I have my doubts about the Moon.
The tides, they rise and fall.
Lovers gaze upon its face.
I wonder. Is that all?
Do nutty people know the Moon,
Go deeper when they see?
Am I the loony one who won’t
Let moonlight brighten me?
Linked to dVerse Meeting the Bar. The topic will trimeter and I am hosting. In the above poem I use trimeter, a line containing three feet, in the second, fourth, sixth and eighth lines. The challenge is to write a poem with at least some lines written in trimeter. The pub will open at 3 PM EST.
Linked also to Jilly’s 28 Days of Unreason Day 14 with a Harrison quote about blaming the Moon.
Photo: “M is for Moon” by the author. Perhaps I should clean the keyboard.
The moon doesn’t do much for me either. I like your use of the word ‘loony’ in this piece – apt and ironic.
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Thank you! I liked the word “loony” as well and had to get it in the poem somewhere.
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An wonderful poem. The attitude of it is so delightful. An interesting form, let’s see how it goes.
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Thanks, Jeren! I find this form one of my favorite in English poetry. It need only be four lines long. I am glad you liked it.
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No problem at all!
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The moon is a constant in the sky and it’s only human to have doubts about it.
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It doesn’t care about our doubts. Thanks, Kim!
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Lover, are we Frank? Here’s to those kisses.
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Thank you! Sometimes lovers like the Moon when they are tired of looking at each other.
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This has such a jaunty rhythm, Frank. A real ‘loony tune’ 🙂
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I did intend the sound to be a bit loony. Thanks, Jane!
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🙂
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Lunatics all, we gaze at the moon, seeing cheese, faces, & UFO bases, and one tiny American flag. I have not tried this before, or don’t remember it–==but it is an interesting challenge.
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I could read your poem with three accented syllables per line. I’m glad this was a new challenge. The Moon holds all kinds of dreams for us, waiting till we need them. Thanks, Glenn!
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I’m fascinated by the moon, also by your poem. Love the word “loony”. Your command of forms, especially ones like this is inspiring.
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Thank you, Lynn! I liked that word “loony” as well. I think because I had Moon on my mind it just popped into place. I was trying to write something related to Harrison’s quote about blaming the Moon.
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Ah, that was a great quote.
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A poem for lovers and lunatics – I like the fact your prompts bring us back to meter – not easy to make it sound non-predictable. Might try though!
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It’s worth trying. Who knows what might appear? Thank you, Laura!
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I like the rhythm of this poem and will have to try writing my own poem in trimeter.
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Thank you! This poem is only half trimeter. The other half is tetrameter. However, poems where all the lines are in trimeter sound nice as well.
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These are nice to read out-loud. I like how you question your own sanity because of the tendency to avoid something that is associated with insanity
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I like to make poems sound nice just in case they don’t make sense to the reader. What we currently think is insane may be a misunderstanding on our part of a deeper insight. Thank you, Victoria!
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so true – artists can certainly attest to that 🙂
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Ah, Frank, moonlight always brightens you! Somehow this challenge totally confounded me. I’m afraid I left you a sassy little poem, however. Mea culpa!
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I liked your poem. You did it very well. You’re right about moonlight. It always brightens us. We just may not be aware we are being enlightened as well. Thanks, Beverly!
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I liked the internal rhyme in “Lovers gaze upon it’s face.” Nice!
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I tried adding internal rhyme or slant rhyme in some lines. I am glad you liked that one. Thank you!
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I found that particular internal rhyme tremendously brainy. The missing syllable was not at all accidental, as one whole foot could be attributed to the stressed “gaze” in order to revert from the trochaic variation of “lover” back to the iambic flow, pivoting craftily over that internal rhyme. That, I think, is some serious prosodic wisdom. Marvellous.
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The missing first syllable was deliberate, as you mention, to soften the iambic repetition and make the sentence more natural sounding. The original line was “Lovers look upon its face” which didn’t sound interesting to me nor did it have two similar sounding words in the line that I was aiming for. I am glad you liked it, Colin!
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The revision is superb. Thanks for giving me this glimpse of insight.
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ArTeYes
ReaSoNeYes
BillNye
Moon
Pies Country
Roads MoonLiGht
Kiss BRinGinG Back
A Memory of ‘Moonlight
Feels Right’ and that
Sweet Southern
Baptist
Girl
in the
back seat slapping
my hand away when i just
touched her leg in friendship..
yes.. she sitting next to my Sister
With My Mother Driving the Car
i’m not sure if it was the Song as
Moon AlwAys BRinG Back tHat MaGiC SonG..
So glad i lived
in an era
at that
age
so naive
and innocent
away from knowing now..
why it was.. she slapped my hand…
Ah..all Days
When A Dance and SonG
oF Moonlight FeeLs Right..:)
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I don’t know why she slapped your hand. Perhaps she didn’t want your sister or mother to see. But who knows. The Moon does strange things and as Harrison suggested: blame the Moon, not me. Thanks, Fred!
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Thanks.. my friEnd that’s a glass half full
‘Cause I’ll Dance and Sing with now.. then
Not nearly
Confident
Enough
To See
That Glass..:)
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An essential question at the end of it, Frank. Not the cleaning of the keyboard, but the one about the moon and your resistance to it. My advice, spend an evening on YouTube listening to as many songs with Moon in the title as you can find.
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The first picture I took of the keyboard it was so dirty I had to blow off the dust and try again. Then I took this photo. It still wasn’t clean. I think the Moon might actually affect us in ways we are unaware at the moment because we haven’t thought of measuring those aspects. The magnetosphere (which does not extend out to the moon) affects us, perhaps keeps us sane–or at least we resonate with it. Maybe the Moon also affects us and there is something to the loony description. Thanks, Charley! I think I’ll listen to Moon River.
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What a delightful poem with great questions. The meter has a soft hand about it – well written! (That is one crumby keyboard you have there! HAHA!)
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It was worse before I cleaned it. I am glad you liked the poem. I wish I could make sense out of how the Moon affects us, and perhaps is to blame as Harrison says. In general, I think we’re to blame when it matters. It reminds me of that Margaritaville song by Jimmy Buffett. Each stanza gets closer to finding who really is to blame for why he’s where he is. Thanks, Jilly!
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…and I always thought Buffet was just there for the shrimp and booze! Haha! Some nights I go outside and wave at the moon like an old friend. It does strange things to us, indeed.
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A lovely rhythm, Frank. I’m a moon lover (I hope you don’t mind), but I echo your line: I also wonder I wonder. Is that all?
…there’s much more to it that meets they eyes. 🙂
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I love the Moon also. I agree there is more there than meets the eyes. Thank you, Maria!
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The world divided into two, nutty and loony.. I have to say I’m the latter.. And finally good to see mechanical keyboard..
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I would hope to be loony as well. I wish I had a picture of the Moon to go along with this poem, but I only have a Samsung phone to take pictures and I don’t get good night photos with it–or maybe I don’t know how to use it right. Thank you!
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Well if it helps at all here to loonies.. And somehow I was reminded of this after reading this comment..
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2010/08/11
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Nice cartoon! A Moon that makes faces has a personality!
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The ballad metre is wonderful. I especially like how the shorter, trimetric lines provide the mental breaks for proper digestion, while the alternating lengths form its signature, lyrical cadence. As for the poem, it reminds me of Kermit and his Rainbow Connection (and my childhood nostalgia).
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Interesting perspective on how the trimeter provides a mental break. It does break the monotony of tetrameter lines. This would probably be a poetic form that children would hear often. It is the same pattern as “Mary had a little lamb”. Thanks, Colin!
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Great rhyme and metre and love the whimsy of it which also conveys the profound.
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Thank you, Roslyn! I think the profound, to the extent one can achieve it, is enhanced by being packaged in what appears deceptively whimsical.
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Yes, I agree.
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THE MOON
The thing about the moon is that
it is not quite a star.
You know when you are looking at.
You know when so you are.
The moon, in fact, is very bright.
An expert it is not.
The star, you see, produces light.
And it is much to hot.
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Nice common meter poem! Thank you, Vaccinius!
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I can’t say, Frank, that I am particularly delighted by moonlight. I like the warmth of the sun best.
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The Sun is definitely warmer and brighter. Thank you, Robbie!
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Chortle… full moon and high winds always seem to make school children a little wild…..
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I didn’t realize high winds did it as well, but they do take my breath away and make me want to stay inside. When I feel a bit strange and see a full Moon I wonder to myself if that had anything to do with it. Thanks, Lynn!
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I myself am subject to lunacy. But I acknowledge other points of view. (K)
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I hope I am, too. It occurred to me that for about six days of the Moon’s cycle, when it is full, it is in the magnetosphere (or specifically the “magnetotail” ) of the Earth. The magnetosphere apparently affects us and other species. I wonder if the Moon’s passing through the Earth’s magnetosphere is what influences this lunacy?
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Definitely possible.
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Fantastic example of how to blend trimeter into a poem with tetrameter. This lunar poem ticks 😉
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Thank you, Paul! Limericks are another way. I am glad you liked this common meter use of trimeter lines.
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Nice rhythm here. But did you just make Selene cry?😜
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I hope I didn’t make any goddess cry, least of all the Moon goddess. I am glad you liked the rhythm, and I hope Selene did as well. Thanks, Imelda!
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Selene would have loved it. I think she has some sense of humor beneath her calm exterior. 🙂
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I am a lunar looney. Your questions are intriguing.
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There may be something to being a bit loony during a full Moon with the Moon passing through the magnetotail has some effect on us. Thanks, Sara!
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I think you may be onto something! Ha! Very nice!!!!
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I wonder if lunacy coming from the moon going through the earth’s magnetotail has any research backing it. I’ll have to look. Thank you!
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Maybe you have stumbled onto one of Nature’s secrets??
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I suspect others have stumbled upon this already, but I haven’t researched it enough. In a quick search I found that recent lunar probes detected changes on the Moon when it goes through the magnetotail of the Earth, something any long term mission there would have to consider: https://www.nasa.gov/topics/moonmars/features/magnetotail_080416.html
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I wonder if lunacy coming from the lunation going through the solid ground’s magnetotail has any enquiry financial support it.
There may be something to being a spot barmy during a full Moon with the Moon passing through the magnetotail has some impression on us.
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Yes, I suspect something like that as well. Thanks for your comment!
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