
Descort
For the A-Z Challenge this year, I’m honoring National Poetry Month (I’ll probably do this next year, too…because there are so damn many cool forms to try!). Today, it’s the descort.
- each line needs to be different from every other line in the poem
- different line lengths, meters, avoids rhyming with other lines, no refrains, and that goes for stanzas, as well
- no two lines in a descort should look like each other
Note: The descort is different from free verse, because even in a free verse poem you may use similar line lengths and meter. However, the descort is very intentional in its variability.
I’m also, very intentionally choosing poetic forms I have never tried before, so some are a bit of a learning curve for me. This one, though, is right up my alley…so let’s give it a go —
Driving
While you drive, I glance at the curve of your jaw–
letting my gaze hang like afternoon sun
on the scratchy stubble that has grown there.
I place my hand on your thigh
(jeans warm
between your salty skin
&
the sky).
You radiate beside me,
the smell of you crashing like waves
in the distance:
fresh & wild.
And *breath catching* I need you
to pull over
now.
And yes, that was harder than it probably looks.


7 Comments
Windy
This is lovely. I don’t write much poetry because it is very challenging and I don’t really know much about poetry in general. When I do finish a poem, I feel really good though, almost like a different writer.
This is a really nice piece. Love the ending…… yeah, pull over NOW! 🙂 Hugs, Windy
P.S. Somehow I missed you were doing the ABC challenge. I will tune in now that I know as I am a fan of your site.
Brigit Delaney
Thanks, Windy. It is challenging, but I think I am drawn to the challenge. It forces me to write in ways I would otherwise not, and I think it makes me better when I approach other types of writing.
I came to the challenge a few days late. I wasn’t going to do it, but then my FOMO set in, and I had a brainchild to incorporate Poetry Month, and suddenly things just clicked!
Brigit Delaney
P.S. I tried to follow your blog by email, but I got this message when I put in my email and hit submit: “The feed does not have subscriptions by email enabled.” Hmmm…not sure what that means, but I thought I’d let you know.”
Marie Rebelle
Beautiful poem, and yes, I do think it’s harder to write than it looks. Gone are the days where poetry is only about rhyme 😉
~ Marie xox
Brigit Delaney
Until free verse came along, I think poetry has always been this complex marriage between rhythm, rhyme, meter, and form. It’s word mathematics, and much like the Oxford comma and the semi-colon…it makes this nerdy girl shiver with pleasure. (Thank you, btw.)
Lisa Stone
Seeming simplicity. It is written beautifully. One thing is bad, you won’t go far with this kind of driving 🙂
Brigit Delaney
Hahaha! You are so very right, Lisa!