If you are up for the challenge, here’s your STRETCH & STRENGTHEN EXERCISE!
LEVEL 1
TOPIC:
Stranger Conversations: Start the first line of your poem with a word or phrase from a recent passing conversation between you and someone you don’t know.
LEVEL 2
WORD LIST:
1. Profundity – depth
2. Invincible – too strong to be defeated
3. Mark – note, impress
LEVEL 3
Write it as a ballad.
A ballad is similar to an epic in that it tells a story, but it’s much shorter and a bit more structured. This poetry form is made up of four-line stanzas (as many as are needed to tell the story) with a rhyme scheme of ABCB.
Ballads were originally meant to be set to music, which is where we get the idea of our slow, sultry love song ballads today. A lot of traditional ballads are all in dialogue, where two characters are speaking back and forth.
Here’s an excerpt from a traditional ballad poem, “La Belle Dame sans Merci” by John Keats:
“O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.
O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel’s granary is full,
And the harvest’s done.”
Submit your poem to RNCPoetry@gmail.com for consideration for publication in this year’s Rhyme N Chatt Poetry Anthology. Also, consider sharing your poem at an upcoming RNC open mic session!
PoeticOut!
“Changing Lives One Rhyme At A Time”
Rhyme N Chatt Interactive Poetry Organization 