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Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 

By Chance or Appointment - 6. Friendship's Like Music

This poem came serendipitously from an epigram by Francis Quarles, sent to me by @AC Benus. The form is one of my own experimental sorts, you can decide if you like it or not. Any errors or gross irregularities you find are of my own making.

Friendship’s like music; two strings tuned alike

will both stir, though but only one you strike – Francis Quarles, 1592-1644

 

 

~ * ~ * ~

 

 

A harmony heard clearly as a bell

struck by the village steeple clock

resounding on the hillside and the dell

o’er shepherd boy and feeding flock

to vibrate where the spirit may incline

amongst the birch and whisp’ring pine

is like the tune of hearts which may combine.

 

 

Affection’s music frees hearts carved from rock

and makes of them earth genuine

that harbors love’s ebullient hollyhock,

or maybe his proud trumpet vine

which in its season blossoms bold and brash

attracting pollinators rash

to leave besmeared with gifts from nectar’s cache.

 

 

So may such song as finches may refine

in cottonwood or calabash

inspire in us a sympathetic sign

that no bourgeois books may abash,

but might instead concordant friendship swell

as pleasing as a tarantelle

that sounded from the strings of the vielle.

 

 

The cymbals of the modern world may clash

and weave their slick discordant spell

to glorify the gaudy, cheap and flash,

but we who in devotion dwell

each ring in sympathetic Frere Jacques

as all the naysayers we mock,

in melody our secrets to unlock.


Thank you for reading this experimental poem. I'd be most grateful to know if you think the form was effective enough to try a second time; finding five good rhymes is for each line in the interlocking pattern is both an interesting puzzle, and a challenge.
Copyright © 2022 Parker Owens; All Rights Reserved.
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Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 
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northie

I think your experiment generally works well. You delight in making language work for you. Having said that, in the spirit of constructive criticism, I felt the second stanza was slightly less effective. The imagery is great - hollyhocks, bees, and (your) trumpet vine, but the demands of the rhyme scheme mean the language is twisted about. To my eye / ear, it lacks the flow of the other stanzas. Elsewhere, I'm puzzled how Frere Jacques can be a rhyme for unlock and mock. Am I missing something? On this side of the pond, Jacques is Jack-es. Maybe I'm being cloth-eared. 🤨😄

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Parker Owens
2 hours ago, northie said:

I think your experiment generally works well. You delight in making language work for you. Having said that, in the spirit of constructive criticism, I felt the second stanza was slightly less effective. The imagery is great - hollyhocks, bees, and (your) trumpet vine, but the demands of the rhyme scheme mean the language is twisted about. To my eye / ear, it lacks the flow of the other stanzas. Elsewhere, I'm puzzled how Frere Jacques can be a rhyme for unlock and mock. Am I missing something? On this side of the pond, Jacques is Jack-es. Maybe I'm being cloth-eared. 🤨😄

I fear that Frere Jacques rhymes regionally over on this part of this side of the pond. I’m wondering if it’s that first line in the second stanza that feels like sharp edged stone rather than something polished. Thanks very much for taking part in this experiment! 

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Parker Owens
4 hours ago, Headstall said:

I'd say you met the challenge well indeed, Parker. It's rhythmic and charming, feeling very musical. Loved the cymbals line. Music, nature, music in nature, and friendship/love. How can you go wrong?

The rhyming was superbly done. Frere Jacques. :)  Cheers!

You’re very kind to have lent your eye and ear to this experiment. I’m glad you thought the rhyming worked, and that you could feel the variation in rhythm. Many thanks for your reading and response. 

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Aditus

Let me tell you what I did. When I read music, harmony and some such, I thought this obviously has to be read aloud not only in my head, so I took my phone and went to a place where I could do that.  While I was reading your poem I thought it probably sounds all wrong or at least not as intended, with a German accent and a French tinge. This is why I won't/can't comment on the musical aspect of your poem, other than I very much liked it.

I would love to be able to enjoy similar poems or any other experimental poetry from your pen, as always.

 

 

Edited by Aditus
  • Love 1
Parker Owens
3 hours ago, Aditus said:

Let me tell you what I did. When I read music, harmony and some such, I thought this obviously has to be read aloud not only in my head, so I took my phone and went to a place where I could do that.  While I was reading your poem I thought it probably sounds all wrong or at least not as intended, with a German accent and a French tinge. This is why I won't/can't comment on the musical aspect of your poem, other than I very much liked it.

I would love to be able to enjoy a similar poems or any other experimental poetry from your pen, as always.

 

 

How lovely you are to have taken time to read this aloud. The accent matters only to your own ear, in my opinion. I’ve  never liked the sound of my own voice on a recording, so it seems likely someone else would sound better to the ear. If the rhythm and imagery came through to you, then that’s what is most important. Many, many thanks for reading and considering this experiment. 

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