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Ashley Lister

Writing Exercise – the Ottava Rima

by | August 6, 2013 | | 17 Comments

 By Ashley Lister 

 We vow tonight will be an early night

We both have work to do tomorrow morn

But now, before I kill the bedroom light

I plead for you to tend to my hard horn.

The mood is set. The time seems very right.

We’re both fired up from watching hardcore porn

I do those things you tell me you adore

And then I stop ‘cos you’ve started to snore.

The Ottava Rima describes eight lines of poetry set out in the
form: a b a b a b c c. These eight lines can represent a single poem or a
collection of these stanzas can make up a longer work.

Originally, when it was brought to us from the Italian language,
the Ottava Rima had 11 syllables per line. Because this form was then appropriated
by English speakers in the 16th century, when iambic pentameter was
all the rage, those 11 syllables were reduced to ten. In the following you’ll
note that I’ve used some lines with ten and some with 11 syllables.

We did it whilst you cooked a sweet ‘n’ sour

We did it on the table in the kitchen

We did it whilst I read King’s The Dark Tower

We did it whilst you sewed and did some stitchin’

We did it in the bathroom in the shower

We did it even though your crotch was itchin’

On that morning we earned a world renown

To kill time whilst our ISP was down

The Ottava Rima is a lot of fun. It’s been used for a
variety of disparate purposes including religious verse, comedy, troubadour
songs and dramatic narratives. It’s been used by a host of impressive names
including Fairfax, Byron and Burgess. As always, the challenge this month is to
use this form to present something erotic.

I look forward to seeing your responses in the comments box
below.

Writing Exercise

by | July 6, 2013 | | 16 Comments

 by Ashley Lister 

 The quatern is a sixteen line French form composed
of four quatrains (four line stanzas).

The quatern has a refrain (a repeated line) that is
in a different place in each quatrain. In other words, the first line of stanza
one is the second line of stanza two, the third line of stanza three and the fourth
line of stanza four. It’s surprising how much this affects the meaning of the
words in that refrain.

A quatern should have eight syllables per line. It
does not have to be iambic or follow a set rhyme scheme.

I don’t know why you won’t undress

Your clothes are getting in my way

I say this to you night and day

It leaves our love life in a mess

And so I tell my therapist

I don’t know why you won’t undress

It stops me trying to caress

The parts I think you needed kissed

But he tells me to give you time

He says you don’t need my duress

I don’t know why you won’t undress

I worry you’re no longer mine

I hear my therapist confess

He’s seeing you: You’re deemed a slut

He wants some advice from me but

I don’t know why you won’t undress

I have to admit, I love poems that work with refrains. All poems get us thinking about words and the way we use them in different fashions. The use of a refrain, especially with such a didactic placement as the one in the quatrain, makes us think more about our selection of choice phrases.

As always, I look forward to enjoying your quaterns
in the comments box below.

Writing Exercise – the tritina

by | June 6, 2013 | | 15 Comments

 by Ashley Lister

 Whenever I teach
poetry, there will often be a student arguing against rhyme or railing against
the discipline of meter or battling the regimented notion of syllable counting.
My usual response, that the practice of poetry is assisted by working to the
structure of established forms, often seems like a poor comeback. Oftentimes,
as a compromise, we’ll end up working on the tritina.

The tritina is a
ten line form of unrhymed poetry, broken into three tercets (three-lined
stanzas) with a final, solitary, line. 
The device that makes the tritina remarkable is its use of repeated
words, once in each line, in the pattern of A B C, C A B, B C A. The final line
of the tritina includes all three of the A B C words.

Kisses, Crops and Canes

For years they met and shared their kisses
Sating a passion for crops
Exploring a passion for canes

They learnt each other’s favourite canes
Then chased each stripe with tender kisses
And chased each kiss with cruel crops

Eventually they outgrew crops
Their need for pain outgrew the canes
But never once did they eschew kisses

Kisses do so much more than crops and canes

You’ll notice here
that the ABC words kisses(A), crops(B) and canes(C) are repeated at the end of the lines in the aforementioned
pattern: A B C, C A B, B C A. In the final line it doesn’t matter about the order
of the three words as long as they’re all there.

Kneel
and Worship

When we meet you insist that I should kneel
(before we undress, touch, or kiss) and
you insist that at your feet I worship

It helps that you’re so worthy of worship
and that I need to kneel
at your feet and

remain there paying homage and
promising other forms of worship
that I might still do whilst I kneel

How I love to hear you whisper: “Kneel and worship.”

There is no fixed
meter, although the poem appears to work best when each line contains a similar
number of syllables. In this one you’ll notice that the ABC words kneel(A), and(B) and worship(C)
are repeated (again) in the aforementioned pattern: A B C, C A B, B C A. I’ve
managed to get my ABC words as the last three in the final line – although this
isn’t a necessity.

As always, I look
forward to seeing your poems in the comments box below.

Writing Exercise

by | May 6, 2013 | | 11 Comments

by Ashley Lister

Back in November we discussed haiku here – the traditional Japanese poetic form. Haiku, as you may remember, is a form that is typified in Western writing as three lines of poetry with a distinctive 5-7-5 syllable pattern. Well, now it’s time to look at the tanka – five lines of poetry with a syllable pattern of 5-7-5-7-7.

To illustrate:

You undress for me
Exposing hidden contours
And then the fun starts
We explore our nudity
Until our climaxes come

For many writers the middle line is the essential balancing part of the tanka. Sometimes called the pivot line, this middle line can end the sentiment of the first three lines of the poem and it can begin a separate sentiment for the final three lines.

We’ve fucked for an age
Our bodies fluid with sweat
Orgasm evades
Yet seems to linger so close
Tantalisingly nearer

Of course there are ways to interpret the tanka for writers who don’t care to be bound by the rigidity of counting syllables. There are also ways to incorporate the tanka into renga poetry – collaborative writing in a similar form. But this version, as disciplined as the traditional haiku yet with a little more scope for narrative and lyricism, is well worth attempting.

I look forward to seeing your tanka in the comments box below.

Writing Exercise

by | April 6, 2013 | | 11 Comments

 by Ashley Lister

With this being April, and our annual celebration of Shakespeare’s
birthday (April 23rd) looming on the horizon, I figured it was time to
look at the sonnet. However, the sonnet is not a simple warm-up exercise to be
tackled before writing a day’s worth of prose. The complexities of the sonnet
can steal an hour from the most talented writer, and maybe take a month from
the rest of us. I offer this as a project to pick at over the next month,
whenever you’re between bursts of inspiration.

The Rules:

All sonnets contain 14
lines. 

There are three main styles of
sonnet: Petrachan, Spenserian and Shakespearian. Each one of these forms is made
distinctive by its rhyme scheme.

Sonnets are usually written in iambic
pentameter (that is, ten syllables made up of five unstressed/stressed pairings).

Because this month celebrates Shakespeare’s
birthday, I figured it would be appropriate to consider the Shakespearian form.
The Shakesperian sonnet usually follows the rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg.

Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee
to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:


Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed:

But thy eternal
summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st,

So long as men can
breathe, or eyes can see,
   So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

W. Shakespeare

In the example above we can see
the poem divided into the three quatrains (abab cdcd efef) and a final couplet
(gg).

We can also see the volta or turn
on the ninth line. The volta of the ninth line is a traditional turnaround in opinion
from the poet. Note how, in the first eight lines, the persona of this poem has
been telling us that the addressee is lovelier than a summer’s day. Summer is
crap in comparison to the addressee. In the ninth line the direction changes. Shakespeare
moves on to discuss the summer that the addressee will be facing in future
years.

The final couplet, usually,
brings all this together.

How can we apply this to erotic poetry? Let’s try the
following:

Sonnet 18+

Shall I compare thee
to a porno star?
Thou art more lovely and more sexy too:
I’ve yearned to have you naked in my car,
And I would really love to service you:


Sometimes you let me glimpse your muffin tops,
Your shorts reveal your sweet and cheeky cheeks,
The view’s enough to make my loins go pop,
And make me long to have more than a peak:

But I know you’re no exhibitionist,
You’d never ever play games of team tag,

Not even if I got you truly pissed,
Because, I know, you’re really not a slag,

So long as I can hope
there’s half a chance,
   I’ll dream about what’s there inside your pants.

A Lister

Your turn – please share your
sonnets in the comments box below.

  

Writing Exercise

by | March 6, 2013 | | 3 Comments

 by Ashley Lister

 The Triolet

My fingers slip between your thighs

You part your legs and beg for more

Desire burning in your eyes

My fingers slip between your thighs

And as I listen to your sighs

And feel you dripping from your core

My fingers slip between your thighs

You part your legs and beg for more

The triolet is a one stanza, eight line poem with a
distinctive rhyme scheme of ABaAabAB. Usually it’s written in iambic tetrameter
(in other words, it typically includes eight syllables per line). Note here
that the capital A and B refer to refrains: lines that are repeated later in
the poem.

My fingers slip between your thighs

You part your legs and beg for more

Desire burning in your eyes

My fingers slip between your thighs

And as I listen to your sighs

And feel you dripping from your core

My fingers slip between your thighs

You part your legs and beg for more

A

B

a

A

a

b

A

B

In the above example we can see that the refrain lines are:

My fingers slip between your thighs

and

You part your legs and beg for more

That the poem keeps returning to these lines gives them a
sense of gravitas and importance. This helps to give the triolet a hypnotic
feel that adds to the appeal of this often overlooked form. Note also that the musicality
of the form can help writers to include par rhymes, as with the example below:

You kiss the riding crop’s flat tip

And promise not to err again

You licked the leather on the whip

You kiss the riding crop’s flat tip

You swear you didn’t mean to slip

And beg me for your punishment

You kiss the riding crop’s flat tip

And promise not to err again

As always, feel free to post your triolets below.

Writing Exercise

by | February 6, 2013 | | 5 Comments

 By Ashley Lister

 I’ll keep this short. Rhyme is denigrated by
snobs. Syllable based poetry becomes complicated by the inconvenience of
diphthongs and triphthongs (as well as the vagaries of pronunciation). And so,
I’ve gone for something short and sweet with my contribution to this week’s
excursion into poetic forms. I’ve elected to tackle the septolet.

Long Days

Days
that stretch

for

endless,
infinite hours

until
we are

together

alone
and naked.

The
septolet has fourteen words. It is broken between two stanzas that make up the
fourteen words. Each stanza can have seven words but that is not an essential requirement.
The division can take place where the poet decides.

Unclothed

Wearing
only

a
smile

you
have enchanted me

and
I offer

you
my heart.

Both
stanzas of the septolet deal with the same thought. Ultimately they create a
picture. Please take a shot at contributing a septolet to the
comments box below.

Writing Exercise

by | January 6, 2013 | | 2 Comments

By Ashley Lister

The nonet is nine lines of poetry – an ideal poetry writing exercise for the start of the New Year. Like the haiku, the nonet is defined by a syllable count for each line. However, because it’s so regimented in its form, the layout of this one is easier to remember:

The first line contains nine syllables.

The second line contains eight syllables.

The third line contains seven syllables.

This pattern continues down to the final line which consists of a single syllable word.

To illustrate:

soft, silken, slippery, soapy fingers
touching, teasing, taunting, pleasing,
swiftly – faster and faster.
And then. Hesitating.
Slowly. Too slowly.
Drawing out
the rich pleasure
until…
sigh

The nonet can be used as a single verse, or a collection of nonets can be used as stanzas in a longer poem. The nonet can also be reversed to give 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 pattern.

A
single kiss. Tongues touch.
Lips together.
Mouths meet.
Hands explore.
Caresses grow bolder.
Clothes are stretched, tugged, then removed.
Bare flesh is finally exposed.
And then, at last, the fun can begin.

As always, I look forward to reading your nonets in the comments box below.

Writing Exercise – Christmas Poetry

by | December 6, 2012 | | 15 Comments

 By Ashley Lister

 There’s no specific tradition of Christmas poetry. There’s
no rigid form where a poem has to comply with restrictive-rhyme-scheme A or
arbitrary-syllable-count B.

However, there are some features of poems that do make some
poems typical of Christmas.

Typically, a Christmas poem will mention Christmas or the baby
Jesus or will include some capitalist allusion to gift-giving. Sometimes a
Christmas poem will mention Santa and some bullshit about this being a magical
time of the year. Quite often it will be easy to make cynical comments about
their content.

Most commonly a Christmas poem will be written in rhyming
couplets. These are fun because they give a piece a sing-song quality. They can
be even more fun if you have to force a rhyme because it allows the poet to
share a joke with the reader/audience about the complexities of rhyme.

I’ve written a poem below that illustrates the way a
Christmas poem can include some of these features of couplets and forced rhyme:


‘Twas the build up to Christmas
and the regulars here

Were writing their way to the end
of the year

Through me and M Christian: and Craig
and RG

Writing and blogging  – erotically.

From Donna George Storey and
Lisabet too

Perfecting our blogs for the
reader (that’s you).

There’s Kathleen, KD and (of
course) Jean Roberta.

There’s Lucy and Elizabeth (who
write every querter)

It’s more than just blogging about
the sex/writing scene

So make sure that you visit us
through 2013.

If you have time, why not write your own Christmas poem that
starts with the words, ‘Twas the night before
Christmas…

The challenge here will be to do something erotic with the
subject matter. Most material written around the holiday season tends to focus
on satisfying the demands of children. The innocence of childlike expectations
does not always sit well with the experience of sexualised adult fiction. Nevertheless,
I know the readers of this blog are nothing if not innovative and so I look
forward to seeing your poems in the comments box below. 

Writing Exercise

by | November 6, 2012 | | 8 Comments

By Ashley Lister

 Two naked bodies

Intertwined twixt midnight sheets

Slick silvered shadows

I can’t believe we’ve gone almost a year on this blog without discussing haiku as a writing exercise. The haiku is one of the most accessible forms of syllable based poetry. When used as a warm up device before writing, it’s a form of poetry that can help a writer focus on the essence of the words in her or his vocabulary.

As most people know, the traditional haiku is a three line poem based on a strict syllable count. Obviously there are some variations.

There’s the pop haiku, characterised by Jack Kerouac’s interpretation of the form.

There are senryu, identical to haiku in form, but with a content that is wry, ironic or whimsical.But today we’re looking at the traditional haiku with its rigid format:

1st line = 5 syllables

2nd line = 7 syllables

3rd line = 5 syllables

It’s worth noting here the definition of a syllable. The definition below is taken verbatim from the trusty dictionary sitting on my desk.

syllable ►noun
a unit of pronunciation having one vowel sound, with or without surrounding consonants, forming the whole or a part of a word; for example, there are two syllables in water and three in inferno.
Pearsall, J., Hanks, P., (2005), Oxford Dictionary of English, 2nd Edition, Revised, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

However, even with such an authoritative definition, there will obviously be anomalies in the words we select. We hit words like sure, fire and wheel and can’t
decide whether the word includes one or two syllables. Is it ‘shoor’ or ‘shoe-er’? Is it ‘fire’ or ‘fie-arr’? Is it ‘wheel’ or ‘wee-ell’? My usual response to such observations is: How do you pronounce the word? It’s your poem. Own the word.

And that’s all there is to this form. Obviously haiku can be studied in greater depth. There are some forms that demand the author should mention a season or kigo. There are some forms that require a break at the end of the first line and insist on the juxtaposition of two images in the whole poem. But, for the purposes of this warm-up exercise, it’s enough to craft seventeen syllables of serious sensuality into a single haiku.

After the climax:

Glossy flesh lacquered with sweat

Heartbeats race-racing

As always, I look forward to seeing your poems in the comments box below.

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