Monday, May 16, 2011

Magpie Tale #66, "Tattered Jackets", a poem

Photo courtesy of Tess Kincaid

Tattered Jackets

Soldiers standing upon my shelf
Stoically gathering dust.
These tattered jackets I so trust

to guard my soul, my inner self.
Pressed together, well worn leather
musty and old.  The smell itself

reminiscent of wanderlust.
My mind's journey upon my shelf.

by Margaret Bednar, Art Happens, May 16, 2011


Wow.  This is "killing two birds with one stone"...  One Stop Poetry's "One Stop Monday Form" and Magpie Tales #66.  Click on either one to be transported to hundreds (not kidding) of poems!

Also entered it in this week's "One Shot Wednesday" over at the wonderful One Stop Poetry blog.

For those who want to know:
One Stop Monday's Form this week is Luke Prater's invented form.  It is an Octain and has eight lines, and eight syllables per line.  The full name is "Octain Refrain".   The Rhyme scheme is (c/c stands for internal rhyme and A stands for a repeated refrain line) :
A-b-b
a-c/c-a
b-A

And the best part is that I didn't HAVE to use iambic tetrameter!  So I took the easy way out... :)

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This is for "The Creative Exchange".  The host shares a touching experience.  Click HERE to be transported to her beautiful photography blog.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Absolutely beautiful, Margaret. Thanks for sharing. My magpie: http://verseinanutshell.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/open-book/

Bonnie Zieman, M.Ed. said...

Moving words and images - as always Margaret. Love the photo of your sweet boy (I'm assuming he's yours!) :)

TexWisGirl said...

love that poem. made me crave old books and their wonderment. :)

Anonymous said...

I can almost smell the musky smell of the books. thanks to your words

moondustwriter said...

Ah Margaret you describe the journey so well. my favorite place to travel.

Moonie hugs

Reflections said...

A fabulous piece... excellent combination of the prompts.

Pitterle Postings said...

Nothing quite like old book jackets!! Love the poem and the picture.

forgetmenot said...

Could you have taken a more precious picture--I don't think so--lovely capture. Mickie :)

Brian Miller said...

this is delicious...love the thought of them as solidiers...guarding ourselves...excellent...

Lisa Gordon said...

Oh my goodness Margaret, the last photograph here? I truly wish I could find adequate words for it. What an amazing capture, and the timing could not have been more perfect.

As always, your poetry amazes me, and today is no exception, but for right now, I just want to hug the last photo!! :-)

Thank you so much for sharing this at The Creative Exchange.

Have a great day my friend!

lisa.

Helen said...

Margaret,
Your Magpie is wonderful!!!

Claudia said...

..Pressed together, well worn leather...i love your c/c rhyme - it's beautiful - love the whole octain actually. good use of the form and the book soldiers guarding the inner self - really cool idea

Luke Prater said...

Hi Margaret -

This is a most excellent Octain. I very much like the image of these old books, stoic, as soldiers, and your midline rhyme for the c/c line (five) underscores the toughness of the book. The 'Well-worn leather" is almost tangible to the reader through your words. Also bringing the sense of smell into the Narrative adds another dimension and strengthens the Poetic Voice.

The word 'soul' I find a difficult one to get away with in poetry, though it does have its place; that aside, very nice work here. My favourite line is this one - two great words in combination -

reminiscent of wanderlust.

Thanks for giving the Octain a go, and so successfully!

Warm regards

Luke

ps apologies if this came twice, i was unsure if it worked the first time! WordPress -> blogger issues

Margaret said...

Thank you, everyone for the comments! I thank Luke for poem style and I will attempt this again soon. And thank you for the kind comments on my photography - This one is a personal favorite of mine. :)

Ginny Brannan said...

'Pressed together, well worn leather
musty and old. The smell itself
reminiscent of wanderlust.'
I too love the look, the feel, the smell of old books. Nice Octain, beautifully worded.

hyperCRYPTICal said...

Love it too!

Anna :o]

Margaret said...

Ginny, KB & HyperCRYPTICal - I appreciate you for letting me know you liked it.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful writing =)

Sue J said...

Beautifully worded.