Teachings of the rain

original verse poetry
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(with form explanation below)

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I listen past the wall of engine blasts
To hear the strobing language of the rain.
Dim electric love the drops contain
Spark from eye to heart to brain—
So long our walls outlasts,
And we, cosmic outcasts,
Endure the stony pain.

I gaze along the pavement-puddles' sheen
To read the rain a-tapping morse in code.
Circles overlapped and overflowed
Make me take another road—
Erasing hues of green,
Yellow's fade in blueing scene,
Isolation sowed.

Now driven by the dampness into doors,
I contemplate the humid ripple-rhyme.
Twist the soft geometries sublime
In my mind the maze to climb.
In water through the pores
Of earth's rain-besotten floors
I flow beyond the edifice of time.

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Form notes

The majority of my experience writing poetry has been in free verse, that is, poetry without a regular meter or rhyme. Although free verse is the most popular way of writing poetry today, many people are still intimidated to write poetry because they have the assumption that it must be written in rigid verse and rhyme. It's true that writing (well) in verse forms is difficult, but it is a satisfying practice, and one I'd like to delve a bit more into.

My main verse-writing experience, though meagre, is in writing Shakespearean sonnets. Here are a couple from several months ago: Quiet shall I be, or shall I speak? They are written in iambic pentameter, which is lines of ten syllables that alternate unstressed and stressed. If you want to listen to the introduction poetry class we had on Shakespearean sonnets, it's here: Live poetry class recording: 10 common Shakespearean sonnets.

However, today I wanted to invent a more irregular form using iambic pentameter as the foundation. The reason is that having all lines the same length can feel a bit unnatural. This poem was built using seven-line stanzas with rhyme scheme ABBBAAB. The first two lines are in iambic pentameter; the third is iambic with the first unstressed syllable removed (9 syllables.) The last four lines are 7 syllables, then 6, then 7, and the final line is 5 syllables (except in the final stanza where it is a full 10 syllable line of iambic pentameter.) So overall it's 10-10-9-7-6-7-5 in the first two and 10-10-9-7-6-7-10 in the third stanza. If you look below it will be made more clear.

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10...I listen past the wall of engine blasts
10...To hear the strobing language of the rain.
9....Dim electric love the drops contain
7....Spark from eye to heart to brain—
6....So long our walls outlasts,
7....and we, cosmic outcasts,
5....endure the stony pain.

10...I gaze along the pavement-puddles' sheen
10...To read the rain a-tapping morse in code.
9....Circles overlapped and overflowed
7....Make me take another road—
6....Erasing hues of green,
7....Yellow's fade in blueing scene,
5....Isolation sowed.

10...Now driven by the dampness into doors,
10...I contemplate the humid ripple-rhyme.
9...Twist the soft geometries sublime
7...In my mind the maze to climb.
6...In water through the pores
7...Of earth's rain-besotten floors
10...I flow beyond the edifice of time.

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Written by
@d-pend
4/15/18
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Photos by

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1 — "A Light Shines Thru the Rain" by Andy Serrano [cropped]
2 — "Desert Rain by NWunseen"
3 — "Rain on the Parade" by Andy Serrano
4 — "Pasadena Wet Lights" by Andy Serrano

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