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.
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.
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!
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.”
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
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.)