I’m trying to keep up with my RhyPiBoMo pledge to write a poem a day for April. I’ve got a poetry project that I’m hoping to finish this month, but those are poems that I’m not always able to draft in a day. So I’ve also been finding inspiration in some online challenges.
Last week’s challenge at The Miss Rumphius Effect was to write a homophoem. That’s a form invented by J. Patrick Lewis, and is “a two- to ten-line poem that contains at least one homophone, preferably as the surprise end-word.” I discovered the challenge by following a link that Kate Coombs posted on facebook. When I read Kate’s amazing homophoem I was daunted. But then I figured what the heck, I’ll give it a try. I found a terrific list of homonyms, and started jotting down likely candidates. After a couple of false starts I found that I needed to plan the ending first. Here’s the second poem that I wrote–with a bit of a groaner for an ending:
The Tragedy of Sunny Placed
Jack’s hen was a gem that he called Sunny Placed.
He took her on rides at the track where he raced.
The hen was content to attend Jack’s event,
believing that Jack was a singular gent.
He fed her fine seeds and he bathed her in dust—
She never suspected he’d serve Miss Placed, trussed.
–Buffy Silverman, 2014
My original homophoem took quite a bit of revision–it’s not a poem that I would normally write. AND IT IS NOT AUTO-BIOGRAPHICAL! Okay, I’ll admit it–I did have cold feet thirty years ago, on the day of my wedding. Mostly it was because I’d gotten a baby-breath tiara, and I wasn’t sure I could wear it. And I didn’t know why we hadn’t just gone off by ourselves to get married, as I’m not a center-of-attention type of gal. And why were we bothering to get married when we were perfectly happy living-in-sin, as we called it back in the dark ages? But I didn’t regret my choice of spouse, as in the poem below. There was a string quartet playing, but no Wagner. Both my parents walked with me down the aisle–and Jeff’s parents walked with him. Too much explanation before the poem?
Wedding Interrupted
The string quartet plays Wagner.
She heeds her father’s smile.
He holds her trembling hand
and leads her down the aisle
past closest friends and cousins.
They’re dressed in splendid style.
All watch her slow procession,
each step that’s like a mile.
She stops. She backs away.
They’ll judge, but that’s her trial.
She’d rather live alone
than on this desert aisle.
–Buffy Silverman, 2014
David Harrison has a fun challenge on his blog this week, also from J. Patrick Lewis, to write “mini-mini-book reviews.” There are some very clever examples on the blog post. Here’s my attempt:
Bargain after Bargain
A foolish miller’s claim:
His daughter’s skill–a wonder to behold!
A greedy king’s demand:
Spin the straw, convert it into gold.
A bargain for her life:
A chain. A ring. Her future child sold.
A deal to save the child:
Find the name that no one’s ever told.
Rumplestiltskin’s fate:
Torn asunder, raging uncontrolled.
–Buffy Silverman, 2014
Head over to The Deckle Edge where Robyn has all this week’s Poetry Friday goodness. And 
please come back on Sunday when the Progressive Poem visits my blog.
Have to share the chicken poem with my dad, Buffy! *groan* 🙂 I’m impressed by your experiments (and it wouldn’t have occurred to me that the wedding poem was autobiographical — I assume otherwise!).
Please do share it, Tabatha! I think my wedding rant was more to myself, as I was surprised by that poem and didn’t know where it came from.
I am in awe of these homophoems! When I’m not trying to write a poem a day on top of everything else the day brings, I’ll go back and try again. Your pun in the first one is supremely groan-worthy!! Well played!
I predict you will have fun writing them. I scratched my head at first, but once I started I enjoyed them quite a bit.
Hi Buffy,
These are wonderful! I like the chicken poem very much until the ending! I didn’t like seeing their friendship end that way. I can definitely understand why you went to such lengths to tell us the wedding poem wasn’t autobiographical. Readers do seem to assume that especially with poetry. I also really like your book review. They used to publish compressed fairy tales in Babybug. I wonder if they still do.
Good luck with all your challenges!
Thanks, Liz. I’m afraid I set up poor Sunny Placed for a tabletop ending. (I thought about looking for a photo of a roast chicken, but fell in love with that chicken in the red wagon.)
Oh wow, Buffy you’ve been so wonderfully prolific lately! That’s a lot of poetry! I especially loved the desert aisle. 🙂
Thank you, Myra (–not that I wish a desert aisle on anyone, but good to turn back before it’s too late!)
Love your clever poems especially “Wedding Interrupted.” You nailed them! And thanks for the link to the homonym list.
Thanks, Violet. I enjoyed the homophoems you posted last week too. In fact you inspired me to finish the wedding one, which I had pretty much given up on.
Hi, Buffy! Thanks for sharing your challenge responses with us. I didn’t know about J. Patrick Lewis’s “homophoem” either – need to get back over to Tricia’s on Mondays!
(And not sure which I enjoyed more – the wedding poem, or the disclaimers/descriptions preceding it.) ;0)
(Did you think I doth protest too much?)
Thanks for sharing your poems, Buffy. I am fascinated by the many poetic forms I learn about from you.
And thank you for being my most regular visitor, Ann!
I have seen the first, but not about the wedding, Buffy, so clever, and love seeing your photo, too. I did both of these too, and have passed the homophoem idea onto colleagues for their students. They are fun to try.
These would be fun to try with students!
These were fun! And I have learned a new type of poem, too – wonderful!
Thanks, Tara. So many clever forms to try out!
I’m so glad you’ve been inspired to write everyday, Buffy. I must find more time to play with challenges like these. You’ve come up with some wonderful poems here– the homophoem form suits you well!
Glad you like these poems, Michelle. (I’m not sure I’d say I’ve been inspired to write every day, but I’ve been trying to force myself to come up with something.)
Buffy,
Loved all three poems. I’d read yours at David’s site but enjoyed reading it again. Love the photo! It’s priceless!
Thanks, Penny. That’s not actually from our wedding–I changed the caption to clear that up!