Comments on "Terror Go to France"

Terror Go To France

About Isis

And Al Qaeda

The news says this: 

Paris attack

These townspeople

Office ransack

They killed twelve men

Charlie Hebdo

Holding his pen 

Written lampoons

These brothers two

Hate their cartoons

Dress in war gear

These two baboons

Spread dread and fear 

With Yemen skill

And Allah chants

They maim and kill

Each infidel

From western world

Blast them to hell 

Please hear our call

Al Qaeda foal

Love conquers all

                                 (January 9, 2015)

Special Notes on Poem:

 Form: Fixed                                         Genre:  Narrative                 Style:  Gothic      Meter:  Iambic Dimeter

 Classification: Dark Poem                   Stanza: Sexain                     Rhyme scheme:   abacdc

In a poem, Content houses the meaning or message in the poem which is a creative work and must be looked upon as distinct from the poem’s appearance, poem’s form and the poem’s style. The message is extrapolated from all the words in each verse and the imagery the words convey as they are spoken by speaker the poet has designated to speak. So since Content is the meaning or message contained in the poem, as distinct from its appearance, form or style.

What is the Content in Poem, “Terror Go to France”?  In a reflective mode, the persona in this poem has responded in verse to the attack on the people in the Capitol of France who on January 8, 2015 were besieged by terrorist who kowtow to the dictates of Al Qaeda in Yemen in the Arabian Peninsula and Isis. As activities revealed, their goal is the utter destruction of Western Civilization and way of life and set up their caliphate in the name of their god as their behavior reveals. What an impossible goal? Do they think the Western World will lie down and be intimidated by their intolerant behavior? They have got to be delusional. Human beings were created free moral agents not slaves. In an enlightened and tolerant world, terror will never reign supreme.

Comments on Birthday Wishes from the Cloud

This day is special for Bobby Stallone

A guy, who lives in the northern time zone;

I better call him now on telephone;

Sing him a song with melodious tone

From my country home, outside Montreal

And wait eagerly for the first snow fall;

To give him gifts I purchased in the mall,

To match his tattoos, wrinkles, warts and all;

Yet brushing off hardships I have carried;

And my commitments to kids so candid;

And yet, heaps of sugar-ants dominate

The icing, which keeps dripping off the plate;

Happy birthday to you my handsome mate;

From the cloud, I wish for you all things great.

The motivation to create the Hendianne sonnet came as a result of the interest shown by my husband and my youngest sister, Anne in my poetry; both them have since passed on. The tribute paid to them is shown by way of naming the sonnet the “Hendianne”. There are two methods being used in the creation of this 21^st Century sonnet.

1)         Use rhyming couples within a rhyme scheme aa aabbbb ccdd dd as follows:

An opening couplet. This introduces the theme or problem

                       

At the end of the opening couplet use sexain which is three couplets.  The sexain is where the theme or problem is developed.

At the end of the sexain use a quatrain which is two couplets, this signals a change in the speaker’s tone, mood or stance of the poem; this pivot, turn or shift is referred to as the “volta” in classical sonnets and is easily recognized by such initial words as “but”, “yet” or “and yet”;

Now, complete the Hendianne sonnet with a rhyming couplet. This ending couplet or “coda” provides a logical resolution to the problem.

           

           

2)         Another method of creating the Hendianne sonnet pattern is as follows:

Begin with the opening triplet (three verses). This introduces the theme or problem;

At the end of the opening triplet use a sexain which is three couplets. The sexain is where the theme or problem is developed;

At the end of the sexain use a triplet, this is where the speaker’s tone, mood or stance of the poem changes. This is the pivotal moment in the sonnet;

Now, complete the Hendianne sonnet with a rhyming couplet. This ending couplet or “coda” provides a logical resolution to the problem.

            The rhyme scheme for this method is somewhat flexible, but with only two requirements that the second verse in the opening triplet must rhyme with first verse of the sexain; and the ending couplet must rhyme. The poem, "Errol Barrow Day" uses method 2, so check it out. 

“Birthday Wishes from the Cloud” is structured around seven rhyming couplets partitioned as follows; opening couplet, sexain (three couplets), quatrain (two couplets) and closing couplet in iambic pentameter within a rhyme scheme aaaabbbbccdddd.

The sonnets of Wordsworth, Shakespeare, Milton, Keats, Spenserian and Petrarchan brands have influenced greatly the creation of this highly structured sonnet dubbed the “Hendianne”.  Tables 1 and 2 show exemplars used to compare the structural variants among the different types of English Language sonnets from past centuries to the present.

 Table 1

Exemplars

Birthday Wishes from the Cloud This day is special for Bobby Stallone A guy, who lives in the northern time zone; I better call him now on telephone; Sing him a song with melodious tone From my country home, outside Montreal And wait eagerly for the first snow fall; To give him gifts I purchased in the mall, To match his tattoos, wrinkles, warts and all; Yet brushing off hardships I have carried; And my commitments to kids so candid; And yet, heaps of sugar-ants dominate The icing, which keeps dripping off the plate; Happy birthday to you my handsome mate; From the cloud, I wish for you all things great. Petrarchan Sonnet 159 In what bright realm, what sphere of radiant thought Did Nature find the model whence she drew That delicate dazzling image where we view Here on this earth what she in heaven wrought? What fountain-haunting nymph, what dryad, sought In groves, such golden tresses ever threw Upon the gust? What heart such virtues knew?— Though her chief virtue with my death is frought. He looks in vain for heavenly beauty, he Who never looked upon her perfect eyes, The vivid blue orbs turning brilliantly – He does not know how Love yields and denies; He only knows, who knows how sweetly she Can talk and laugh, the sweetness of her sighs. One day I wrote her name upon the strand (Spenserian Sonnet) One day I wrote her name upon the strand, But came the waves and washed it away: Again I wrote it with a second hand, But came the tide and made my pains his prey. Vain man (said she), that dost in vain assay A mortal thing so to immortalize; For I myself shall like to this decay, And eke my name be wiped out likewise. Not so (quod I); let baser things devise To die in dust, but you shall live by fame; My verse your virtues rare shall eternize, And in the heavens write your glorious name: Where, when as death shall all the world subdue, Our love shall live, and later life renew.

Miltonic Sonnet 19 When I consider how my light is spent, E're half my days, in this dark world and wide, And that one Talent which is death to hide, Lodg'd with me useless, though my Soul more bent To serve therewith my Maker, and present  My true account, least he returning chide, Doth God exact day labour, light deny'd, I fondly ask; But patience to prevent That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need Either man's work or his own gifts, who best  Bear his milde yoak, they serve him best, his State Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed And post o're Land and Ocean without rest: They also serve who only stand and waite. Shakespearean Sonnet 1 FROM fairest creatures we desire increase, That thereby beauty's rose might never die, But as the riper should by time decease, His tender heir might bear his memory: But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes, Feed'st thy light'st flame with self-substantial fuel, Making a famine where abundance lies, Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel. Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament And only herald to the gaudy spring, Within thine own bud buriest thy content And, tender churl, makest waste in niggarding. Pity the world, or else this glutton be, To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee. Sonnet XXVI – To Sleep (Wordsworth) A flock of sheep that leisurely pass by, One after one; the sound of rain, and bees Murmuring; the fall of rivers, winds and seas, Smooth fields, white sheets of water and pure sky, By turns have all been thought of, yet I lie Sleepless; and soon the small birds’ melodies Must hear, first uttered from my orchard trees; And the first Cuckoo’s melancholy cry. Even thus last night, and two nights more, I lay, And could not win thee, Sleep! by any stealth: So do not let me wear to-night away: Without Thee what is all the morning’s wealth? Come, blessed barrier between day and day, Dear mother of fresh thoughts and joyous health!

Table 2

English Language Sonnets
	Composition	Rhyme Scheme	Pivot or Volta
Hendianne  21st Century West Indies	Example: “Birthday Wishes from the Cloud” Seven rhyming Couplets in iambic pentameter  proportioned as follows: opening couplet Sexain couplets Quatrain couplets Ending Couplet	aaaabbbbccdddd	Unravels at Quatrain couplets
Miltonic 17th Century England	Example: “Milton Sonnet 19” An enjambment Quatorzain in iambic pentameter	abbaabbacdecde	Slowly after Verse 8
Petrarchan Sonnet, 14th Century Italy	Example: “Petrarchan Sonnet 159” Octave (8 verses), Question Sexain (6 verses) and resolution	abbaabbacdedcd	Unravels slowly between octave and sexain
Shakespearean late 16th Century and early 17th Century England	Example: “Sonnet 1” Three quatrains and an ending couplet which provides the resolution to the problem in iambic pentameter.	abacdedefgfghh	Deep into sonnet after the second quatrain arrives
Spenserian Mid 16th Century England	Example: “One day I wrote her name upon the strand” Three quatrains and one couplet in iambic pentameter with interlocking rhyme scheme closed by a couplet in iambic pentameter.	ababbcbccdcdee	Slowly and logically sometimes after the second quatrain
Wordsworth 19th Century England	Example: Sonnet XXVI – To Sleep A quatorzain catalogue poem of sorts *A catalogue poem’s simplicity is used to teach children how to write a poem, using repetition and variation in listing objects, ideas, people or places.	abbaabbacdcdcd	Arrives at the last verse

The "Olives" Poem

Read what the author has to say about this poem

The “Olives” poem is written in the form of an Acrostic with a Sexain stanza. The verses in the stanza measure five iambic feet respectively or what is normally called iambic pentameter verses. A notable feature of this poem is that out of the six verses the first four verses and the last verse have punctuations marks. The fifth verse has no punctuation mark; this absence has created an enjambment. In poetic craft, punctuation marks at the end of verses are called end-stops.

Punctuation marks work differently in poetry than in other forms of writing. In poetry, punctuation marks are used not so much for grammatical correctness but rather for effect. The poet selects the type of end-spot that corresponds to the length of pause desired. When a long pause is desired the full-stop is used. When a short pause is desired the comma is used and the semicolon is used for a pause that is longer than comma but not as long as a full-stop. In poetic craft, the full-stop, question mark, and the exclamation mark are placed under the category long pauses, whereas, the comma, semicolon, the ellipsis and the dash are placed under the category of short pauses. The poet is mindful that a punctuation mark, or the lack thereof, can change meaning and add depth to the poem; so that is why the choice of ending is considered with the uttermost care.

The most common forms of end-stops in poetry are the comma, semicolon, question mark, exclamation mark, the dash and the ellipsis. These end-stops are clear pointers of the poet’s involvement in the “stage management” of the poem as it were. The poet tells readers of the poem where to pause and when not to pause. End-stops in a poem slow down the pace in the reading of the poem, whereas the enjambment accelerates the pace.