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The Faux Pas

 (Pentameter)

The frivolity of youth is its charm;

Slowly fades away with the aging soul;

A fancy dress party raised the alarm;

The harried Prince, some way, has lost control.

Skeletons in the closet do have sway;

Secrets are tied to the bones in the chest;

In graveyards they no longer want to stay,

But invade young minds that want to impress.

Constant in battle are young rolling stones;

The ancestral flaws they like to expose;

Hypocrisy lies in these bags of bones,

So let’s throw a party and wear their clothes.

The stage was set for the ball of the year;

Tom, Dick and Harry wore mask in the crowd;

Common guys were not supposed to be there;

And their ragbag clothes made a Nazi cloud.

The commoners’ streets are not paved with gold;

So the hair comes down in any spotlight.

Top of the line, comes from a different mould,

So a faux pas is very impolite.

 In the lens, paparazzi shoot the Crown;

No vetted shots, from them, for royal folks,

Who throughout the country they bring renown;

This mystic feeling, royalty evokes.

Mistakes are made so old folks reprimand,

But with every error something is learnt.
History as a core, not taught in England!
So youth do not know what folks Hitler burnt.

How well one seeks to correct every wrong,
Indicates the true measure of the man;
So you eat humble pie, to make you strong,
And reflect on the way it all began.

© Paterika Hengreaves

(Summer 2005/New Zealand)

This poem the “Faux Pas” is written in Pentameter style.

The Pentameter is a literary device that can be defined as that verse made up of five strong metrical feet or beats. The Pentameter functions are to govern the individual verses in the poem and to provide a structural form to a poem. The Pentameter also gives arrangement to words through the regular use of accents on the syllables, and help in emphasizing the specific words which the poet wishes to use. This is the major reason for variations in the text through stressed/unstressed patterns.

"The Faux Pas" was composed during my stay in New Zealand in the summer of 2005, to capture the universal outcry when Prince Harry one of the sons of Prince Charles threw a fancy-dress ball. Unknowing to the Prince, a picture of him wearing a Nazi war symbol was taken by the paparazzi. This royal blunter caused eyebrows to be raised among the Jewish community as well as with Leaders of Commonwealth countries. They felt his behavior was not in keeping with someone who could be heir to the British Crown. This conclusion was drawn from reports carried via the dead tree and electronic media on the matter. The distraught Prince after many days of mulling over this faux pas made a royal apology. This apology is seen as a very heroic act executed by the Prince. This brought him back in good favour with the people around the globe. This serves to strengthen the notion that any sincere apology can heal wounds.

The politics of 2016-2018 America among candidates for the various political positions have exhibited behaviors that are social mistakes and more often than not are impolite or beyond the pale. They have showcased their jungle-like behaviors so unbecoming of a nation that is supposed to be civilized and a leader of the free-world. However, no human being is perfect, but educated and civilized people of America seeking ruler-ship positions in those political establishments should take pause. They should not indulge in a barrage of ‘false steps’ and especially the forty-fifth occupant in the White House. Sadly this is the cycle of the present-day. One is left to say that candidates running for the highest office in the land should avid for starters:  nasty comments or the faux pas. These embarrassing social mistakes should never become the main dish in the political food-basket. I am mainly sounding the warning bell on the disgrace-full conduct in political arenas aired on electronic communication devices and in the “free-press”. God bless the United States of America.

Correct Times to Drink Water to Prevent Heart Attack, Stroke, Poor Diges...

Structure of the Villanelle Poetry

Kadooment Day Villanelle

Jamming on kadooment day, from dawn to dusk, playing mask
Revellers from everywhere, including France

In brazen wear and tear, they bask

In the sun, sipping fermented juice from a bamboo flask

Tourists, jumping, whirling and twirling have come to prance

Jamming on kadooment day, from dawn to dusk, playing mask

Jamming on kadooment day, from dawn to dusk away from cane-trash

Chanting calypso songs, in native parlance

In brazen wear and tear, they bask

Sea of people on Spring Garden, round a cask
while vermin grind, sweet grass, with a weasel-mouth lance

Jamming on kadooment day, from dawn to dusk, playing mask

So Crop Over comes many months after Pasch

All through the day and night they sing and they dance

In brazen wear and tear, they bask

All year these wild cats, make camouflaging an easy task
in the cane fields to flex the Ministry of Finance

Jamming on kadooment day, from dawn to dusk, playing mask

In brazen wear and tear, they bask.

© Paterika Hengreaves

(July 2018 (Barbados)

Structure of the Villanelle Poetry

Jamming on kadooment day, from dawn to dusk, playing mask (A1)……
Revellers from everywhere, including France (B) ………………     Tercet stanza

In brazen wear and tear, they bask (A2)……………………………. 

In the sun, sipping fermented juice from a bamboo flask (A)……

Tourists, jumping, whirling and twirling have come to prance (B)....Tercet Stanza

Jamming on kadooment day, from dawn to dusk, playing mask (AI…….

Jamming on kadooment day, from dawn to dusk away from cane-trash (A)…

Chanting calypso songs, in native parlance (B)……………………. Tercet Stanza

In brazen wear and tear, they bask (A2)………………………….

Sea of people on Spring Garden, round a cask (A)…………………..
While vermin grind, sweet grass, with a weasel-mouth lance (B)…… Tercet Stanza

Jamming on kadooment day, from dawn to dusk, playing mask (A1)….

So Crop Over comes many months after Pasch (A)…………..

All through the day and night they sing and they dance (B)……. Tercet Stanza

In brazen wear and tear, they bask (A2)………………………

All year these wild cats, make camouflaging an easy task (A)…….
In the cane fields to flex the Ministry of Finance (B)………...……Quatrain Stanza

Jamming on kadooment day, from dawn to dusk, playing mask (A1)......

In brazen wear and tear, they bask. (A2)…………………….............

The "Kadooment Day" poem is written in the form of the English Villanelle. The Villanelle is of French origin. This poetic form uses repetition. The English equivalent of the French Villanelle is a fixed form poetry consisting of:

Nineteen verses of any length divided into -:

- 6 stanzas
- 5 tercet stanzas
- 1 concluding quatrain

Verses 1 and 3 of the initial Tercet rhyme. These rhymes are repeated in each subsequent Tercet (aba) and in the final two verses of the quatrain (abaa)

Verse 1 appears in its entirety as verses 6, 12 and 18

Verse 3 reappears as verses 9, 15 and 19.

Crop Over is a Bajan-Caribbean cane harvest festival in the West Indies. The festivities run for several weeks to celebrate the end of the sugar cane harvest.

Kadooment Day is the last day of Crop Over which commences on July 1 and ends on the August 1. It is a summer street festival with all the noise, colour and vibrancy you’d expect from a Caribbean festival. Folks get into the furrow with local drinks and cuisine; join the throng as bands and calypso musicians parade through the streets. Glittering costumes and plenty of “bare skin” are on show amidst a melee of revellers, stilt walkers, musicians and entertainers. Such fun and celebrations continue well into the wee hours of the morning so you’ll need plenty of stamina. Tourists world over are drawn to this festival annually.

“fermented juice from a bamboo flask” = rum in bottle
“sweet grass” = sugar cane