Day Sixteen

Happy Friday, everyone, and happy sixteenth day of Na/GloPoWriMo.

Today’s featured participant is Kyle M. Bondo, who penned an ode to his inherited inability to send back poorly-made restaurant food in response to our prompt for Day 15. You are not alone, Kyle. I think the entire population of the midwestern United States has this same issue.

Our featured reading for the day is another pre-recorded one, that can be enjoyed at your leisure. It’s a 2008 reading by the poet Ted Kooser, who won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for his poetry collection, Delights and Shadows.

And last but not least, our (optional) prompt. Because it’s Friday, today I’d like you to relax with the rather silly form called Skeltonic, or tumbling, verse. In this form, there’s no specific number of syllables per line, but each line should be short, and should aim to have two or three stressed syllables. And the lines should rhyme. You just rhyme the same sound until you get tired of it, and then move on to another sound. Here’s a short example I came up with.

                             A toad beneath a log

                             Cares not for storm or fog.

                             He’s not a bee or frog

                             Or a naïve polliwog.

                             No! He’s wise and bumpy.

                             His skin is thick and lumpy.

                             He doesn’t work for money.

                             And his disposition’s sunny.

Skeltonic verse is a fun way to get some words on the page without racking your brains for deep meaning. It’s a form that lends itself particularly well to poems for children, satirical verse, and just plain nonsense.

Happy writing!