we will focus on the reverse form of the single etheree. Like the original version, it may be centered, left-aligned, or right-aligned, and punctuated or unpunctuated.

One works exactly in reverse order of the single form, starting with a ten syllable line and ending with a one-syllable line. Thus, the format is as follows, and remember each line should be two or three letters shorter than the previous one:

Line 1 - 10 syllables

Line 2 - 9 syllables

Line 3 - 8 syllables

Line 4 - 7 syllables

Line 5 - 6 syllables

Line 6 - 5 syllables

Line 7 - 4 syllables

Line 8 - 3 syllables

Line 9 - 2 syllables

Line 10 - 1 syllable

Here is an example of an unpunctuated single reverse etheree, which was actually part of a pair:

Artistic Dreams

Hear
whispers
in your soul
of dreams telling
of untraveled roads
since your secret vision
is a bright enchanted path
leading to fantasies that may
open artwork’s portals releasing
the joy residing in the human heart

And here is a punctuated one, which was part of a series:

Variations On The Seasons

I love the varied tints of summer’s clime,
the gentle pinks of phlox and the clear
blues of fescue, sage, and catmint.
The mauves of foxgloves and tall
larkspur thrill my soul, while
bright crimson Maltese
cross form piercing
cries of sheer
August
joy.

Now, using the skills taught in the previous lessons, try your own single reverse form.

You now understand the basics of writing a single etheree, whether it be a nature poem one on any other topic or theme. Many variations are possible, and in this lesson I will focus on this concept.

An etheree is commonly centered, but may also quite correctly be left or right aligned. It is interesting to note the difference this makes in appearance. Sometimes glitches in line length that are not apparent in one format will show up quite glaringly in another. I often try mine in different formats to make sure they are satisfactory.

Try the etheree you wrote for lesson one in these different alignments and see how it looks. The best of etherees look fine in any format.

Often etherees are left unpunctuated, and this is the easiest way to start. I also like to leave them without punctuation for the flow of thought that occurs without the pauses. But some etherees almost demand punctuation, and this is a bit of a skill. Here is an example of one that I chose to punctuate:

On The Edge

The
skater,
speeding on
rapid back edge,
reaches far with her
right leg and jabs in that
toe-pick with due precision,
taking care not to change to an
inside edge, perfect timing needed
lest she open in a huge miscued pop.

Note that punctuation can be used at mid-line as necessary.

One tip is to punctuate as you write. Do not write the poem and then attempt to insert the punctuation marks, as they affect line length by two spaces - one for the mark and another for the space that must follow it. Using a capital letter to begin a new sentence will also affect line length.

Here is an unpunctuated etheree, actually part of a pair, which I will later punctuate so you can see what happens:

Love And Knowledge

Know
what you
need to know
but book learning
cannot grant wisdom
so know what you read is
mere knowledge and no equal
to wisdom derived from gleaning
words scripted in the sacred book of
souls where light is written in divine code

Now let’s try inserting the grammatically correct punctuation:

Love And Knowledge

Know
what you
need to know,
but book learning
cannot grant wisdom.
So know what you read is
mere knowledge, and no equal
to wisdom derived from gleaning
words scripted in the sacred book of
souls, where light is written in divine code.

You can see the negative effect on the general configuration. Note that in line 6 the capital letter S occupies more space than did the lower case one in the original. Lines 7 and 8 are too close in length with the comma  and following space added to line 7, and the final line is also too long with the addition of the comma and space.

Never attempt to lengthen a line by hitting the space bar twice. The end result looks horrible, is an obvious cheat, and comes up on any spelling and grammar check.

Some of these fine details may seem trivial or picky, but the etheree is a precise and finely tuned form, and minute adjustments make all the difference between a mediocre piece and one perhaps worthy of publication.