HENDECASYLLABIC LXI

This is a Japanese style of verse with 11 syllables to each line
and 19 lines in each poem - hence the 3 odd lines in the middle.


The Japanese are a well disciplined race

And that is reflected in their poetry.

They must county syllables when the muse descends

They are not permitted verses wild and free.

I think their Haikus are the most restrictive

But perhaps they enjoy a challenge and find

Satisfaction in such a difficult task -

And a rigid structure concentrates the mind.

   A poem without rhyme isn't poetry -
   Of course I cannot speak for the Japanese
   And some modern poets might well disagree.

Into every other multi-syllabled line

I introduce a different dimension

I go for an ABCB rhyming scheme

It's much easier than some I could mention.

The Japanese verse sceme is rigid and has

Syllables of seventeen, five or seven.

If Hendecasyllabics were natural

We'd have had not ten fingers, but eleven.


June 2006

AM I OLD? LX

                                                              LX

Old age comes on gradually -
So I have been told
And it is the attitude of the young
That reminds you that you're old.

They speak slowly and clearly,
In a gentle kindly way
To make sure you understand
Everything they say.

"How are we today?" they ask
In a sweet and dulcet tone.
I think they are well within
The patronising zone.

"Well done" says the girl encouragingly
As |I get out of the dentist's chair.
I yearn to respond sharply - but
She means well so I forbear.

A woman in her sixties
Seems an ancient OAP
When you are fit and young -
And not much more than twenty.

I knew that I was old last week -
Mags. for young women seemed obscene
And I found myself picking up
A Saga magazine.


March 2007