October 22, 2018 – Image & Verse

“Sad Harlequin” by: Lladro

The Fool

I will not smile today, you see
my broken heart is hurting, so
tears now reside where joy ran free.
I will not smile today, you see
she loved my gold, but not so me.
Played for a fool, I did not know.
I will not smile today you see,
my broken heart is hurting so!
~ ~ ~

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Repetitive Forms – Meeting the Bar

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Probably invented in the 13th century, the triolet was cultivated as a serious form by such medieval French poets as Adenet le Roi and Jean Froissart. … The earliest triolets in English are those of a devotional nature composed in 1651 by Patrick Cary, a Benedictine monk, at Douai, France.

History. The triolet is a close cousin of the rondeau, the rondel, and the rondelet, other French verse forms emphasizing repetition and rhyme. The form stems from medieval French poetry and seems to have had its origin in Picardy. … Also, at the end of the 15th century, the term triolet appears for the first time.

The triolet is a short poem of eight lines with only two rhymes used throughout. The requirements of this fixed form are straightforward: the first line is repeated in the fourth and seventh lines; the second line is repeated in the final line; and only the first two end-words are used to complete the tight rhyme scheme. … Thus, the poet writes only five original lines, giving the triolet a deceptively simple appearance: ABaAabAB, where capital letters indicate repeated lines.

Conjured

the restless
unsleeping souls
are conjured forth
to celebrate this night’s
rising unhallow voudon moon

spirits entrapped in darkness
possessed
writhe here entranced
in bestial
rhythmic profane dance

a demonic ritual
of ungodly fire
cast this spell
of last atonement

these lost forgotten
called this deep night
by dark houngan magic
proffered by this voodoo priest

E1B6102D-F1D5-4319-B511-4878B4F61124

summoned
from the place of limbo
by this fevered shaman’s will
to bear immortal witness

seeking sanctified forgiveness
eternal pardon
to be ever spared
the consuming void
of graceless oblivion

while unholy apparitions
descend wraith-like
in dreadful cluster
to horror’s hellish plane

these begging mercy
rise supplicant
from the papaloa’s
sacred 5-point flame
in merciful petition
to the vengeful one

lest this eater of the undead
set upon the dawning morrow
to steal the blessed light of hope

and hurl the innocents
into the pit of anguish

foresaken
lost forevermore

conjured

~ ~ ~
rob kistner © 2018

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*Original 2009 version*

Conjured

the restless
unsleeping souls
are conjured forth
this moonless nocturne

entranced
in ancient dance

a rhythmic ritual
of sanctified fire
deep night
and dark magic

summoned
from the place beyond time
by the fevered will
of the shaman

to bear immortal witness
as the holy apparitions
ascend wraith-like
in prayerful unity

rising supplicant
from the 8-point sacred flame
in sacrifice
to the vengeful one

lest this eater of the undead
set upon the dawning morrow
to steal the blessed light of daybreak

and hurl the waiting
into the pit of anguish

lost forevermore

~ ~ ~