Write a poem without using words that contain more than one syllable.
It can pertain to anything, be of any form, and any length.
Have at it!
PS: The point is to encourage the creation of poetry without using a grandiose vocabulary. Monosyllabic lines are also very concrete; the longer a word is, the more abstract and ambiguous it becomes (and that's not always a bad thing, but I digress...)
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i'll give it a go in a few days
If you know of a famous monosyllabic poem, please post one.
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I could have lost my nuts
My bike kept on;
down the hill it went.
The chain had snapped,
the brakes well worn were spent
We hit the dry stone wall.
My bright red bike and I,
and though it could have caused
a dark haired set of spuds to die.
I was not knacked;
Just knee grazed;
and no tear left my eye.
it's customary for the OP to do the first one of any challenge set: now get to work and do one
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The knife slid like a pair of skates
down her new green skirt,
the man on the till tried not to look
as I stole her purse and squeezed her breast.
Nude by the glass of the store,
the pumps like great dumb beasts,
I saw her hold her dress, her pride,
as she walked on, and the man on the till
watched as well.
"We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us; we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges." - Gene Wolfe
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I actually disagree with the initial premise that one-syllable words are less ambiguous than two-syllable or more (words like mien, staid, writhe, stanch -- quite poetic, quite rare in normal conversation, but all one syllable), and as a meter freak I feel compelled to point out that the syllables in an individual word mean nothing, it's the total syllables in the line that count for feet -- however, this is a good exercise in discipline, forcing you to think carefully about word choice.
Jack, your poem is quite lyrical and I really like your opening simile. You capture a moment well, incorporating lust, voyeurism, greed and humiliation. Putting the last line out there on its own is an excellent use of your line breaks.
It could be worse