Counting Crows
Be free. Throw off convention. Disregard those who would chain you to rules. Smirk at those who criticize your brilliant mind. Jealousy is a hideous mask behind which cowers a frightened child.
For Sally written in iambic pentameter in the style of heroic couplets
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I thought about how you complained so loud
I heard foul noisy crowing shouting proud
To my surprise I read your weak attempt
For free form words you show much vile contempt
Shakespeare cared not the message was his guide
Milton ends weak each metered line defied
Mean cawing crows a raucous noise employ
The peaceful hearts of artists they destroy
For all the world their vain attempt engage
Poet pretenders fakers of our age
Count syllables on fingers cigar stained
Adept at demonstrating mind untrained
What value can be had in counting sounds?
Loquacious flowery verse and bloomy nouns?
The honest word no value can attach
Those hapless wretched lyrics can not match
Be free to write heed not the counting crows
Who measure words produced in angry prose
A gift you have when words out your mind stream
Unchained by thick convention’s strict regime
Isa Rodriguez
wow…............ such a good good write up helen .. been missing my rb time:).. im so glad to be home again..
H M Bascom replied
Welcome home Isa. :-)
Shoaib .
oh wow … seriously? iambic pentameter? lol you are to much ! this is def way to much work for me to write in but i seriously give you a lot of props for writing inthis way..def a lost art !
great work
H M Bascom replied
Ah I wrote this in under an hour. Not so hard, really. You could say I was inspired. :-)
Shoaib .
i ve only written one… and it was alternating lines of triameter and tetrameter… and course i had to make it rhyme … it was the only thing my teacher praised me for that year LOL
H M Bascom replied
You should be praised for that effort!
Marion Cullen
Great message Helen – I have to agree, convention stifles us and stunts our personal growth, as well as our growth as a civilisation as a whole….
Conventional, thankfully, will never be synonymous with Helen Bascom…always up for the challenge.
H M Bascom replied
Funny, I chose a conventional form to criticize convention. The irony was too much to pass on. Thanks Marion. I will always push the boundaries.
Sally Omar
Oh, your words are amazing…profound and absolutely marvelous
rhythm…Thank you my dear Helen…I hold your hand in true Sisterhood!!!!
Love You!!!!! xoxoxoxooxoxox
H M Bascom replied
Solidarity! No oaf shall offend lest I avenge. :-D
Matt Penfold
Iamb in agreement, with variations for a feminine end to the pentameter ;-)
I personally prefer well metered verse
Though to a freer way I’m not averse
But he who thinks his is the only way
And tries another poet’s heart to slay
Is cold and low and pretty rotten smellin’
It seems you got this arsehole’s measure Helen
For now I see you prod with your hot poker
What sounds like a creation of Bram Stoker
;-)
H M Bascom replied
choke, snarf, snort, howl, laugh, choke
Uh . . . ROFLOL . . . I’ll get back to you. . . .hahahahaha
H M Bascom replied
Ok, I have recovered. Thank you Matt for that fine verse.
I learned many years ago to allow critics to wind the rope around their own necks. :-)
happyfeet5
This is wonderful and you are very talented. I mean, to be able to rhyme every line, for me it’s kind of hard to do, or maybe I really haven’t tried it. Anyway, my father does it in the songs he composes (he’s 82) and my daughter does it also. And you did it under an hour. Great peice and great work. Iris
happyfeet5
OH, and I forgot to mention, I did hear you loud and clear. Iris
H M Bascom replied
Be free! Thank you so much Iris. xoxo
Roseann
Brilliant, Helen. Simply brilliant. Very well done. Fav!
H M Bascom replied
Thank you very much Roseann!
Gregory John O...
Cn wonderful !!! I love Billy Wobblestick and Milton ( the poet, not Milton Orkopolous the child molester ex labor minister )..... Oh for Paradise Lost…
H M Bascom replied
. . . and Paradise Regained. :-)
Gregory John O...
P,S. Thanks for the link. Someone tried to explain meter to me, but my brain still works in feet and inches :-)
H M Bascom replied
hahahaha A little poetic humor.
ambient-1
Brilliant Helen!
H M Bascom replied
Thank you very much!
Ushna Sardar
great read helen!
H M Bascom replied
Wow Thank you Ushna!
Juilee Pryor
you really are one special gal….. don’t stop now sister girl…...:)
H M Bascom replied
Thanks Juilee! I won’t stop. Promise.
Juilee Pryor
I’m counting on it…. your one of the reasons I stick around here….. a real light in the darkness…. well maybe not darkness…. more like a high point in the sea of mediocity at times…. a grace note….. you rock and I’m counting on you to not stop…... :)
ArcadiaTempest
Why is it some people just want to crow.
..is it they didn’t learn any other form of communication…
is there a weak link between their thoughts and kindness??
I adore your direct approach
to those that would stick their unwanted beaks
in beautiful out of the formula prose. XXX
H M Bascom replied
There are always critics pecking about, sticking their beaks where they are not welcome. Thanks Arcadia.
Dreadlockedjay
By the way i have a book of free verse poetry being released soon in your favorite bookstores.It’s titled”DEEZ NUTZ” featuring a few of my favorites.The one i really invested a great deal of time and effort is titled”Suck my ball and sockets” it’s about the undead…....
H M Bascom replied
LOL Oh my you sure know how to make a girl smile. xoxo