“Loose as a goose,” as the saying goes.

You have “nothing to lose” by taking a moment to learn the spelling difference between these two words.

I’d hate to try to count the times I’ve seen them both misspelled, even by seasoned writers.  “Loose” and “lose” are neither homonyms nor synonyms.  They have nothing in common other than that silly renegade “O” that loosens the proverbial constraints of lose, yet we all have trouble remembering which is which.

They aren’t difficult spellings, but they surely aren’t easy to retain in our overcrowded memories.  So, let’s give ourselves a quick memory trick to serve us in our future writing.

LOSE = (to fail to have, to come to be without) – We might lose the weight-loss battle.  Losing is no fun, and we just might have lost the war.

Whichever tense we use, there’s only one “O.”    
LOSE – LOSING – LOST – (and LOSS)

LOOSE = (free of restraints) – What better way to remember this one than “loose as a goose?”  Most of us know  how to spell “goose,” and if we can correlate the rhyme we can spell loose correctly forevermore.

LOOSE AS A GOOSE… LOOSE AS A GOOSE… LOOSEY GOOSEY!

We can do this.  Let’s just keep it inside our brains so we’re not wandering around muttering and sounding loose as a goose in public!

This might come as a big surprise to a lot of you, but the lot of you must accept that “alot” is NOT a word.  A lot of writers don’t know that, and they misuse it a lot.

Always use “a lot”  in your writing.  Improper usage doesn’t even qualify as slang… Sorry folks.  Write it right!..:-)

Poetic meter is not just a summation of syllable count.  Meter is the  rhythm that gives poetry its lyrical element.   A poem that is written with a rhyme scheme, but still sounds “forced” is most likely not in proper meter – Conversely, a poem that “sings” to you will most likely be written with both rhyme and meter intact.

How do we know where to begin?  How do we know a poem is written in proper meter? Here’s a brief explanation. There are two elements to poetic meter – the number of “feet” per line, and the pattern of stressed syllables (ergo the fixation on syllable count).

Let’s start with the pattern of stressed syllables – It’s much more than just counting to make sure you have an equal number on each line. The patterns are:

• iambic – (short/long) – (e.g. – re-PLY’)
• trochaic – (long/short) – (e.g. – REA’-son)
• anapestic – (short/short/long) – (e.g. – in-ter-FERE’)
• dactylic – (long/short/short) – (e.g. – SYL’-la-ble)
• spondaic – (long/long) – (e.g. – HEART’BEAT’)
• pyrrhic – (short/short) – (e.g. – darned if I know, this one’s tough)

So, combine a rhythm of iambic, trochaic, or the like – with a specified number of “feet” (repetitions of stressed pattern) and you have a poetic rhapsody.

• monometer – One foot per line – (e.g. – “Be-HOLD!” – iambic monometer)
• dimeter – Two feet per line – (e.g. – “Re-FLEC-tions FOUND” – iambic dimeter)
• trimeter -Three feet per line – (e.g. – “Yes, it AL-ways takes TWO side by SIDE” – anapestic trimeter)
• tetrameter – Four feet per line – (e.g. – “TWIN-kle, TWIN-kle, LIT-tle STAR” – trochaic tetrameter)  one syllable shy, btw
• pentameter – Five feet per line – (e.g. – “Our VI-sion NOW be-STOWS the BLIND with SIGHT”  (iambic pentameter – This format is used for any properly written sonnet along with a specified rhyme scheme in 14 line format)
• hexameter – six feet
• heptameter – seven feet
• octameter – eight fee

Does that clarify at all?  Feel free to leave a questioning comment and we’ll work it out together.  Now, go write a poem!

Imply vs Infer

Do we infer what others imply, or do we imply what they infer? It’s confusing, isn’t it? It’s not so difficult, if we just think it through.

Am I implying that we need to think before we speak? Yes, I am! My implication is that you can easily infer my intentions as long as you take a moment to consider both meanings.

What are you implying? That means “What are you suggesting or hinting to be true?” An implication is a suggestion or a hint.

To accept that implication as probably truth is to “infer” it to be so. I infer from your implication. Or perhaps you infer from my implication. In any case, there’s nothing to infer unless there’s been something implied.

The answer is:
We infer what others imply.
or
Others infer what we imply.

Sometimes tradition is good.  I admit, one more time, that I’m a die-hard poetic traditionalist.  I love the art of poetry and the many formats that our metrist predecessors taught us.  I’ll present many poetic structures in this blog, so stay tuned.

On of my favorite forms of poetry is the pantoum , which uses line repetitions throughout for effect. There is a faction of liberals that thinks it’s perfectly acceptable to vary the words slightly in the repeated lines to enhance the development of the theme, but traditionalists hold strong and fast to the "no deviations" rule.  You can make your own choice, and I have to admit, I’ve done it the liberal way, but I really prefer the challenge of adhering to custom – and making it appear that it really is easy to write… It’s NOT!

As in any poem, the first and most important thing to consider is THEME – The theme must develop within the line repetitions. THINK THEME – THINK THEME – THINK THEME… It must be properly developed to be successful.  Like anything we build, we need to put preliminary thought into the desired result and build with that end in mind.  We’re using just words/lines as our building blocks.

With the theme properly established, it’s time to consider the skeletal structure of the pantoum.  This format consists of six stanzas. Each is a quatrain which will contain lines that repeat in this order:

a1-b1-a2-b2
b1-c1-b2-c2
c1-d1-c2-d2
d1-e1-d2-e2
e1-f1-e2-f2
f1-a2-f2-a1  
 

Note that the first line (a1) also becomes the last line – the poem loops back around to its beginning. So, the first line has to be one that’s appropriate to end the poem as well (and still allow you to DEVELOP YOUR THEME).  Begin with the repetitions – then work on meter.

A pantoum, done properly, will have a distinctive meter , whether it be iambic, trochaic, anapestic, or any other. . Meter is easily tweaked after the poem has been written, so that can be ironed out later. Try to maintain some semblance of syllable count in your lines to make it easier, but don’t stress over it.

Then there’s imagery .   In any form of writing, the artful use of imagery defines the ability level of the author.  Poetry is perhaps the best genre to learn about imagery, because of its breviloquent nature.  It’s easy to read a poem and recognize simile, metaphor, and the rest.  For convenience, let’s review them here.

Simile – A comparison using as or like.  A simile is AS EASY AS PIE.

Metaphor – A comparison that doesn’t use "as" or "like", but rather uses one idea to represent another.  A metaphor IS A PIECE OF CAKE.

Extended Metaphor – This involves the entire poem in a metaphorical comparison. In my poem below, I use the changing tides to represent the passing of time and stages of life.

Personification – Is giving the attributes of life to an inanimate entity. In my poem below, line 10, repeating as line 12, “The drift of tide defines each sandy grain,” indicates that the tide is actually defining the grains of sand.  While the tides do actually shape the grains, they don’t physically “define” them.

Alliteration – Is repeating the first consonant sound of words in any line of a poem. “She sells sea shells down by the sea shore,” is a perfect example.

Assonance – Is repeating the words’ internal vowel structure within a line.  Lines 18 and 21 (f1 ) below are an example. “Each flush of dusk yields blush of dawn sublime.”

Onomatopoeia – This is the one that uses words that sound like themselves – Whoosh – Crash – Pop – Ahh-Choo… etc.  That’s an easy one.  Just don’t try to pronounce it?

The meter of a poem is the element that gives it its lyrical flow.  This particular poem is written in iambic pentameter (five metered feet per line – each comprised of an unstressed/STRESSED syllable count).  Meter can be any repetitive combination of stressed and unstressed syllables, as long as it’s consistent.  The art of meter is another blog entry which can be found in the poetry techniques category of this writers’ blog.  It’s great fun to work with, so do take the time to check it out.

Once theme, rhyme scheme, imagery and meter are mastered, the resulting pantoum should be a masterpiece.  Write On!

Outside my Window

Outside my window time and tide roll on,
Caressing breeze of halcyon lagoon;
Yet trice of sail and morrow’s tides begone.
Best sally fore ebbed waters flow eftsoon.

Caressing breeze of halcyon lagoon,
Inviting days of lollygagging pace;
Best sally fore ebbed waters flow eftsoon,
Laps offing seaward steadily apace.

Inviting days of lollygagging pace,
The drift of tide defines each sandy grain.
Laps offing seaward steadily apace,
As mere imprints of yesterday remain.

The drift of tide defines each sandy grain.
Let waves not flow slap-dash upon this shore,
As mere imprints of yesterday remain;
Today’s a present gone forevermore.

Let waves not flow slap-dash upon this shore;
Each flush of dusk yields blush of dawn sublime.
Today’s a present gone forevermore;
Here Trumpet’s call to live life’s full betime.

Each flush of dusk yields blush of dawn sublime;
Yet trice of sail and morrow’s tides begone.
Here Trumpet’s call to live life’s full betime,
Outside my window time and tide roll on.

Between or Among?

Just between you and me , we can determine proper usage from among the basic rules of English grammar. 

The preposition “between” specifically designates “two” of something.  Between two people, two cities, two lines, or two of anything, the proper word to use is “between.”  Be–tween specifically designates the number two, and should normally be confined to comparisons that are limited to two.

•  “Let’s keep this secret between you and me (the object of the preposition is always in the objective case, btw)."
•  “The tip was split between the chef and the waitress.”
•  “It was difficult to differentiate between the identical twins.”

“Among,” also a preposition, is used in a comparison of more than two. Among properly compares: the three children, the many streets in town, the states in the USA, or any group of three or more.

Examples:

•  “Let’s keep this secret among this threesome.”
•  “The tips were split among the entire wait-staff.”
•  “It was difficult to differentiate among the identical triplets.”

To further complicate the point, however, we should note that collective nouns have their own set of rules. The faculty, the team, or the class, are all collective nouns that can be used properly in either singular or plural forms. When used as a unit, a collective noun is treated as singular. When referring to the individual parts of the whole, the noun should be considered as plural.

Singular Examples:

•  “The basketball game between the faculty and students is an annual fund-raiser.”
•  “They had just enough water to dispense between the two teams.”
•  “An essay competition was assigned between the 7th grade and 8th grade class.

Plural Examples:

• “The basketball game was made up of volunteers from among the faculty.”
•  “They had enough water to dispense to the players among the team.”
•  “An essay competition was assigned among the students in 9th to 12th grades.”

Are we having fun yet?   :-D

I’ve always seen free verse as a method for prose writers to break up sentences into lines in such a way that their work appears as a poem.  Then they would be called poets!  In most cases, I still stand as self-admittedly, poetically penchant… she says with heartfelt apologies to the free-verse world of poets.

The problem with being so subjective, of course, is that happenstance invariably uncovers someone or something that completely annihilates the bias.  I admit, too, that many talented free versers have impressed me with their writing over the years.  There are several that I’ll proudly highlight at Nan’s Morsels.  My friend Martie is one of the best.

Martie Odell-Ingebretsen joined the Netpoets community in September of 1999.  She has since graced the poetry boards with nearly 1500 of her original poetic works, and is now one of the premier free verse poets online.  Martie gives the term “imagery” new meaning, as each of her poems evokes a resplendent vision in her reader’s eye.
I can’t rightly tell Martie’s story any better than she herself can, so in her own words:

~~

Martie Odell-Intebretsen

I was born and lived in Pasadena, California, in the same house with my parents and my brother until I went off to find myself at UC Berkeley in 1962.

When I was a child, I had difficulty learning how to read. In those years of the late ’40s, there was no name that I knew for why words and numbers turned around in my head and came out “wrong”. I found that instead of thinking in words, I thought in pictures. That may be the reason why my poetry is filled with imagery. Thanks to a wonderful neighbor lady who was also a teacher and the mother of my best friend, one summer when I was 7, I learned how to read. I’ve not put a book down since. Many years later I realized that I was dyslexic.

My father had been a writer before I was born. I still have some of his stories that were published in the Saturday Evening Post. He liked to help me with my writing assignments in school.  Then, in a sociology class in high school, I was assigned to write a synopsis of two books that were part of the class. Instead of writing paragraphs, I wrote poetry. I got an A+ on both papers. Thus was born the realization that I too could write.

I’ve been told that many of my poems are lyrical.  That may be due to my music background in piano and voice.  Before poetry, they were my way of expressing the volcano of thought and feeling that ached to be expressed.  I still have the same piano that I played when I was 5.

My first child, Michelle, was born in 1965.  I was 23 and in my last year of college, with a major in English Literature and a deep belief that one day I would become an important writer.  When Michelle was born, that changed … all thoughts of being anything but a good mother left me.  I didn’t believe that it was possible to love that much.  I was awe-struck by everything about her.  Her first smile was the cause of my greatest joy.

Then, in 1974, my life changed with such violent suddenness, that I didn’t know how I would ever feel joy again.  Michelle died that year.  She was 8 years old.  I had not ever stopped writing poetry, but my poetry changed then and I started writing poetry to express my grief and my growth … and so began the documentation of the way my life changed and became joyful.  My writing was a backbone for my life as a wife, mother of two boys, now men; grandmother of two girls and a boy, and 35 years of early childhood teaching.  But more importantly, it has been an expression of who I am.

In 2006, a tumor was removed from my brain.  I already knew how tenuous life was, but with this health- issue, I understood even more than I had, how very special and beautiful it IS.   My vision and the words of poetry that I wrote after this time have reflected an attitude of appreciation and gratitude far surpassing what I already knew.  My poetry has always been a reflection of the inner and more intuitive me.  Nature and the beauty around me has been my metaphoric tool….thus, the imagery.

Although I have written metered and rhymed poetry, free verse has usually been the carrier of my words, from heart, to paper.  So…. with all that I am… I would like to be first, a poet.

Dear Michelle

I have been given cause to think of you
this summer day      this summer way
just cooling we
into the time when precious memory takes me
to your birth in fall

All the year I’ve worn my heart
in comfort drawn to wait the times that bring you near
just not expecting           now

But here you are wrapping around my years
growing with me
not tears     but moments spent in learning trees
and little pieces of  poured cement  with your name
even the dogs bark
is a thing  you would have loved

So this day I know you see the pool we built
the year you died
as if to hide the tears in the joyous splash
your brothers made into what was a hill
where dogs remarked
yet still

Oh     I grieve the way your passion filled the day
and colored the empty place of me with play

~~

A poet she is – One of the best, in fact!  Thank you, Martie

What is a Villanelle?
How do we know a Villanelle when we see one?
How do we write a Villanelle? -

Well, it’s definitely one of my favorite poetic formats… The Villanelle’s lyrical repetitions make the poem sing to me? All right, so now we know it’s a specific form of poetry, but what makes it unique?

There are three relevant considerations to bear in mind when composing a Villanelle, like any form of structured poetry. Those elements are: (a) Theme Development, (b) Rhyme Scheme and (c) Meter. All are equally important to the successful completion of a formatted poem. Continue reading How to Write a Villanelle

Back in the late 1990’s there were very few internet sites that were devoted to online writers and their crafts. What a different world it’s become in such a short new-millennium decade, hasn’t it? Multitudes of writers’ sites are now available, but few can compare to Netpoets and the support that its members find there. As a site administrator, Kit McCallum is an integral part of that supportive team,

In the earlier internet days, prose and poetry writers were much more tentative about posting online than they are today. I know that it took me awhile to muster up the courage to post my first poem. I recall a day in 1999 when I received an inquiring email from a lady named “Kit.” It seemed that she had been a year-long resident poet at Netpoets, having first submitted the poem “The Road Less Traveled” in 1998. She never submitted her poem for hard copy publication, but instead published it on the internet for the first time at NetPoets’ – Passions in Poetry in March of 1999. She needed just a little nudge to join the fray of the site’s interactive forums. Continue reading And Then There Was Kit

 It was all of ten years ago, now. I was combing the internet for good sites where I could share my writing. There wasn’t much out there then, and there were certainly no sites that could compare to Netpoets. I didn’t have any allegiances at that time, so I was frequenting a couple of sites where writers could post their works. One or two were pretty good, and one was designated as a “slam” site. The title was well deserved.

I found negligible talent there, and a LOT of offensive critique. The pseudo-poet slammers couldn’t handle well-written poetry. Heaven forbid a poet should use rhyme… and meter? I doubt they had any idea what iambic meant. Am I being too harsh? Likely not. They didn’t understand it, so they criticized – brutally.

I began to see a pattern of aggressive behaviors that was clearly my cue to exit the melee. As it happened, Netpoets was simultaneously growing into its own, though operating on an “invitation only” basis. My visits to the slamming poet jam brought my attention to one very talented poet. His problem amongst the slammers was that he used meter and rhyme in his work. Michael Mack, aka “Balladeer,” was that poet. His pseudonym was perfect, as was his poetry. Needless to say, I tossed him a poetic life preserver and reeled him into the Netpoets fold.

Michael’s quick wit was obvious to me from the start. He said, ”I’m from Missouri – Show me your site!” He truly did grow up in Missouri, in a tiny town with only about a hundred other people. Of course, there was little to do in a town of that size in the 40’s and 50’s. Michael was reading and writing poetry by the age of five, and writing his own ballads not much later. . Continue reading Balladeer