Oh, well, I went around the world today—kind of—since the prompt brought to mind for some weird reason, Phileas Fogg (from one of my favorite books ever), which reminded me of his stops in India. And it got me to thinking, what if he took a detour no one knew of? Then, since it is the day for the letter P in the A-Z challenge, I thought of Pondicherry, which took me down another rabbit hole of exploring pirate tales in Pondicherry.

For the curious, here is a little pinch of Pondicherry.

Puducherry, India (formerly Pondicherry), is a charming coastal town on the southeast coast that blends French colonial elegance with vibrant Tamil culture. With its tree-lined boulevards, pastel-colored buildings, peaceful beaches, and lively markets, it feels like a little slice of Europe nestled in South India—full of history, character, and seaside calm.

My own promenade into Pondicherry was brief but memorable. I went there ages ago (30+ years now) but was instantly mesmerized by its charm (that mermaid tale must be true!).

No pirates in history, but a mermaid tale endures: read it here.

Well, read on to find out how I brought them all together in today’s “poem.”

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Phileas’ Pirate Peril

Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt is inspired by narrative poems like Sadakichi Hartmann’s “The Pirate,”  or Alfred Noyes’s “The Highwayman” with dramatic action, lots of emotions, and striking imagery. And the challenge is to write our own dramatic, rhyming narrative (or a part of it) poem with the plot of an opera (evil twins! Egyptian tombs! Star-crossed lovers! Tigers for no apparent reason!).

*Note: Pure poetic palaver! No pirates (or Phileas) actually battled mermaids in Pondicherry (that we know of…)*

Phileas’ Phosphene Serenade

Phileas heard a mermaid story,
and promptly veered to Pondicherry.
Passepartout? Intensely wary.
But Phileas, as you know, was traveler extraordinary.
Traveler extraordinary.

At the port he shoved off—net, rope, and all—
but ere the maid: pirates! Pirates, y’all!
Pirates: small! large! alarmingly tall!
Twenty—and then a baker’s dozen—what a pother, them all!
Pilgarlic rogues in potvalor palaver,
as if potvalor itself were law and favor.
All penuche breath and phosphene swagger,
phosphene swagger, phosphene swagger.

Then right as the pirates lunged in to attack—
the maid’s psithurismic song snapped them back!
Phileas (who knew every tale rather well)
had prevised the plunge into mermaidish spell.
The pirates—in potvalor, loud, in their prime—
went glassy with phosphene and stared past all time.
stared past all time… stared past all time…

Phileas, since he knew, took a short, needed nap,
While pirates, in potvalor prime,
Made final pother in phosphene-lit trap
That ended their era of crime.
While Phileas, woken up by paresthesia and a poppling ferry,
now bona fide fisherman of Pondicherry,
returned to shore with penuche and pirate jewelry…
pirate jewelry… pirate jewelry… well, hurry
up now—the tale is done already.

~ Vidya Tiru @ LadyInReadWrites

P-Word Conquest Complete!!

• Palaver – Idle chatter, fuss, or persuasive talk
• Paraph – Flourish after a signature (the echoes in each stanza!?)
• Pilgarlic – Bald-headed man or pitiful figure
• Previse – To foresee or forewarn
• Pother – Commotion or dust cloud (x2 in poem!)
• Phosphene – Light sensation from eye pressure (x9!)
• Psithurism – Rustling of wind in leaves (“psithurismic song”)
• Paresthesia – Tingling “pins and needles” (boat nap tingles)
• Perissology – Superfluous speech (pirate brags, and well, the whole poem itself)
• Penuche – Brown sugar fudge candy (pirate loot)
• Potvalor – Bravery from drunkenness (x5!)
• Popple – To move in small waves or ripples (“poppling ferry”)

P-Powered Poetry Picks

• Photo Ark 1-2-3 by Debbie Levy (3-7 years). A stunning animal counting book using Joel Sartore’s Photo Ark photography to introduce young readers to wildlife from 1 to 10 through rhythmic verse.
• A Pizza the Size of the Sun by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by James Stevenson (6-10 years). Whimsical poetry collection bursting with silly verses about food, creatures, and kid-life moments, like the title poem’s giant pizza fantasy.
• The Poet and the Bees by Amy Novesky, , illustrated by Jessica Love (4-8 years). Picture book biography tracing Sylvia Plath’s beekeeping days and final poems, blending her life, love, and honey-sweet words.
• The Poetry of Car Mechanics by Heidi E. Y. Stemple (6-10 years). Playful poems capturing mechanics’ greasy world of engines and repairs, turning auto shop chaos into rhythmic kid-friendly verse.
• Pop! Goes the Nursery Rhyme by Betsy Bird, illustrated by Andrea Tsurumi (3-5 years). Hilarious remixes of classic nursery rhymes where Pop Goes the Weasel hilariously interrupts favorites like Humpty Dumpty, packed with chaotic fun.

And Now, the End of This Post

Dear reader, which of these books would you pick first to read? Any other recommendations for poetry/novels-in-verse from the letter P (any and all age-ranges welcome)? Which is your favorite word from this list?