Terse Verse

Terse Verse

This is my name for rhymes which are, like the Japanese haiku, rely on few words which say a lot.

Time

Tick tock
watch clock
age paradigm
tyranny of time


There are a few named varieties of verse  - often comic in nature - which, although being very short,  have set rhythm and rhyming patterns.

The most well known of these is the Limerick. Eg:

There is a young farmer called Brown
who never goes into the town;
such a bumpkin is he,
he makes love to a tree
though the splinters are getting him down.


© 2003

There is also the Little Willie, named after the subject of the first one to become famous. This should be what is sometimes called black or wry humor, or tragi-comedy. Just four lines. Eg:

One fateful day my cousin Mary
lawnmowered her pet canary.
Mary's cat though had a treat;
he loves a bowl of shredded tweet!


©2002

And then there's the Clerihew, named after the author who made them famous. Four short lines, in two rhyming couplets, the name of a famous person as the first line, the other lines being about the person. Eg:

Elvis Presley
did impress me
always rocking
seen as shocking


© 2002

Another is sometimes known as 4x4. It's four lines, one word on each line, as rhyming couplets. Like these:

staid                         whale's   
maid                         tales
misses                      porpoise
kisses                       corpus
 

The epigram is another terse verse. Just two lines this time, the object being to make it witty, pithy:



I wondered where the golf ball went
and then it hit me.

Another fairly terse verse, and probably the hardest of the lot,  is known as double dactyl, which just means that most of the lines are composed of two dactyls. A dactyl is one long syllable followed by two short ones, as in the word "murmering".

The only rhyme is in the last word of the last line of each of the two stanzas, which rhyme with each other. The other stipulation is that the first line must be a nonsense phrase, and the sixth line should be one double dactylic word.

Eg:

Milly geewillikins!
Scientists utilise
artistic properties,
having a go.

Looking like soccer balls,
Buckminsterfullerine's
spherical molecules.
Whaddya know.


© 2003


All of these are much harder to write properly than they may appear, as the rhythm and the rhyme schemes are all important.  Brevity, too, is not always easy to achieve.

CLS
2003

Thoughts Spoken and Unspoken

Thoughts Unspoken


Wow! take a look at that!
Ooh, he's rather nice,
not too thin and not too fat.
She wouldn't look at me twice.

I wonder if I asked her out...
I wonder what he's thinking.
I'd like to know what he's smiling about.
I wonder what she's drinking?

Perhaps if I walk across that way
Oh gosh! he's coming over!
Must stay calm! What will I say?
My brain's gone supernova.

What can I say that might impress?
I've got to play it cool.
I wish I'd worn that other dress.
I'd hate to look a fool.

Maybe if I say hello...
I mustn't look too keen
Gosh, I'm nervous, does it show?
will she know what I mean?

She's looking up. Oh God! those eyes!
Yes!. He's sitting down.
Should I smile or look surprised?
Big and warm and brown.

I can't just sit here staring
What's he looking at?
Is it what I'm wearing?
I don't half feel a prat.

I'll have to think of something fast
Do you know, I think...
Yes! he's going to speak at last!
"Would you like a drink?"


********
First Date



First date,
can't be late,
what will he-?
will he be -?

What to wear?
Do my hair
-new dress-
hair's a mess.

What's that?
wear a hat?
Don't tease,
daddy, please!

Back by when?
only ten?
can't I just...?
don't you trust...?

He's here now?
Oh wow!
"Woohoo
look at you"

Later on,
date's gone,
"How'd it go?"
"Oh, you know."






***

Prevarication

Ah, no, she said, not this time...
You can't, she said, not now...
Stay here, she said, I'll call you
It's too late anyhow.

It's just, she said, you're busy...
I thought, she said, you'd need...
Some time, she said, to study
I want you to succeed.

Oh, right, I said, you're saying...
I see, I said, OK...
Is this, I said, for long then?
And then I thought, no way.

You've got, I said, another?
I've been, I said, replaced?
Would you, I said, have told me?
As she stood ashen-faced.

Ah, well, she said, about that...
I'll make, she said, amends...
I would, she said, have told you
And we can still be friends.

Oh no, I said, not this time.
We can't, I said, nohow.
Go home, I said, don't call me.
It's really too late now.

©2001



He-ing She-ing


Eyeing  sighing
kissing missing

yearning burning
dating waiting

dreaming scheming
wedding bedding

baring pairing
mating sating

lusting trusting
craving saving

boring  warring
paying greying

fighting slighting
ailing failing

working shirking
staying praying

lying crying
cheating beating

crawling sprawling
bleeding pleading

sweeping weeping
aching breaking

leaving grieving

ending

mending.

© 2002



One Way Conversation

"You're doing ok for your age," he said.
As a compliment it stank.
"But you look much better on your back."
There's nothing like being frank!

She raised an eyebrow, gave him a look.
"No, let me finish here..."
She pursed her lips and waited.
"The wrinkles disappear.

Not that you have many anyway."
He backpedalled like a pro.
She looked him squarely in the eye;
laughed as he dodged the blow.


© 2006