Writing Exercises

Writing Exercise

by Ashley Lister | November 6, 2013 | Writing Exercise | 12 Comments

Writing Exercise – the rondeau

By Ashley Lister

This month I wanted to work with the rondeau. The reason why
I wanted to tackle the rondeau this month is because arguably the most famous
example of the rondeau is ‘In Flanders Fields’ by Canadian army physician, and
poet, Lieutenant John McCrae. ‘In Flanders Fields’ is a poem we hear often
during this month of remembrance and it seemed apposite to consider the
structure that supports this great work.

The rondeau is a
form of French poetry with 15 lines and a fixed, distinctive rhyme scheme. The rondeau also makes use of refrains, which
are repeated according to the stylized pattern.

The rhyme scheme for the rondeau is: a a b b a a a b C a a b b a C, where a and b are the end
rhymes and C is the refrain.

Technically each line of the rondeau should consist of eight
syllables (except for the refrains which are half lines of four syllables). Ideally, the poem should be laid out in three
stanzas and the refrain should be identical to the beginning of the first line.

All of which is easier to illustrate with an example.

I slash the strap across your back

And thrill to hear the brisk wet smack

When leather strikes unbroken skin

And you beg me to push deep in

To tight confines within your crack

And beg for a more forceful whack

Whilst reaching back to clutch my sac

You’re shrieking with a sated grin

I slash the strap

The pinwheel left a pretty track

The paddle’s bruises ne’er turned black

But stripes of leather suit this sin

You tell me this one’s for the win

And urge more force in my attack

I slash the strap

Fifteen lines of rhyming poetry will always be a challenge,
especially when you’re expected to find a refrain and use only two rhymes. The
main challenge is finding something to say that bears repeating. I was
fortunate here that the phrase ‘I slash the strap’ has a hypnotic rhythm and
seems to work within the context of sexual punishment.

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

Writing Exercise – The Rhyme Royal

by Ashley Lister | October 6, 2013 | Writing Exercise | 10 Comments

James I of Scotland

By Ashley Lister

The rhyme royal (sometimes called the rime royale by those
who prefer to spell things incorrectly) is a fairly straightforward poetic
form.

It refers to a stanza of seven lines, each line containing
ten syllables, and the whole poem following a rhyming pattern of a b a b b c c.
The form, according to the Poetry Foundation, was popularized by Geoffrey
Chaucer and termed “royal” because his imitator, James I of Scotland, employed this
structure in his own verse.

Here’s an example of one I wrote earlier.

We talk about our plans for this evening

Things we’d love to do when at our
leisure

I long to give your sexual bells a ring:

Thrill you with a night you’ll always
treasure.

In return you give a choice of pleasure

But I care not if you swallow or spit

I’m happy if you put your mouth round it.

Note that there are ten syllables per line. This isn’t iambic
pentameter. This is merely ten syllables per line. Writing in iambs might make
for something more profound but, as regular readers of these exercises will be
aware, I am an exceptionally superficial poet.

One of the many fun things about this form is that the
stanzas can be used to form verses in a longer poem. This is the way Chaucer
used it in his work and we can see examples of this in Wyatt, Auden and many
others.

I pluck your pubes from twixt my teeth
and smile

The taste of you still lingers on my lips

Your scent’s a mem’ry that’s made to
beguile

I yearn to squirm beneath your fingertips

And play with toys like canes and crops
and whips

And savour pleasures borne beyond belief

Then pluck more pubes from in between my
teeth

As always, please feel free to share your rhyme royals in
the comments box below.

Writing Exercise – the villanelle

by Ashley Lister | September 6, 2013 | Writing Exercise | 20 Comments

by Ashley Lister

The villanelle is
a nineteen-line poetic form consisting of five tercets followed
by a quatrain. There are two refrains and two repeating rhymes, with
the first and third line of the first tercet repeated alternately until the
last stanza, which includes both repeated lines.

This is a
complex form – but it’s worth persevering.

The
villanelle has been used for such memorable poems as Dylan Thomas’s ‘Do Not Go
Gentle into that Goodnight’, Theodore Roethke’s ‘The Waking’ and Sylvia Plath’s
‘Mad Girl’s Love Song.’ Writing a villanelle is not easy but, once you’ve
accomplished it, you’re in good company.

You may do me, and I will owe you one

Or until then I shall owe one to you

This lovers’ trade is really not a con

I guarantee it will be lots of fun

For me, at least (which might be nothing new)

You may do me, and I will owe you one

We shouldn’t start a sexu’l marathon

I know we’ve both got other things to do

This lovers’ trade is really not a con

But I’d like it if you could get me done

I don’t care if you suck or if we screw

You may do me, and I will owe you one

We’d celebrate with chilled Dom Perignon

I’ve brought a demi and champagne flutes: two

This lovers’ trade is really not a con

To get me off we’ll have to get it on

My need for satisfaction’s overdue

You may do me, and I will owe you one

This lovers’ trade is really not a con

There is a
formula: A1 b A2 / a b A1 / a b
A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1
A2. Here the letters (a and b) indicate the two rhyme sounds.
The use of upper case letters indicates a refrain. And the superscript numerals
indicate the different use of refrain one and refrain two.

Would
another example help to illustrate the form better?

You ask me if I’d like to be restrained	A1
You think our love could flourish with me bound	b
You claim you want to see me being chained	A2

This interest in restraint is unexplained	a
And I think our relationship is sound	b
You ask me if I’d like to be restrained	A1

You say I should be physically detained	a
Or tied up like some safe/secured hound	b
You claim you want to see me being chained	A2

I say, “Perhaps I might like being caned?”	a
Your eagerness does not get off the ground	b
You ask me if I’d like to be restrained	A1

You say my problem is that I’m untrained	a
You bring out rope next time we fool around	b
You claim you want to see me being chained	A2

We tried it way back once and I complained	a
But with a gag I didn’t make a sound	b
You ask me if I’d like to be restrained	A1
You claim you want to see me being chained	A2

The
villanelle is a lot of fun to work with. It is a complex form but I figure
those who’ve been reading these columns over the past year or so will be ready
for the adventure of a greater challenge.

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

Ash

Writing Exercise – the Ottava Rima

by Ashley Lister | August 6, 2013 | Writing Exercise | 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 Ashley Lister | July 6, 2013 | Writing Exercise | 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 Ashley Lister | June 6, 2013 | Writing Exercise | 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 Ashley Lister | May 6, 2013 | Writing Exercise | 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 Ashley Lister | April 6, 2013 | Writing Exercise | 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.