Sunday, June 3, 2012

Singing the Greens


IMAGINARY GARDEN
asks for a Blues Stanza

SINGING THE GREENS

Not singing the blues but singing the greens
For what could be better than singing the greens?
That colour enhancing all manner of scenes.

Let's sing of the leaves that grow on the trees;
Those fluttering, shade-giving wonderful trees.
Those havens for butterflies, beetles and bees.

Singing the blues is all right in its way.
The blue of the sky is O.K. in its way.
But blue skies are known to turn stormy and grey.

Singing the reds? Well, that sounds quite absurd.
A reds song we'd all think completely absurd!
Reds singing just doesn't deserve to be heard.

But singing the greens ! What a wonderful sound!
A greens singer makes a remarkable sound
And spreads all the wonder of life all around.
*

The Blues Stanza is poetry derived in the late 19th century from the Afro-American melancholia music or lamentation, it can however be sarcastic and ironic. Its basic structure is with line 2 repeating the rhyme similar to line 1, and line 3 rhyming with the previous two, bringing the stanza to a climax. 

---------------------------------------------------------

THREE-FOURTEEN

I'm wide awake! It's three-fourteen;
That must mean something! What does it mean?
Normally I sleep like a log,
Never woken by a barking dog,
A passing car, or a yowling cat.
Never woken by stuff like that.
Yet here I am wide-eyed in bed,
Filled with a trembling sort of dread.
Ah! A bump! Not imagination!
My heart jumps! It's a palpitation.
I lie and listen, watch and wait;
My breathing seems to hesitate;
I pull the sheet up to my chin;
The air seems clammy, cold and thin.
I clench my fists; the knuckles whiten
What is it that has come to frighten?
I lie transfixed! I wait and wait
For the next  bump to eventuate.
That it will come is very certain.
Is that a twitching of the curtain?
Three-fourteen! An ungodly hour!
Soon 'it' will have me in its power!
I feel 'it' coming ever near
I squeeze my eyes tight shut with fear.............
And suddenly, without a warning,
It's eight-fourteen and it is morning!
*

8 comments:

Kerry O'Connor said...

Terrific response to the blues stanza.. singing the greens! Yes, why not indeed?

Grace said...

I love green colour, it sparkles and makes everything so new. Lovely response to the form and challenge ~

Happy Sunday to you ~

Kay L. Davies said...

Your poetry just flows, Brenda, because it is such a vital part of you. I loved your "singing the greens" idea.
K

Sherry Blue Sky said...

I love it! Singing the Greens! Wonderful!

Mary said...

Very clever! And singing the 'greens' is definitely environmentally friendly!

Helen said...

Great use of the blue stanza form ... ya got me singin' the blues!!

Marian said...

love it! green is the new blue, anyway.

Hannah said...

"Let's sing of the leaves that grow on the trees;
Those fluttering, shade-giving wonderful trees.
Those havens for butterflies, beetles and bees."

This sings directly to my nature-green loving soul!! Excellent green/blues poem, Rinkly!!