Mouths

NaPoWriMo – Day 15 – A Pantun

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

NAPO 2013 BUTTON

Just in case we have new readers who are not familiar withNaPoWriMo, perhaps I should explain again. It’s been a couple weeks since we talked about it in detail. April is National Poetry Month, and Maureen Thorson, in Washington, D. C. hosts a blogsite that invites all poets to participate in a special challenge in celebration of that fact by writing a poem a day for the 30 days of April. Thus NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month). Maureen gives us a new prompt for each day, but the prompts are totally voluntary. We can follow them or write some other kind of poem entirely. We are only halfway through the month, so anyone can still join in the fun. Just hop over to this link and get started: http://www.napowrimo.net

Day 15:  Pantun is a Malay form of poetry. Although it has been changed and adapted into a slightly different form by the French and English, our challenge today is to write a poem following the exact formula of the original Malay Pantun. That formula consists of a quatrain with 8-12 syllables per line and a rhyme scheme of abab. Furthermore, although there is no formal logical connection required between the two halves of each quatrain, there is supposed to be some degree of “imaginative or imagistic connection” between the two.

I decided, in the interest of time, to limit myself to one quatrain. The following has 10 syllables per line, and I think I’ve met the other requirements as well. Moreover, I’ve shared a powerful truth.

SWORDSWEAPONS

One man may wield with ease a sharp-honed sword,
And drawing blood, strike death with that long knife.
Another for his weapon chooses words,
Yet with dead aim, he too destroys a life.

~~~

 

NaPoWriMo Challenge – Day 12 – Saying Things We’d Never Say

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

NAPO 2013 BUTTON

Okay the challenge for day 12 is to write a poem “saying only things you’d never say” to some people in your life: parents, lovers, teachers, employers, presidents, corporate execs, etc. Well, here’s what happened when I tried it:

MAN TELLING OFFTHINGS I’D NEVER SAY 

I’ve often thought if telling certain people off.
Imagined speaking my mind loud and clear.
But all the things I’d like to say I’d never say,
So I’ve been challenged just to say them here.

Well, one guy needs to have his head examined,
And this is what I’d like to say to him:
No — wait — I’d never say those words in real life;
They’re just too cold and mean and even grim. 

Well, I could put one boss I had in her place,
And make her feel so bad that she would cry
If I just told her — no — I’d never say that,
And I can’t say it even when I try.

This challenge calls on me to say in meter
The things I’d never say in speaking prose.
It asks me to go straight against my conscience
And verbally attack all of my foes.

But if these words that I am contemplating
Are words I’d “never say,” then you can see
That since I’d “never say them,” I can’t say them,
If I’m to go on being true to me.

~~~

Join the fun for the rest of April at this link: http://www.napowrimo.net/

Warning: Watch What You Say!

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

GREEN WARNING SIGN 2
Words have power. They can inflict wounds that last a lifetime or heal a broken heart. They can soothe a troubled child or ignite a revolution. They can destroy a friendship or kindle the flame of love. In fact, God’s Word says that the very power of life and death is in the words that we speak. (Proverbs 18:21). He also says that we will be justified or condemned by our words. (Matthew 12:37). As we move forward into this new year, one of the wisest things we can do is be extremely — extremely — careful what words we speak out of our mouths.