Excercises in insanity

[cryptomancer]

A raven in aviators flys into the room. As it is very near midnight, the glasses would normally appear out of place; but the twin beams of light penetrating the darkness before him as he flys is a dead giveaway that this is far from a normal bird. He highbeams Gryphon as he passes, the collected light trapped in the lenses causing spots to begin floating in Gryphon's vision.

Muttering something about iambic pentameter and talking to himself in a number of different rhyme schemes the Raven pins a few scribbled notes to the wall in a random selection of places, each note marked with a numeral denoting the selected topic from his list.

The order at first seems random, but it is soon discovered that the notes are in sets of three, and pinned in order of excercise.



My topic list can be found here

Edited June 14, 2014 by Tanuchan
broken link

[cryptomancer]

Excercise 1

 

Write two quatrains. The Rhyme Scheme for that would be ABAB CDCD or ABBA CDDC (or some combination of the two styles... It doesn't matter. ABAB is more common, though, and seems to flow better for the most part) Whether you write with a Meter is optional. It can be a Clerihew (Quatrain with no rhythm) if you'd like.

 

23) Discussing universal intelligence,

I considered the rather odd,

And in poetic relevance,

Tied the whole idea to God.

 

Creator of structures atomic,

Guiding the movements of life.

Electrons as spirit is ironic,

But it still protects us from strife.

 

 

14) Kittenishly cute but crazy,

Too many to fit in a purse.

Their fur makes me all hazy,

But allergies can be a curse.

 

Made like their mistress, Psychotic,

They seem to tumble and play,

Yet chasing their target is comic,

And pretty much everything’s prey.

 

 

17) “Sorry, I can’t help but…”

He trailed off as he sat

“I could offer to cut…”

But he quickly was shushed by the cat.

 

He watched the bird in a container

Avoid the contents in vain

As the beautiful feline tiger,

Upended it and shook it again.

 

Edited April 20, 2005 by cryptomancer

[cryptomancer]

Excercise 2

 

Anyway... I'll stick with rhyme for this one. Let's say... At least three stanzas of Terza Rima... And to make it more interesting, try to loop it a bit so that your middle line in the last stanza rhymes with the first line of the first stanza. Terza Rima is ABA BCB CDC DED etc etc etc.

 

9) Feline grace added the required skill to the soft landing

Gripping the railing in the stalking of prey

A fleet footed minion of devilish planning

 

West the breeze blew nothing barred its way

Yet the assassin came creeping with stealth on his side

Sent to the village the warrior to slay.

 

Night faded gently the dawn opening wide

Carefully the villain neared his kill

Soon would his victim with ancestors abide.

 

Blade slipped free fresh blood to spill

Attention from mission, dropped eyes to see

The cat, black as night whose tidings were ill.

 

Laid upon the rafter unable to flee

The cat jumped on his shoulder and licked his nose

And proved how tickly cat fur can be.

 

Rubbing his face, and striking a pose

The tail in his face caused him to sneeze

The sound soon forgotten as the warrior arose.

 

 

2) High paid defense proved its use

Against the prosecution’s evidence list

That tried to outline his legal abuse

 

He knew of the efforts all he did to assist

Grinned at the jury as the verdict was read

And pinched his thigh causing his eyes to mist.

 

Stood and thanked all he had lead

Requested the public lay it to rest

And acquitted of all went home to bed.

 

 

7) He suffered alone for his art

Worked his magic and played for all

The ever sought wonder of his part.

 

He waited each moment for the fall

Lost to the clamor of the public

Expecting each day the manager’s call.

 

Waiting for the darkness to steal his magic

Ignoring the cries from his fans

His untimely departure seen as tragic.

 

Edited April 20, 2005 by cryptomancer

[cryptomancer]

Excercise 3

 

I'll continue, I guess. Let's take something easy... Write at least Eight Lines of Blank Verse. That is, Iambic Pentameter with no particular rhyme scheme. If you don't know poetry well, that means that there are ten syllables in each line, with emphasis on the second, fourth, sixth, eighth, and tenth syllables.

 

19) If psychosis rules my humble life that

In the midst of fancy lost and forgot

To my age old dream and long lost love,

My world less sense would untimely die.

Upon the quest of madness blest with such

Undying restlessness that seeps from all,

In dreamlike state my heart evoke, and kiss

My lip with sane repose of pure sweet hope.

 

 

16) I seek the food of thought possessed, to free

The taste of hunger cold, that in my soul,

At last replace, the death of feast long past.

Breath of sweet smell and cooked request my lip

A tremble set to test, each soft sweet bite

With fragrant spice all filled to taste the strong

Embrace of festive course that lures my heart.

What to ask. Is this not the place to dine?

 

 

Blue and kin to all the love of life and

Sweet surrendered bliss, that builds all good in

Togetherness that makes all life worth while.

Mushroom house and small white hat the complete

Picture does set. In dreamlike state the rest

Exist to hold Xanadu’s sweet embrace.

Happiness, joy, love all so full as to

Contrast the evil hate of Gargamel.

 

Edited April 20, 2005 by cryptomancer

[cryptomancer]

Excercise 4

 

This'll be interesting... If you've ever heard of Ottava Rima (Which probably translates as something roughly similar to "Eight-lined rhymes" or some such) I'm stealing the rhyme scheme of that. This is a "style" that I taught my Writing class at school. A true Ottava Rima is written in Iambic Pentameter, but I won't hold you to it if you don't like Iambs or any such. The rhyme scheme is ABABABCC, or (if you will) a quatrain and a half (using the same rhymes of course) followed by a couplet.

 

1) Float upon the midnight sea of green blade

And moonlit wave, that in the full embrace

Of land, fills the path under tree born shade.

That all I hold so true and dear, can pace

Forefront in the mind, and memory raid

With blessings shone from golden petal race.

I lay in the midst of all their powers,

A lonely heart found by butterflowers.

 

 

6) Vinyl spun in ever decreasing rings

That flooded the heart with soft subtle sound,

Amidst the bass and fast flittering strings

That the needle melodiously ground.

Now light reads disc and in digital sings

The new, the old, and the recently found.

Gone is the warmth of the vinyl of old,

Replaced by the spinning CDs so cold.

 

 

3) The weatherman spoke of dreamy warm sun

Projected forecast just deeply blue sky.

To anticipate sand and surf and fun,

And sea so blue it would just make you cry.

New candy floss clouds by angels just spun

The satellites soon beginning to scry.

The sky dark grey and soon snowing with ease,

None did suspect minus thirty degrees

 

 

ooc: I tried to stay in iambic.

Edited April 21, 2005 by cryptomancer

[cryptomancer]

Excercise 5

 

Make a stanza of at least four lines with an even rhythm (a rhythm of your choice) with a rhyme scheme (if you can call this a scheme) of AAAA etc etc ad nauseum. (Every line rhymes with every other rhyme) Preferably perfect rhymes, such as Shock, Rock, Walk, Caulk, Chalk, Chock, Lock, etc. (As opposed to imperfect rhymes, such as Time, Sign, and such)

 

13) Too little and my mind froze,

Too much and I tend to pose,

Aromatic music to the nose,

From first light till daylight close,

Wishing supply by tap and hose,

Touch my mind like petal rose,

Describes all the love I chose.

In constantly increasing dose.

 

 

20) It can’t, it won’t, make me mad,

If so I would sense the bad,

I hope it shan’t make you sad,

Or turn away from all we had,

In dream I see it make you glad,

Like visions sketched upon a pad,

Love complete can’t make me mad.

 

 

21) Nuclear power I am sure,

Its uses you can not ignore,

For outshining coal, and gas, and ore.

And water, and wind we did explore.

But I thought I told you this before,

The gerbil I do not adore.

 

[cryptomancer]

Excercise 6

 

Then write a few (two or three, at least) quatrains (ABAB pattern) with the B lines being one foot shorter. That is, two syllables less if you're writing in Iambic or Trochaic meter, or three less if writing in Anapestic or Dactyllic. So my A lines would have four feet and my B lines would have three

 

15) Was it a great of rock that bought,

The stink of love to mind?

So no matter for how long we sought.

Its joy we should not find.

 

It was the joy of her first taste,

Soft lips upon my own.

That drenched my soul with merry haste

Of love’s full fragrance shown.

 

 

11) Shaped mallow sugar, spontaneous pink

All coated with great care.

And set with warm and fragrant drink,

In chocolate tainted air.

 

I missed the bus, oh what a fuss

But here I do not care.

For coffee sweet, and chocolate, plus

That soft pink mallow fair.

 

 

12) ‘Here there be dragons’ it did declare,

And so it sealed our fate.

For, though all we sought was over there,

We’re paid to low a rate.

 

I saw the green and shiny tail

That in the air arose.

I felt the tooth and saw the nail,

That all my days did close.

 

I was afraid and should have stayed

Back where the men all froze

And not from home so far had strayed,

When the dragons up rose.

 

[cryptomancer]

Excercise 7

 

This may or may not be harder than some of my past ones... it depends entirely on your aptitude with meter. The idea is to write at least four or five Heroic Couplets (couplets in Iambic Pentameter)

 

For those unfamiliar with the terms, that means eight or ten lines with a rhyme scheme of AABBCC... (with a lines rhyming with a lines, b with b, etc) Each line consisting of ten syllables with emphasis on the second, fourth, sixth, eighth, and tenth.

 

4) Seek four green men, a little west of north,

Then bring them back, and to my door come forth.

None are greater fighting men than these four,

They dress strange, but their skill you can’t ignore.

A weapon each they have as theirs, and so

Though green, as a team into battle go.

But mark my mind and my cunning will share

The bounty of a quite brilliant snare,

That those four green men will safely dispatch,

Cawabunga! Turtle soup, down the hatch.

 

 

5) It was north that the voices guided me,

Into a strange and foreign land to see,

The wisps of power that burn the sky’s night,

Lighting the heaven of the north so bright.

Wishes and dreaming upon my heart fed,

My ears alive with all the voices said.

Each word a wisdom, each sight was a truth,

That my heart taught lessons of age and youth.

Lost in light, in love and in reverie,

My vision unraveling mystery.

 

 

18) Walking the floor, the music faint and low,

Echoes of foot falls the rhythm to show.

My heart watched in love, as movement she spun,

Each beautiful shadow that love had won.

My racing beat was joy complete, and soft

As in her sweet dance, our love held aloft,

She walked the steps of our life, and our love,

As moonlight shadowed our feet from above

 

[cryptomancer]

Excercise 8

 

Sonnet, 14 lines of iambic pentameter

 

22) For entry upon the burning of night,

And in the dreaming and visions of trees,

Along the lost paths of lunacy won,

Waves cast the shadow of echoing spray.

That on its last lighting faded to grey.

Dreamless embrace in the sweet arms of dark,

Speckled reflection my sorrow to find,

With the longing of love, reflecting blind.

Lunacy and moonlight, shadow of love,

Aching my soul to find hope; but still lost

I dream the diminishing of sorrow,

And in the depth of night, find tomorrow,

Each curve of her skin, will ripple with light,

My love in the waters of tranquil night.

 

 

24) I dwell in a place, each path known to me,

Each shadow cast by my thought and my dream,

My heart drawn into the patterns of all.

In this place my love is found and cherished,

Her heart woven in the walls of my mind,

Love binding closer than the taste of life,

I held her there, amid the trees so close.

In the circle of nature where power

And life flow, to bind our love in that touch,

The closeness of skin, caressed with passion,

Each part of my world reflected her smile,

And in the closeness of meditation,

Looked into her eyes and found the color,

Of my world, and my place of true power.

 

 

10) It was thought that started my path of words,

Reaching the deep channels of my very core,

Emotion building on thought and on life.

I wrote for myself, and only my heart,

I touched no others, nor sought to try.

If my words spoke to my soul, then her love

Drove deeper still, burning my heart to write,

Not for my own life, but for her true heart.

So that each rune I carve upon the page

Whispered to all the love she gave me,

Shone with the aura of timeless beauty,

Echoed the love I had found, my one muse,

Inspired beauty, inspire my heart,

Let my love flow, let our paths never part.

 

[cryptomancer]

The end

 

 

And so I conclude, the dreaming of lunacy,

I enter my heart to your welcome diplomacy.

Please be welcomed to comment and play,

With red ink and wisdom, the teach’s way.

For it is an exercise in insanity quite plain,

But a lesson for me, and to test, and to train,

Each fiber of poetic skill in my brain,

So that, for good or for ill, or to simply amuse,

My hopes and visions, emotions and dreams

Can by those who wish to read, be seen.

 

 

Thank you all for your help.

 

Edited April 25, 2005 by cryptomancer

[Mynx]

Ignoring the fact that I now feel upstaged by a bird *grins and winks* that was beautiful, Crypt. Truly so.

 

*tight hugs*

Well done.

[Gryphon]

Gryphon stops his pounding of the keyboard and brain long enough to applaud Cryptomancer and his heroic poetic effort.