It is April, National Poetry Month, and so much more, of course. Which means it is also time to rhyme!! There are a slew of month-long challenges going on, including the ones I am taking part in along with many of you. My goal is to write everyday this month for the UBC and NaPoWriMo challenges while working on the A to Z blogging challenges poetically Mondays through Saturdays each week this April.

While the title does say it is time to rhyme, my poetic scribblings this month will not always include rhyming, since so many forms do not (like haiku, for example). However, today’s form does, which means it is certainly time to rhyme today!

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Poetic Sundays: Time to Rhyme With Rishal

I initially planned to feature the terza rima poetic form (one of the most notable uses of this form is in Dante’s Divine Comedy) but keeping count of syllables is so much easier for me than minding meter! So I picked an invented form that seems to be inspired by the terza rima: the rishal. It was created by Chindarella at All Poetry

What is the Rishal Poetic Form?

The rishal is an invented, chained, syllabic poetic form with both end and internal rhymes to play with.

The Rishal’s Characteristics

At its most basic, the rishal’s characteristics are that it is:

• Stanzaic: written in four or more tercets (three-lined stanzas) followed by a single concluding line .
• Syllabic: 10 syllables per line. Line 1 of each stanza is written in  two 5-syllable parts.
• Rhymed: follows a rhyme scheme of aba/cdc/efe/ghg/x; in addition, there is an internal rhyme in line 2 of each stanza, where the 5th and 10th syllables rhyme. Rhyming is optional in the last single line.
• Chained or Linked: The first line of each stanza begins with the second part of the first line from the previous stanza. The first half of the concluding line also begins with the second part of the first line from the previous stanza.

This is How it Looks When it is Time to Rhyme

Most basic form of four tercets plus one concluding line. S1L1 refers to stanza one line one.

S1L1: xxxxx,YYYYA
S1L2: xxxxbxxxxb
S1L3: xxxxxxxxxa

S2L1: YYYYA,ZZZZC
S2L2: xxxxdxxxxd
S2L3: xxxxxxxxxc

S3L1: ZZZZC,WWWWE
S3L2: xxxxfxxxxf
S3L3: xxxxxxxxxe

S4L1: WWWWE,VVVVG
S4L2: xxxxhxxxxh
S4L3: xxxxxxxxxg

LastL: VVVVG,xxxxx

My First Attempt

Just One More Chapter
The hall clock stuck one, she was almost done.
She hoped to reach the end of her now-best friend!
Lost in the words, she was having much fun.

She was almost done, just a few more left
A noon-time sneeter* would surely help her.
Stopping now would leave her feeling bereft.

Just a few more left, could she reach the end?
Finish this latest, surely the greatest
Of all books written by Miss Comprehend.

Could she reach the end, she hoped that she could
It was getting to be morn, lots to do
indeed, but later, in all likelihood

she hoped that she could sneeter* on her chair!
~ Vidya Tiru @ LadyInReadWrites

* to sneeter is to take a brief nap

Using the word sneeter inspired by NaPoWriMo’s Day Two prompt here and used the word in one of HaggardHawk’s tweets from today. Also found the word in this Scots dictionary

Further reading and h/t

• All Poetry: Rishal

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Recently

On My Blog & at Home

My recent posts since and including my last Sunday Scribblings:

• Sunday Scribblings #101: Jumping Into the World of Rhymes
• Wonderful 21st Century Books: The Classics?
• Ars Poetica or the Amazing Art of Poetry
• From Bio Poems to Time Traveling in Blog Hops 

Nothing much to report on the home front except that the weather still has not made up its mind! That much often seen meme about going through all the seasons of the year in a day has been the theme of this past week so we never know how to dress as we step out.

Upcoming

On My Blog & Homefront

Challenges galore for the blog, on the homefront we plan to get started on gardening and hope the weather decides to move to and stay in spring mode.

This Week’s Celebrations

Literary Celebrations (close-to-it also!)

• Literary birthdays this week of April include: Margaret Oliphant, Makhanlal Chaturvedi, and Maya Angelou on the 4th; Anthony Horowitz, Anu Garg, Arthur Hailey, and Robert Bloch on the 5th; the 6th celebrates Leigh Bardugo; Gabriela Mistral and William Wordsworth on the 7th; Barbara Kingsolver and Sara Shepard on the 8th; Charles Baudelaire on the 9th; Anne Lamott and Paul Theroux on the 10th
• National School Librarian Day is on the 4th as is National Hug a Newsperson Day!
• It is National Library Week – April 3-9, 2022
• Which means that National Library Workers Day is on the Tuesday of this week and National Bookmobile Day is on the Wednesday of this week
• Encourage a Young Writer Day on the 10th gives everyone a reason to go out and well, encourage the young writers we know, or simply encourage young ones to write

Foodie Celebrations

• This should count, right? It is National Vitamin C Day on the 4th
• The 5th happens to be National Caramel Day, National Raisin and Spice Bar Day, and National Deep Dish Pizza Day (maybe I will celebrate this day on this day only to take a break from our usual fav – thin crust pizzas)
• National Caramel Popcorn Day follows Caramel day on the 6th along with National Carbonara Day
• April 7th is National Beer Day and National Coffee Cake Day, as well as National Burrito Day (7th being the first Thursday in April). Incidentally, it also is National Alcohol Screening Day )
• National Empanada Day follows burrito day on the 8th
• It is National Chinese Almond Cookie Day on the 9th
• National Cinnamon Crescent Day ends the week with sweetness on the 10th

Other Celebrations

• April 4th will mean you walk a little more than usual (maybe) for it is National Walk Around Things Day. And watch out, it is International Day for Landmine Awareness and World Rat Day as well!
• And some more walking since it is National Walking Day on the first Wednesday in April
• It is World Table Tennis Day on the 6th of April. Do you play this sport (also called ping pong in some places)?
• World Health Day is celebrated on the 7th along with National Girl Me Too Day and National No Housework Day
• While April 8th is International Romani Day and World Pageant Day. It is also National All Is Ours Day and National Zoo Lovers Day
• April 9th brings a few varied national days including National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day, National Name Yourself Day, National Unicorn Day, and National Winston Churchill Day
• The 10th is International Safety Pin Day and World Homeopathy Day. Reach out to your siblings as well on this day for it is National Siblings Day

Multi-Day celebrations

• National Wildlife Week –  Changes Annually – April 4-8, 2022

Wrapping up my Sunday Scribblings

So dear reader, you have reached the end of this Sunday Scribblings! As always, I welcome your thoughts, comments, and suggestions about this post. And do let me know if you plan to celebrate any of these mentioned celebrations this coming week/month? Also, what are some of the wonderful things that happened recently to you or that you heard of?

Linking this to the Sunday Post over at the Caffeinated Reviewer and the Sunday Salon. Also linking to NaPoWriMo and the Ultimate Blog Challenge

Previous posts for these challenges (NaPoWriMo and UBC) are in links below.

Day 0 Day 1 – A Day 2 – B