A really fun prompt at dVerse Poets Pub today: to write ‘echo poetry’. An Echo Verse is a poem where the last word or syllable in a line is repeated or echoed underneath to form a rhyming liner. My attempt below is just a quick sprint, inspired by conversations between my parents (and of course the first line of a poem by T.E. Brown). But there are some far more wonderful examples linked up to the site, both funny and thoughtful, so I strongly urge you to check them out.
A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot!
Hot?
Even in a heat wave, there’s bliss to be found.
Around?
Ferns, palm-shade, pool to cool us down…
You frown?
Flowers burst forth in coloured refrain.
Again?
Oh, you’re such a philistine and bore!
Once more.
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A garden is indeed a lovely place where bliss can be found during the heat wave. I loved the inspiration behind your poem 🙂 Beautiful work.
Lots of love,
Sanaa
Yes, my parents’ dialogues often take on a surreal quality, so I had to find a way to do them justice… Thank you for your kind comment.
oh i love how echo answers back teasingly…a lovely playfulness….very enjoyable lines…
Ha.. yest a conversation with an echo can be quite a boring thing in the long run.. love the humor of that concluding line.
I just spent researching “wot” — fun! It took me to the King James Bible, then to Shakespeare. “God wot!” is used all over. THEN, to the poem “My Garden” by Thomas Edward Brown (1830-1897) where the first line is “A Garden is a lovesome thing, God wot!”. In fact, Brown even speaks of ferns (like you) — were you channeling him?
Meanwhile, you allude to an old sweet poem but you make your echo a dullard — a long aesthetic difference between you and the [former] partner, eh?
As for “a philistine” — that phrase made me sad to think of how the Hebrew Bible is treated as holy. The god in that anthology order Abraham and others to wipe out the people of another land and make it their own — the land of the Philistines. And yet we rage against radical Muslims when both Jewish and Christian literature brags of the same holocaust-thinking (albeit, fictional).
Anyway, I enjoyed your walk through the garden, the dull friend and the historical tour you set me on. Good morning !
Yep, that poem by Brown was the inspiration and I was very much thinking of it as I wrote this. Pleased to hear it inspired you to take a walk through the gardens of history as well…
Oh, this is great, Marina Sofia! I really do like the way you set the garden scene, too, and add that touch of wit. Nicely done!
I am glad you found it a fun prompt & enjoyed your ‘sprint.’ I also often get inspiration from looking at a line of a poem & letting my own words flow from them. Thank goodness there are always pools into which one can escape a heat wave & flowers to brighten one’s day!
A garden with flowing water or a pool is so delightful, I just love the sound of it as well. We only have a paddling pool, alas, but it’s still good for a dip…
I enjoyed the humor in your poem. I think I would feel miserable in an apartment without the joys a garden can offer. I know one can always go to a park but it is not the same.
I lived in apartments until about 10-12 years ago, so I was a bit useless at gardening when I did have my first garden. I kept pulling up the plants and leaving the weeds by mistake… So I think I’m the Philistine in this poem as well…
I love the light spirited humor of your lines ~ specially admire this part:
Flowers burst forth in coloured refrain.
Again?
Delightful!!
Lovely and playful MarinaSofia
There was a time when I enjoyed the feel of soil on my hands, when I could stoop & squat & kneel with ease; a truly transcendent connecting to the earth experience–but now I leave the gardening to my younger wife, & three daughters. I just sit back & reap the bounty. Nice use of the echo form, had fun reading it; still smiling.
I like the feel of the earth on my hands and feet – it’s my peasant roots. I just wish I knew more about the plants. I can’t learn from books, I just need someone to show me but never had the opportunity. It’s a fun form, isn’t it?
The poem by Brown is one of my favorites. I do love how you channeled this and the work you did with the conversation and the echo. Just lovely.
Passion flower of Garden’s heat
Sweet..
Humans heart spirit soul bright
Light
Flowers Love
GlOve..:)
I thought you did a wonderful job with the form. This was great fun! Peace, Linda
I really enjoyed your “garden variety” humor in this echo poem; the reference to “philistine” – ha!
“Even in a heat wave, there’s bliss to be found.
Around?”
I love this – I wouldn’t have thought that you can build such powerful visuals with echos.