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Azure Cat of Mars

by Rhyme In Time

Here is another decastich. These are fun and challenging due to their rigid rhyme scheme (aBaBcBcDcD) and alternating 10-beat lines of iambs and trochees.

Inspired by the picture below of a feline-shaped sand dune on Mars:

bluedune-of-mars

(photo from here: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/06/25/nasa-photo-blue-sand-dune-mars/729939002/)

Amidst our Martian neighbor’s dunes of dun,
Zephyr-hewn shifters of cold sifting sand,
Up-springs an azure creature where should none,
Rocketing rabbit-like over strange land.
Except for deep leviathan, no beast
Continent-sized can the Earth boast so grand.
Albedo-shaded Cerberus, at least
Try as you might, there’s no way you can catch
Fleet-footed feline as sport, or as feast.
Egyptian sphynx, behold your desert match.

It’s amazing how different these meters feel: the stately stentorian iambic pentameter lines alternating with the galloping, barely tethered to the soil trochees.

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Posted on June 26, 2018 at 12:31 AM in Dan, Poetry   |  RSS feed |   Reply   |   Trackback URL

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3 Comments to “Azure Cat of Mars”

    
  1. Abigail Gronway
    June 28, 2018 at 6:51 PM

    I agree, they are quite different. Occasionally trochees flow from my pen, but more often than not I think in iambs. This one made me work pretty hard. It was like derailing at every line throughout the poem. But it was a good kind of workout, and my mind feels stronger for having put forth the effort. It seems as though you benefitted as well, for your Stress Matrix Dectet turned out beautifully. I love the other-worldiness about it, as well as your abundant use of alliteration.

    Reply
    • Rhyme In Time
      June 29, 2018 at 2:04 AM

      Thanks Abigail! This one made me work hard too! Good point on the derailing with each line. More than once I wrote a line I thought was perfectly satisfactory, to discover I’d used the wrong meter for that line’s position. Actually, I realized after reading the poem again sometime after posting that I actually had mixed up the meters between the last two lines. But since it turned out nicely, I decided to leave it. 🙂

      Reply
      • Abigail Gronway
        June 29, 2018 at 10:24 PM

        Well, since I don’t have to grade these, I didn’t look closely enough to see if the meter was perfect. 🙂 I did read everyone’s poems out loud though. I enjoy doing that.

    

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