Day 28

Chickadee

A lone chickadee sings its sweet song

Then stops before I can sing along

Cat

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Todays prompt comes from @ds106 Daily Create:

The post leads us to “Silly Solage,” an explanation of the poetry form by poet Kathryn Apel, but let’s back up a bit.

“Solage”, according to Wikipedia means:

 “Solage” and “soulage” are variant spellings of Old French solaz, solace, meaning “consolation”, “joy”, or “entertainment” (Greimas 1968, 602).

That old and odd meaning may be why the poet and performance artist Cameron Semmons seems to have invented this “joke” form of poetry.  Click for his pdf. A third way to look at is shared at Poetry Forms.

The three-line pattern is:

Line 1: any length

Line 2: any length, rhymes with line 1

Line 3: One Word — a surprise or twist based on  the first two lines– the punchline

 

So, now you know and write a poetic joke called a “solage.”

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My poem just popped out of my head, once I read the format of the poem. It just happened yesterday in my yard. I was listening to a lonely chickadee in his song and my husband captured it, but just as I was to sing along, he stopped and flew away.  Probably the cat.

For more information about the chickadee — the seven kinds in North America, visit:

• Audubon’s quite funny post: Birdist Rule #71: Figure Out What Kind of Chickadee You’ve Got
• Cornell Lab: Black-capped Chickadee

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Art and Poetry: by Sheri

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About this post:

Be safe out there.  April is time for NaPoWriMo — National Poetry Writing Month, try a bit of poetry and art to encourage others to be safe with each other. Something short. Something inclusive. Something of spring and hope. #NaPoWriMo/#GloPoWriMo

The Academy of Poets encourages us to write #shelterinpoems. Get some ideas there and share your own.

Tons of information can be found at Poets.org: National Poetry Month and here: Virtual Programs.

National Council of Teachers of English also offers suggestions here.

For other Out My Window poems I’ve written in better times, click here.