There are so many adages that deal with the phrase “something old and something new.” Some talk about change while others touch upon a little bit of both. Still others talk about letting go of the old to let new things in. Here are a few quotes I loved:

“It’s about finding that balance where you have one foot in the familiar, one foot in the unfamiliar. If you have two feet in the unfamiliar it’s overwhelming. If you have two feet in the familiar then there’s just boredom. It’s about having both.” ― Humble the Poet

“Creativity has more to do with the elimination of the inessential than with inventing something new.” – Helmut Jahn

“To learn something new, take the path that you took yesterday.” – John Burroughs

“There is no subject so old that something new cannot be said about it.” – Fyodor Dostoevsky

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Poetic Sundays: The Duplex Poetic Form

February is Black History Month, and to honor it, I picked the Duplex poetic form for the first Poetic Sunday of this month. Pulitzer prize winner Jericho Brown invented this form fairly recently (in 2018, actually). You can read more about how he created this form here at the Poetry Foundation.

The Duplex Form is Something Old and Something New

The ghazal’s meter, the sonnet’s 14-line concept, and the musicality and rhyme scheme of the blues, all come together to form the duplex poetic form. This form is a wonderful culmination of really beautiful poetic forms, a blending of old and new, and a great example of reinventing the wheels with a twist here and a turn there.

So the Duplex’s poetic form’s elements are that at its most basic, it is:

• stanzaic: a 14-line poem, or a sonnet of sorts
• syllabic: 9 to 11 syllables for each line
• repetitive: The second line of each couplet is repeated partially (echoed) in the first line of the following couplet, while the last line echoes the first line to complete the circle
• rhymed: has a rhyme scheme that comes from repetition of the lines (starting with the second line onwards, follows the AAB rhyme scheme of the blues form, with the last ‘B’ line rhyming with line one due to repetition/echoing)
• the etcs: The second line of each couplet should change our impression of the first line in an unexpected way

My Example: or an attempt to make Something Old Into Something New

I initially thought I would use an older poem and use it to turn into something new, or rather, into the duplex. That would indeed be a cool way to incorporate the something old into something new theme of this post, and this specific poetic form which uses so many cool older forms to bring an innovative cool one to us!

However, trying to do so would have meant me going through my archives and finding one that works. So I decided to go the regular, same old, same old way – by writing something new.. I just did not realize how difficult this form is. And trying to emulate the examples of masters, or at least a semblance to their writing proved even tougher.

This is what I ended up with, so here is my something new (not based on something old… though some of the thoughts are…)

My first attempt

Me, my couch, and six-word tales

Most days are the same old same old
Like finding a new spot in the familiar

I spotted something new yet familiar
Like warm memories of a stranger

From remembered stories that’re stranger
than fictional truth or facts of whimsy

TBH, I pick fiction on pure whimsy
While writing my truths as six-word tales

Folks all over penned six-word tales
Making memories for people worlds away.

As spaceships bring tokens from worlds away
I look at the couch that somehow looks like me.

Even when I’m away, that’s where my kids find me
So I need to make a new spot my same old!

~Vidya Tiru @ LadyInReadWrites

References and h/t

• From The Rumpus
• Jericho Brown’s Duplex poem – I Begin With Love at The American Poetry Review
• The Poetry Foundation

Recently

On My Blog & at Home

My recent posts since and including my last Sunday Scribblings:

• Sunday Scribblings #94: Backward Steps Can Give Runways to Soar
• 22 Children’s Books Related to China for the Chinese New Year
• Wonderful Books By Two Authors: Bookish Blog Hop
• A Love Letter to Wondrous Words and the Letters Within

Home life has been as usual.. though the weather has been cooler than normal for us in the Bay Area.

Upcoming

On My Blog

I hope to share loads of books with you this week by way of mini-reviews (or rather, six-word reviews, if I can manage to be so concise)

And Homefront

My dd turns 16 this week!! And I truly wonder where the years flew by… there is truth in these age-old adages after all, right?! With her birthday comes a spot of warmer weather as well. While we do wish for more rain, some sunshine after below-usual temperatures (still warmer than most other places, I know) is always welcome.

This Week’s Celebrations

Literary Celebrations (close-to-it also!)

• Literary birthdays this week of February include: Charles Dickens, Sinclair Lewis, and Laura Ingalls Wilder on the 7th; Elizabeth Bishop, Kate Chopin, John Grisham, Jules Verne, and Rebecca Wells on the 8th; Alice Walker on the 9th; Charles Lamb and Boris Pasternak on the 10th; Sidney Sheldon and Mo Willems on the 11th; Judy Blume and Jacqueline Woodson on the 12th; and Sarojini Naidu on the 13th
• Because it is something we read (and write), here is National Send a Card to a Friend Day on Feb 7th
• February 11th is International Day of Women and Girls in Science

Foodie Celebrations

• February 7th is National Fettuccine Alfredo Day and I just realized that these foodie celebrations can help me plan my weekly menu 🙂
• National Pizza Day is on the 9th of February
• the 10th of February sounds delish with National Cream Cheese Brownie Day and to balance it, it is also World Pulses Day
• National Peppermint Patty Day is on the 11th of February and I do love these!!
• The 12th of February celebrates National Plum Pudding Day
• February 13th is National Cheddar Day and National Tortellini Day

Other Celebrations

• National Periodic Table Day is celebrated on the 7th of February to commemorate the first publication of John Newlands’ table of elements on February 7, 1863
• The 7th also happens to be e-Day, a mathematical holiday. It began on February 7th, 2018. The reason for this is that in some parts of the world this date is written as 2/7/18, which corresponds to the value of e in mathematics.
• February 8th is National Boy Scouts Day; it also happens to be my DD’s birthday (she is turning 16 this year! Oh where the time flies?)
• National Umbrella Day is on the 10th of February as is National Giving Hearts Day (which is celebrated on the second Thursday of February each year)
• February 11th is National Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk Day as well as National Inventors’ Day and National Make a Friend Day
• The 12th of February is Red Hand Day to help end the use of child soldiers around the world
• The second Saturday in February is Global Movie Day 
• February 13th is World Radio Day. It is also Galentine’s Day is a cool innovation – one of those something new from something old!

Multi-day events

• Boy Scout Anniversary Week – February 4-10 Annually
• National Marriage Week – Always February 7-14
• Freelance Writers Appreciation Week – Second Week of February
• National Secondhand Wardrobe Week – Second Week in February

Related Reads

• 5 Ways to Support Women And Girls In Science
• 35 Movies Featuring the Radio: My Ode to Them

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?

Linking this to the Sunday Post over at the Caffeinated Reviewer and the Sunday Salon