Thursday 19 June 2014

carefully chosen words – a puente


he had wandered with his repartee,
to the edge of a prickly thicket:
a secret, he was about to give away

~ when he gleaned a bridge to the other side ~

he chose his words with care,
through the conversational sticky wicket: 
and talked his way out of there

note:  The prompt at Poetry Jam this week is Bridge or writing a Puente  (bridge in Spanish) which is a poetry form that uses a word bridge.  The Puente, created by James Rasmussen, is a poem consisting of three stanzas with the first and third being equal in number of lines and the second serving as a bridge (Puente) between the two. The first and third stanzas should be related but different (though they should share a common ground).  This poetic form can be written in free verse or rhyme. The bridge line should serve as the ending for the first stanza and the beginning for the third. It is often delineated by a tilde (~). 

photo:  Bridge in Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver – W. Bourke
  
© 2014 Wendy Bourke

19 comments:

  1. Great use of the form and I am impressed that you made it rhyme too, Wendy. You have portrayed a cunning guy, but necessarily one I would like to have a conversation with.

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  2. Whew! Sometimes using the right words can definitely save the day!

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  3. Neat use of the form. I like the mystery in this one. Thanks for visiting my blog.

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  4. standing on that slippery slope -- the pull of *wanting* to reveal that secret, but oh, the danger! Ordinarily I wouldn't have thought "prickly thicket" and "sticky wicket" would work in terms of rhyme -- but here it does, and it really adds to the poem. Very nice! And the second stanza bridge -- really gives you a sense of both "aha!" and "phew!" in the same breath.

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  5. Oh, a fancy talker! How come I can never find the bridge out of a prickly thicket? Nice job with the form!

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  6. Ha! That close made me grin. I love it when you use the element of humor in your poems. Possible typo in your last stanza--choose/chose? Great work with the prompt and form!

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    1. Good catch of the choose/chose, Jennifer. Thanks. I've been on grandkid's babysitting duty this week and I'm off (just now) to do a swimming class pick up - but will catch up.

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  7. ha. its good he could find his way out of it with his words....a sticky wicket...ha, havent heard that in a long time...smiles...

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  8. Sometimes we get more than we bargain for... good thing he could talk himself out of there.

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  9. they always have their way out :D...nice use of the form Wendy..

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  10. Hmmmm words..................can either trap or release us!

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  11. I smiled at the ending too - and enjoyed your carefully chosen words in this puente.

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  12. ... quite the clever puente!!!

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  13. very clever and very nicely done, the secret......sometimes you can talk your way through it.

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  14. Yikes, close one! Glad he made it thru the sticky wicket!

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  15. I don't know the form--mainly because I am ignorant of form--but I loved this is so many ways Wendy---just made me smile all over the place

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  16. Nicely put in the poetic form!

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  17. There are those people.. just escaping.. love the way you can see his escape as crossing a bridge too...

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