https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/user-31-leanne-hanson ...solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. en 2005-2012 shakespearesmonekys@gmail.com 42.65593 -71.33391 Thu, 11 Jun 2026 00:32:42 GMT yacs http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 70 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-12594-the-romantics https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-12594-the-romantics     In spite of all the pretty words that make your knees go weak, And similes about your eyes and oceans, stars or jewels, Remember, as that ruby blush brings blossoms to your cheek, The poet doesn’t mean those things, my love, they’re only tools. The poet is a sneaky sort who serenades the page, To shape its pale virginity into his lover’s form, And once begun, his pen is not about to disengage From frenzied strokes of passion in his literary storm. This flaccid nerd by words becomes your troubadourish knight, His girth recedes, his hair grows thick, he’s dash and derring-do, And you, his gentle sonnet queen, have spurred his soul to write Of what he’d do if only he weren’t terrified of you. In fairyland built high upon the strata of cliché The poet spins his lyric lies to you, his chosen lay. ... more Leanne Hanson A Slap on the Wrist Wed, 20 Oct 2010 06:27:25 GMT /section-659-a-slap-on-the-wrist#comments 3 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/12594 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/12594 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A12594 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-12593-volley-d-and-thunder-d https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-12593-volley-d-and-thunder-d “Never trust a poet.”  That’s what Daddy said to me, when I was knock-kneed in the factory and knocked up on the floor while the whiff of something more drowned in Brut and milky tea.   Lord Tennyson was late again and half a league behind me so he missed the mouth of hell I described so bloody well after waiting in the mill for him to find me ... more Leanne Hanson Awaiting Sentence Tue, 12 Oct 2010 06:24:35 GMT /section-657-awaiting-sentence#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/12593 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/12593 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A12593 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-12592-logos https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-12592-logos In this new mythology, grace is bound here in god’s pocketbook pasture like the unknown soldier sinks into stone.  There are echoes that have forgotten the first shout, but bounce across entropy in ever-diminishing consequence.  And there is flesh. It oozes across the skeleton with vile consumption, swallowing souls and storing them belly-ward to await the acid of time.  They settle with the stones of cherries long since picked, made smooth by abrasive virtue.  Carbon-anchored, it is their dream to suffocate. Men grey to oblivion while their tongues taste black and white.  Housed under stone, words are sentenced and execute themselves.  In the cloth of theatre, the puppets are oblivious to strings and dance on… dance on… There are no curtains here, only blinds. ... more Leanne Hanson Awaiting Sentence Tue, 12 Oct 2010 06:23:25 GMT /section-657-awaiting-sentence#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/12592 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/12592 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A12592 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-12591-got-it-good https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-12591-got-it-good   When spring came that year, we joined hands in a ring-a-rosy dervish;  I giggling, you wondering how. I only notice now, from your kodak blush, that the push of the crowd made you cower as you thrust your pigtailed prettiness before you like Maccabee’s shield.   We played pat-a-cake in the summer, cross-legged on concrete like beggars. You envied me my knees free of daubings of mercurochrome, ... more Leanne Hanson Awaiting Sentence Tue, 12 Oct 2010 06:22:03 GMT /section-657-awaiting-sentence#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/12591 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/12591 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A12591 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-12590-the-trials-of-post-modernity-when-you-re-really-not-that-interested https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-12590-the-trials-of-post-modernity-when-you-re-really-not-that-interested I tried to deconstruct a bloody sonnet to get da dum da dum out of my head I made a sandwich, put some pickles on it and listened to a bit of Grateful Dead…   I don’t think I will meet the ultimatum to break it down or quit this forum abuse I’ll take these female endings, alternate ‘em with plain old male and see what they produce.   Well look, it seems this sonnet’s half a ballad ... more Leanne Hanson A Slap on the Wrist Tue, 12 Oct 2010 06:20:45 GMT /section-659-a-slap-on-the-wrist#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/12590 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/12590 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A12590 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-12589-sex-stain https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-12589-sex-stain No funk in poetry these days, no rhyme to spare the time, to shape the world in form or free, just prose, to watch as we die.  Verse, if I could break your back and with these words rebuild that stanza lone, you’d feel your feet were dancing to some dark uncommon beat I met a poet once, said he was beat and smoky folk wrapped round him for his rhyme but gasoline encased his naked feet and lunch exploded softly on his form of non-conformist storage of the words that scattered like the scriptures INRI verse ... more Leanne Hanson A Slap on the Wrist Tue, 12 Oct 2010 06:19:15 GMT /section-659-a-slap-on-the-wrist#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/12589 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/12589 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A12589 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-11967-to-criticise https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-11967-to-criticise No censure or unneeded praise comes from a master, only roads gone upwards.  A true guide will raise, by coaxing or at times with goads, the seeker to an equal plain if such exists.  To crush does naught but shrink the pool; small fish may gain and yet that kind is always caught. A poem only ends when we decide to close our eyes; no page holds everything there ought to be if closed off minds will not engage. Leanne Hanson Having a moan Sat, 28 Nov 2009 01:03:37 GMT /section-661-having-a-moan#comments 15 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/11967 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/11967 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A11967 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-11965-ngalyod-refracted https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-11965-ngalyod-refracted Long time past and yesterday the sparrows brushed the sky away with browning wings.  The summer arch collapsed upon the bloody soil, and old ones dug in deep. The billabong has rippled long beneath your limbs, red father. You were young and slender when they walked hide-sheltered feet deaf across her back. I am new, old one and white as ghost gum dreaming. Sorry-specked and sunburnt, one foot ochre yearning, one far cloud seeking. Long time come, you thunder to me and rain-washed parrots build you with their wings. Blood, soil, summer sleep and rainbows: Dream us one. ... more Leanne Hanson Awaiting Sentence Thu, 26 Nov 2009 21:53:33 GMT /section-657-awaiting-sentence#comments 15 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/11965 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/11965 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A11965 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10960-the-love-song-of-burke-and-wills https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10960-the-love-song-of-burke-and-wills I suspect you'll need to google Burke & Wills Leanne Hanson Awaiting Sentence Mon, 11 May 2009 05:39:18 GMT /section-657-awaiting-sentence#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/10960 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/10960 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A10960 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10872-congratulations-to-laurie-blum-published-in https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10872-congratulations-to-laurie-blum-published-in http://chicagopoetry.com/modul...rticle&sid=1191 Leanne Hanson Agents, Publishing, Promotion, and Writing Tue, 28 Aug 2012 01:08:14 GMT /section-364-agents-publishing-promotion-and-writing#comments 4 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/10872 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/10872 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A10872 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10867-long-island-book-review https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10867-long-island-book-review www.longislandbookreview.blogspot.com Leanne Hanson Agents, Publishing, Promotion, and Writing Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:34:07 GMT /section-364-agents-publishing-promotion-and-writing#comments 2 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/10867 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/10867 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A10867 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10384-it-s-good-and-dead-long-live-zombie-poetry. https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10384-it-s-good-and-dead-long-live-zombie-poetry. Is poetry dead?  Who cares?  How many times have we had this discussion?  No, it's not dead, you cry.  There's more poetry being written now than there ever was.  Look around you.  The internet is a marvel of communication.  Poets, poets everywhere and something about slimy things. Blah.  Poetry didn't go through an amazing resurgence with the coming of the internet; what surged was people's ability to get in other people's faces without ever having to properly commit to any kind of relationship.  This nice safe little interface created a haven for the imagination, but there was a problem: imaginations just aren't what they used to be.  As a consequence of two or three generations of being told precisely what to think, how to act, who to vote for and so forth etc ad infinitum, "creativity" has come to mean "see what else is around that you like and think you can manage, then copy it".  The personal diary became the public blog, and poetry in the key of I was soon de rigueur.  ... more Leanne Hanson Having a moan Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:43:21 GMT /section-661-having-a-moan#comments 24 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/10384 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/10384 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A10384 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10366-the-coming-of-the-magi https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10366-the-coming-of-the-magi Oh mother, where's your little girl now? Golden brown beneath an incandescent sun, shiver swung from electric noose as God laughs like the terrier next door, ratcatcher yelps and hard biscuit yawns. Christmas carries sex upon its breath, sackfuls of naughty whisper ice is nicest when it's free.  Note the catch and kiss of missed and may be shush, there's good, let's spoon it up. Mother waits with empty boxes every year, Pandora's treasure passing by on ragged wings -- those she wore that day when promise wandered westward, folio in hand.  Now the tree stands bare, shedding needles on the floor. Can you hear the bells?  All is well. Celebrate.  The world rejoices in glorious rebuke. What is one star, when a galaxy is alight? ... more Leanne Hanson Awaiting Sentence Tue, 16 Dec 2008 03:13:27 GMT /section-657-awaiting-sentence#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/10366 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/10366 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A10366 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10352-silent-night https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10352-silent-night A baby lies in stable bed, no halo shining round its head; no stockman ushers in his sheep to bleat a newborn god to sleep. But if by chance they did -- what then? Why start this bloody mess again? It's not a poet's fusty phlegm that slouches near to Bethlehem, but man alone.  Not birth but bombs the something which the wrong way comes. No turkey yields cremated meat Upon these plates, no merry feet shall measure gaily down this hall while in the meadow, snowflakes fall. No gifts are strewn beneath the tree -- no tree at all, just cold debris and death.  Who brought that fellow here to desecrate this time of cheer? The wind, a wail, the baby's last and Christmas spirit slithers past.   ... more Leanne Hanson Awaiting Sentence Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:09:34 GMT /section-657-awaiting-sentence#comments 5 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/10352 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/10352 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A10352 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10308-the-perfect-sonnet https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10308-the-perfect-sonnet Thy blessed tongue, it trippeth o’er the phrase that speaks too plain its mind in forward word, and doth not twist in convoluted ways about non sequiturs, a mocking bird. Thine artist’s heart, it sings old songs of love; you utter speech not heard since Shakespeare’s day, and here, you know no better fit than dove, and thank the stars that poets still say gay. O! Love enduring, why should you be changed? Why taint your breast with vulgar words and new? Why sentence make one normally arranged when thou must elder apricots on blue? I prithee, let me rest within your tree and dream of simple poets, just like me. ... more Leanne Hanson A Slap on the Wrist Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:08:06 GMT /section-659-a-slap-on-the-wrist#comments 6 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/10308 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/10308 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A10308 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10307-perchance-to-dream https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10307-perchance-to-dream Aye, there’s the rub, says me, you see ‘Cos what I write is poetry Not truisms and tricky bits For folks to quote with borrowed wits So they might feel their stature’s grown Without an effort of their own. A poet lives his life alone A penitent who must atone For sins of thought and social gaffes Of telling riffs they’re really raffs Defiling thrones, defacing coins And planting feet in lofty groins. No flowered verse on greeting card Will pass this pen; no arse of lard Shall rule me. Not the poppest vox Will talk me into such a box Aye, there’s the rub, ‘tis poetry That’s destined me to poverty. ... more Leanne Hanson A Slap on the Wrist Thu, 13 Aug 2009 22:38:43 GMT /section-659-a-slap-on-the-wrist#comments 5 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/10307 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/10307 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A10307 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10306-faunication https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10306-faunication Sideways look, I don't believe, she says, you know -- What's your favourite by Rimbaud? Ah, say I, the best of him was his full stop.  I cannot quote his pages, though I've read them all.  I don't speak French, you understand, but he -- debauched, a dreadful man -- he spoke my tongue, and spoke it well. He's gone to Hell, she says, and I -- well, I just sigh.  It's Hell he left.  Full stop, he wrote.  (Enough of this, this pleasure dome, I'm done with poems.) How brave he was -- depraved and vile -- while I just sit and dread the hour when cowardice alone will force my own full stop.  Sideways look, Well, I can quote each word he wrote. I pity her.  She knows the lines but never learned to join the dots. ... more Leanne Hanson Up For Parole Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:08:02 GMT /section-656-up-for-parole#comments 1 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/10306 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/10306 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A10306 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10305-to-wilde https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10305-to-wilde They piss on your grave, these anti-aesthetes, for whom beauty is found in glorifying the harsh and jar jangling angled wastelands, small i overdone, like dodo eggs in Alighierian imaginings. You would pat their heads, poor pretentious fools, and send them back to school to learn that a nymph is not simply a stroke of a pen, but a well – she will tell a thousand dreams to Scheherezade, whom they would suffocate. In Pere Lachaise, you are languid, as Morrison gathers frogs to his bosom, lizards having long since shed their skin, singing scales against Chopin’s Polonaise or Amazing Grace with equal facility, in disregard for the breathless. You keep fine company, but your bones are not your own, they have long gone – rejecting the prosaic earth, they calcified the air, where sunlight hid in waterfalls of thought and Thalia sought to flambé sombre soldiers in their own affected arts. In the corner of a promise you stow your reflection; shadows spring fully suckled to virgin pages. Shattered tablets lie forbidding in closed chambers, beneath the sleeping Endymion; bring us Arcady, where beauty is untrodden. Bring us clowns, whose hearts may not be broken. ... more Leanne Hanson Up For Parole Wed, 26 Nov 2008 02:23:57 GMT /section-656-up-for-parole#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/10305 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/10305 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A10305 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10304-automontage https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10304-automontage Somewhere under yesterday your happiness was killing me; I heard Jimi Hendrix play Beethoven’s second symphony on mandolin with Morrissey, whose aria was heavenly. Someone threw a dead bouquet, a colander of Beaujolais; the trappings of the bourgeoisie all locked up with a minor key. Left of yellow disarray, you wandered into Rick’s café and ordered from the cold buffet, then washed your feet in Sencha tea, your Buddha belly on display in corpulent discourtesy. Folded into leased esprit, I was decreased and stole away; and fallen into liberty, I made it over yesterday. Leanne Hanson Up For Parole Wed, 26 Nov 2008 02:22:48 GMT /section-656-up-for-parole#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/10304 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/10304 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A10304 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10303-inheritance https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10303-inheritance We are the wastrel heirs of Knowledge. Poor Sophia, she rode the currents of dark and built her light, a monstrous mound from which nothing could be removed. Today, she lies dead at our feet, her body whole – only her heart is gone. So we, her children’s children, plunge fingers into that pile, that has frightened us for so long, and it sticks to our hands, trying to seep through the skin. As one we draw back. This is not meant for hands as pure as ours. Someone – tidemarked elbows showing how deep he had thrust – mentions a market. “People will pay for this,” he tells us, “They will not know how little it is worth.” We cannot shift it whole – how heavy it is! – so I, the bravest fool, carry samples beneath my tongue. To bright lights and tin noise, our chosen home, we trip. God watches from his xenon cross, blinking sleepily as we play. The house does not know the coin we carry; no credit is extended, no back alley bargains struck. We turn and he is there. Ragged beggar-man with hungry eyes, “I will dice for it,” he says. “I have the means.” He shows us deeds to nations, bank drafts and patent papers, mining rights, charts and charters and crocks full of gold. Beneath my tongue, the taste grows bitter. “No dice,” says Elbows (why have I not seen him before?) “We trade.” In slickest style, the bargaining begins and when we wake, back in Her house, the pile is gone; we are left with an old coat and papers full of power. Here is the world, to rest in our palms; Elbows wears a Gucci crown. And I? I want nothing but to taste that bitterness again. ... more Leanne Hanson Up For Parole Wed, 26 Nov 2008 02:21:08 GMT /section-656-up-for-parole#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/10303 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/10303 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A10303 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9986-an-da-shealladh https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9986-an-da-shealladh "Second sight" -- variations on a theme, I suppose. Might even come close to getting it right one day Leanne Awaiting Sentence Sun, 18 Jan 2009 20:06:44 GMT /section-657-awaiting-sentence#comments 10 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/9986 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/9986 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A9986 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9975-activism https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9975-activism So tell me vegetarians, please answer this post haste: what would we do with all the cows that we should cease to eat? With hooves that crush and teeth that rend to turn the grass to waste, what is their place upon this earth if not to give us meat? Where would we loose those cattle? On the fragile veldts and plains? Farewell, o noble elephant, we've no room for you now, you've lost to methane farters in the PETA pap campaigns, I doubt we'll see their soybean pastures given to a cow. I've never heard an answer and I doubt I ever will -- the air around the pulpit seems to stifle new ideas. We meat eaters are oft accused of fondness for the kill, and I can think of one I'd greet with loud resounding cheers. ... more Leanne Serial Offenders Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:56:46 GMT /section-658-serial-offenders#comments 5 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/9975 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/9975 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A9975 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9350-helen https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9350-helen Revised 23/08/08 Leanne Up For Parole Sat, 11 Jul 2009 07:17:04 GMT /section-656-up-for-parole#comments 11 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/9350 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/9350 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A9350 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9348-traffic https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9348-traffic Take a right at Wednesday there’s a tunnel just on six o’clock to get you past the hump If you squint, the lights will suck you up and vortex-whip your hunger while your drive-thru brain scatters to half past saccharine and no-one passed the syrup Eat the fluorine cake that coaxes nine-to-five frostings from the throats of marbled loss adjustors drowning downer popping dimorphs brake just to see the rosy glare of left-behind it’s black again and back to front, the world explodes to Saturday and forty years from where you turned ... more Leanne Awaiting Sentence Wed, 26 Nov 2008 02:16:01 GMT /section-657-awaiting-sentence#comments 6 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/9348 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/9348 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A9348 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9224-the-chocolate-villanelle https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9224-the-chocolate-villanelle   Cacao yields the perfect spark for poets smothered head to toe in decadence so rich and dark. A biscuit might seem bland and stark, prosaic, but the masters know: cacao yields the perfect spark. No errant crumb, no chance remark will lose its way, now covered so in decadence so rich and dark. We know the truth, this poets’ lark demands indulgence; apropos, cacao yields the perfect spark. The wait is long to make your mark, but research (still to come) will show cacao yields the perfect spark, in decadence so rich and dark. ... more leanne A Slap on the Wrist Wed, 26 Nov 2008 02:19:05 GMT /section-659-a-slap-on-the-wrist#comments 14 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/9224 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/9224 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A9224 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9190-kay-ryan-a-worthy-us-poet-laureate-at-last https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9190-kay-ryan-a-worthy-us-poet-laureate-at-last http://www.washingtonpost.com/...8071602970.html leanne Modern & Classic Poetic Discussion Wed, 17 Sep 2008 02:22:34 GMT /section-115-modern-classic-poetic-discussion#comments 2 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/9190 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/9190 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A9190 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9120-kaolin-baths https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9120-kaolin-baths Revision 9/7/08 No longer green, today the jade spreads faded suppositions through a future mewling extra cream in streams that once knew lemonade. One yes and then the nos rush in, a dynasty bred just for height, a kite with tails of docking line as finest China coats the skin. He seeks, he seeds, he smooths his way; decay is dancing on his string, a tincture bleeding salt and oil to spoil the surface of the clay. But wheels will turn, though weary feet don't meet the ground the way they should -- we stood where God was greener still and willows bent beneath the heat. ... more Leanne Up For Parole Wed, 26 Nov 2008 02:15:25 GMT /section-656-up-for-parole#comments 20 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/9120 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/9120 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A9120 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-5752-sapphic-ode https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-5752-sapphic-ode The Sapphic Ode is one of the more difficult metric forms -- the good news is that it doesn't rhyme.  There's also quite often enjambment (run-on sentences) between the stanzas, ie the last line of one stanza is continued in the first line of the next stanza (not always, it's just a common device).  It's made up of four-line stanzas, the first three lines are 11 syllables long and the fourth is 5 syllables -- but here's where it gets a bit trickier.  The meter has to be like this:   Trochee trochee dactyl trochee trochee Trochee trochee dactyl trochee trochee Trochee trochee dactyl trochee trochee Dactyl trochee   ... more Leanne Structures, Styles and Sonnetation Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:47:30 GMT /section-350-structures-styles-and-sonnetation#comments 9 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/5752 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/5752 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A5752 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-5751-madrigal-english-or-chaucerian https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-5751-madrigal-english-or-chaucerian The Madrigal is a repeating form, written in iambic pentameter (the "natural" meter of English, apparently) -- the scheme goes like this: A (first repeater) B1 (second repeater) B2 (third repeater) a b A (first repeater) B1 (second repeater) a b b A (first repeater) B1 (second repeater) B2 (third repeater)     Mourning the Lilly Maid Why should I leave such thoughts? I am of Earth The Lilly Maiden's sighs were oft misread She could have saved his soul, but now she's dead Her tender heart, ill-fated passion's berth For Lancelot, who would betray instead Why should I leave such thoughts? I am of Earth The Lilly Maiden's sighs were oft misread ... more Leanne Structures, Styles and Sonnetation Sat, 29 Mar 2008 21:10:47 GMT /section-350-structures-styles-and-sonnetation#comments 5 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/5751 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/5751 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A5751 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-5579-question-for-new-users https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-5579-question-for-new-users There have been a lot of new folk signing up in the last couple of months, but almost all have posted nothing. I would invite -- or rather, beg -- all new people to give us some reasons for this silence. Is the site too difficult to navigate? Does it not have what you're looking for? Do you not like the kind of comments here? Are you unhappy with the standard of poetry? PLEASE. Give us feedback, without it we have no direction. That goes for older members who aren't posting as well -- be as honest as you like. ... more Leanne Questions Sat, 31 Oct 2009 03:00:39 GMT /section-365-questions#comments 48 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/5579 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/5579 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A5579 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-5268-terza-rima https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-5268-terza-rima Another interlocking rhyme for the masochists Leanne Structures, Styles and Sonnetation Wed, 11 Jul 2007 21:33:45 GMT /section-350-structures-styles-and-sonnetation#comments 3 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/5268 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/5268 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A5268 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-5031-the-futility-of-turtles https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-5031-the-futility-of-turtles The car did not stop. Wheels continued to spin as my father and I looked to the curb - the struggling turtle attempting to work its way back onto its feet. Its legs, splayed to the sunlight, flailed in the crisp breeze of a day just beginning. Later, I went out with Mother. She told me stories about how she had been dreaming of being raped, of shooting her husband, and as I tuned the voice of convolution into a studded white noise, I began to imagine her, on her back, her arms reaching in futility for the sky from the dark recesses of her verdant shell. I laughed (foolishly). ... more Leanne Aesthetic Psychosis Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:43:40 GMT /section-391-aesthetic-psychosis#comments 8 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/5031 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/5031 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A5031 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-4612-de-seussifying-your-poetry https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-4612-de-seussifying-your-poetry I found this article at http://www.poetrybase.info/gpd/000/1.shtml -- the site there is full of brilliant information but this is the most immediately relevant, I think Leanne Versed, Re-versed & Unversed Thu, 26 Jun 2008 03:09:31 GMT /section-113-versed-re-versed-unversed#comments 17 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/4612 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/4612 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A4612 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-4756-rondeau https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-4756-rondeau The rondeau is a wonderful lyric form -- French, obviously, and created during those romantic years when minstrels sighed over anything in skirts. Like most French forms, it has no specific metric requirements but when you're writing in English it makes it hard on the ear if you don't use some kind of regular meter. It is three stanzas of 5, 4 and 6 lines respectively. The lines are either all 8 or all 10 syllables long, except for the last line in the second and third stanzas, which is called the rentrement or "re-entry" and is a repetition of the first word or phrase in the first line of the poem. ... more Leanne Structures, Styles and Sonnetation Sat, 23 Jun 2007 22:41:40 GMT /section-350-structures-styles-and-sonnetation#comments 10 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/4756 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/4756 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A4756 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-4652-clogyrnach https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-4652-clogyrnach You might have noticed I'm putting a lot of my favourite forms up here first   I love these things. The clogyrnach is a Welsh six-line stanza form -- it can either be a single stanza poem or you can join them together to make something much longer.   There are only two rhymes per stanza (though if you're making a longer poem, you can change rhymes as long as it's the same pattern).  The lines have a syllable count of 8-8-5-5-3-3, and the rhyme scheme is a-a-b-b-b-a -- technically, it looks like this:   x x x x x x a ... more Leanne Structures, Styles and Sonnetation Wed, 06 Jun 2007 19:56:58 GMT /section-350-structures-styles-and-sonnetation#comments 5 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/4652 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/4652 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A4652 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-4617-aes-freislighe https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-4617-aes-freislighe Just to show that it's not all about easy end rhymes The Irish verse forms are far trickier than anything in English traditions.  I've heard it said that the Celts and French put so much time into perfecting their poetry it's no wonder the English snuck up behind them and took over the world.  Of course, that was said by an Englishman... The Aes Freislighe (pronounced "ayez freshly", more or less) is a kind of stanza most often used in chains to form quite long poems. Each line is seven syllables with lines one and three ending in triple rhymes and two and four with double. Another requirement is that the poem end as it began, either with the first syllable, word, phrase, or line. ... more Leanne Structures, Styles and Sonnetation Sun, 03 Jun 2007 22:30:30 GMT /section-350-structures-styles-and-sonnetation#comments 3 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/4617 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/4617 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A4617 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-4615-ballade https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-4615-ballade This is one of my favourite forms, but it does take quite a lot of work because you've only got limited rhymes -- on the up side, one of those rhymes is partly taken care of by a refrain.  The ballade is a French form which was originally intended for singing so it should be lyrical.  There are a few variants but the most common is three stanzas of eight lines each plus an envoi or summary stanza of four lines.  The last line of each stanza is the refrain.  There are no specific meter requirements but in English it's best to keep it to a regular meter (the French think they're language isn't accented but they're French, what do they know?)  Lines are usually either 8 or 10 syllables throughout.  ... more Leanne Structures, Styles and Sonnetation Tue, 15 Jan 2008 01:06:27 GMT /section-350-structures-styles-and-sonnetation#comments 5 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/4615 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/4615 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A4615 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-4614-suggestions https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-4614-suggestions Have you seen a form that you want explained more clearly?  Any questions about writing with forms?  Any ideas on what to try next?  Here's the spot to put them.  Leanne Structures, Styles and Sonnetation Fri, 19 Sep 2008 02:01:53 GMT /section-350-structures-styles-and-sonnetation#comments 17 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/4614 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/4614 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A4614 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-4613-connachlonn https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-4613-connachlonn Since Tracey likes 'em Leanne Structures, Styles and Sonnetation Tue, 03 Jul 2007 18:01:20 GMT /section-350-structures-styles-and-sonnetation#comments 3 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/4613 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/4613 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A4613 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-4607-acrostic https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-4607-acrostic The A forms seem to be a lot of fun really Acrostics basically involve writing a word down the page so that each letter starts a line of poetry.   That's the only requirement -- they're also good fun to rhyme but it's not at all necessary. No little man has grown so tall As Bonaparte, a Corsican; Poor Josephine, she feels his lack, Or will he grow? Of course he can! Little man with grandeur dreams, Empires close within his grasp -- One Victory will change it all: Nelson has just kicked his arse.     Leanne Structures, Styles and Sonnetation Sun, 03 Jun 2007 23:54:26 GMT /section-350-structures-styles-and-sonnetation#comments 7 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/4607 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/4607 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A4607 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-4606-abcedarian https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-4606-abcedarian Since it starts with A Leanne Structures, Styles and Sonnetation Tue, 13 Nov 2007 03:02:08 GMT /section-350-structures-styles-and-sonnetation#comments 11 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/4606 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/4606 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A4606 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-4523-anyone-from-long-island https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-4523-anyone-from-long-island The Long Island Book Review (LIBRe), a free newspaper, is calling for submissions of any writing (poetry, fiction, non fiction, anthologies, anything at all) with a Long Island connection -- by an author living in Long Island, or written about Long Island, or even a book published in Long Island (like mine, I get to cheat!).  They also need reviewers and will pay for articles. The newspaper is distributed to bookstores, libraries, train stations, ferry terminals, bagel shops, delis, doctors offices, hotels and will soon be in supermarkets. Submissions for review should be sent to PO Box 506, Farmingville NY 11738.  For any other queries contact bulldog333@verizon.net ... more Leanne Publishers & Publications Fri, 30 Dec 2011 22:18:24 GMT /section-139-publishers-publications#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/4523 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/4523 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A4523