Comments on Prayer

This poem “Prayer” was written on September 15, 2007 at Cassia Drive, St. James South, Barbados. It was my birthday. It takes the form of an Acrostic Reversed-Telestich in Free Verse. In reversing the forward movement of the Telestich portion of the Acrostic poem, to that of a backward motion is what created the Reversed-Telestich.

Looking at the poem, at first glance, it looks like metered poetry, but it is not. A closer look at the poem would reveal that it does not conform to established patterns of meter, rhyme and stanza.

The poems “Heroes” and “Prayer” take the form of the Acrostic Reversed-Telestich. Here are some guidelines to help you compose your first Acrostic Reversed-Telestich poem:

Firstly, make the decision as to what style you will write the Acrostic Reversed-Telestich; whether in the traditional form or in Free Verse.

Select a title for the Acrostic Reversed-Telestich. Let’s say you selected the title “Heroes”. Bearing in mind that the Reversed-Telestich starts at the end of each line of verse with that word whose last letter in reverse as shown in the graphic map below:

Acrostic side of the Poem .............. Reversed-Telestich Side of the Poem

H ...................................................... s
e ....................................................... e
r ....................................................... o
o ....................................................... r
e ....................................................... e
s ....................................................... h

Start composing the lines of verses for the poem, now that you know where the starting points are for the Acrostic and for the Reversed-Telestich sides of the poem.

At the beginning of the first line of verse, begin with the first letter in the title. Continue on this line of verse until you reach the end point and use a word that has the last letter of the title.

At the beginning of the second line of verse, begin with the second letter of title; at the end of this same line of verse, use a word that has the next last letter of the title. Continue this sequence for the remaining verses of your poem.

You can follow this procedure for any title you come up with for your Acrostic Reversed-Telestich poem.

Read your completed poem aloud, check for errors and correct any errors found.

Comments on "Heroes"

It was a cloudy day with no rain and a temperature of 28 degrees Celsius on October 10, 2010 when I wrote this short poem "Heroes" at my Cassia Drive home in St. James South on the coral island of Barbados. The poem is in the form of an Acrostic Reversed-Telestich with Tetrameter verses. This alphabetic poem is flagged under the category of “Heroism”.

Do you think that contemporary society has overuse the word “hero” for what might be easily construed as being a “good Samaritan”? Do you consider great explorers and sports-people to be heroes? Would this definition of a hero help you to make up your mind?

Bravery is usually the biggest trait of all heroes (male and female). Such persons have overcome huge obstacles to survive and to rescue others. Such persons accept the call to adventure and have overcome perils in a manner that requires courage and sacrifice in a way that benefits society in some recognizable way. Every person at sometime or other is constantly searching for a hero because a hero is someone that inspires you to lift yourself from your boot-string as it were for the greater good to self and to others.