Winding Down the Year

Hello December!

It's really hard to believe that this calendar year is coming to a close. Thank goodness for the season of Advent and Christmas through New Year festivities to keep me smiling.

This month, Molly challenged our Inklings:

I chose a new-to-me form, the Interlocking Rubiyat. 

I thought I had never read or heard a poem like this before. But, it is well known...especially in this famous poem sometimes read in December as snow begins to fall in my part of the world. 

'stopping by Woods on a Snowy evening' - robert frost (powerful life poetry)https://youtu.be/1sWcq2-ZA5o

And in the serendipity of poetry life, this Poem-a-Day from Saturday 11/27 popped up just to show me that the rubaiyat has more to teach me.  Fancies, by Mrs. Minot Carter is not interlocking...but it is a rubaiyat.

Fancies

Mrs. Minot Carter

If we could return from our last long rest And seek out the ones we loved the best, Though not in a form to cause them fear, Just gently to let them feel us near, Would we come in the scent of the evening flowers Bringing to mind past happy hours? read the rest here

The rules of interlocking rubaiyat:

• Comprised of quatrains following an aaba rhyme pattern.
• Each successive quatrain picks up the unrhymed line as the rhyme for that stanza. So three-stanza rubaiyat might rhyme so: aaba/bbcb/ccdc. Sometimes the final stanza, as in Frost's example above, rhymes all four lines.
• Lines are usually tetrameter and pentameter (mine are 10 syllables).

As I am saying goodbye to 2021 I am beginning to finish up a year's journey with Hamish. We will always be friends. But, his time as my main word squeeze is winding down. Our time together has been far richer than I hoped for. Again, I want to thank Irene Latham for the inspiration from her ArtSpeak padlet boards. I've been wowed by her work so many times. In 2021, I flat out took a page out of her padlet to give my own a try. My writing is forever changed. 

I have plans for 2022. But, more on that later. It's time to give Hamish some time with interlocking rubaiyat.

How to Say Goodbye? 

This year winds down, an old clock ticking slow 

wind blusters north and south now, seeking snow. 

A friend I’ve made and loved is moving on 

I don’t know how to say goodbye -- let go. 

I need a farewell star to wish upon 

a steady light for us to see and count on. 

Sure as any flashlight at midnight's dark, 

shining bright and holding us in common. 

These winter days grow short and early dark. 

Quick-scurry squirrels chase acorns in the park 

fists and cheeks full of bounty to be stored 

treasure maps marked by tiny chatter marks. 

My words, those acorns, fond memories stored 

will keep me warm and fed through lonely storms 

until we can wind up the clock again 

to meet as old and reunited friends.

Linda Mitchell 12/21
all rights reserved

Hamish has a few words at his padlet: 

Thanks to Michelle who hosts our Poetry Friday Round-up at MoreArt4All. Please stop by and enjoy the richness of her creativity!