It was cold and rainy as I made my weekly trek to Barnes and Noble, a perfect fall day. On the trees the leaves were changing and in the air there was a crispness. I felt juvenated and alive. I sat down at a large table in the back of B&N and took out my copy of the Ode Less Traveled and began to read and write.
Today’s forms included the many types of odes. These days an ode can refer to any kind of poetry, but there are specific forms that are “proper” odes. Among those I attempted the sapphic ode, the pindaric ode, and the horation ode. A sapphic ode is usually written with three stanzas, and each stanza is composed of four lines, three of iambic tetrameter and one of iambic dimeter. I say usually because there are many variations possible within the form, but as described is the classic form.
An Ode to Stormtrooper Armor
All gleaming white, the armor stands,
the black insidious eyes do stare.
It clothes the Empire’s ruthless bands;
should just be bare.
It takes a hit, a hole appears;
the soldier dies, a flash of light
upon the chest: what poor career
the choice, a blight.
Why wear the armor bright? It yields
no benefit. The man beneath
just groans and dies. Bury him in fields
of green, the heath.
A pindaric ode is written in three stanzas. Each has a function, and while overall the meter is variable, each stanza must be composed identically in form. I chose to write each stanza with four lines of iambic dimiter, trimeter, tetrameter, and pentameter in ascending order. This ode need not rhyme. Actually, no odes need to rhyme as odes are originally a Roman thing, and there isn’t much rhyme outside of English.
An Ode to Stormtroopers
Strophe (Turn)
All hail!
the brave, the few, the true,
an Empire’s legion: stormtroopers.
They fight and die to win the Empire’s day.
Antistrophe (Counter Turn)
But they
cannot take aim or shoot
a straight and forward beam of light
at their targets, through “crack” and “best” they be.
Epode (the Stand)
Perhaps:
secret rebel dreams hold
behind their masks of white and black
to let the heroes live to fight back.
Then there is the Horation ode, which is much like the pindaric ode where the prevailing method of the form is that it remain consistent to each stanza. I chose three lines of iambic trimeter and one line of iambic pentameter. Just because.
An Ode to Barnes & Noble
I love thy smell of books
and coffee commingled in’th’ air
I love thy stacks and rows
of history, humor
of toys and games and Nook
the digital book for all
and desks at which to sit
to read and write a poem
There are a few other odes, some proper, some not, but due to the variability and required subject matter, I skipped them.
Lastly I moved to other forms and attempted a villanelle, which is a fun, favorite form that I love to try. A villanelle has no set meter, but does have a set rhyme scheme in which certain lines repeat. Usually it is A1BA2, ABA1, ABA2, ABA1, ABA2, ABA1A2.
An Villanelle Ode to Baseball
Baseball is a many pleasured thing:
the ball that buzzes, the bat that cracks;
it starts after the anthem rings.
Pitcher fires the ball, batter takes a swing,
he hits a double with a mighty thwack!
Baseball is a many pleasured thing.
The runner’s picked off, a sneaky sting.
He jogs to the dugout, bent back.
It starts after the anthem rings.
The submariner a curveball slings,
the batter whiffs, the ball glove smacks.
Baseball is a many pleasured thing.
The centre fielder to the wall springs,
he leaps and makes the catch at the track:
it starts after the anthem rings.
It all can change with just a swing,
a swift strike or a homer bat crack,
baseball is a many pleasured thing:
it starts after the anthem rings.
As usual, I claim no greatness or mastery, unless it be of fun and adherence to form. I do my best to enjoy the process of writing and sharing poetry, and leave greatness to the eventual tinkering and adjusting that is editing and the time that is the measure of all things. I only hope you enjoy reading my poems as much as I enjoy sharing them.
a simple man 