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Sunday Scribblings #34: Attempting Other Things

May 24, 2020

This week, I (or someone at home) was trying my hand at attempting other things, at home, and on my blog. Staying home is not something new for me, but watching and reading about so many who are trying out new things or trying out forgotten hobbies, is definitely inspiring. And while I do not think I will emerge from this like a glorious butterfly out of a cocoon, I certainly hope to not feel like I got back from a long staycation at the least.

sunday scribblings

Poetic Sundays

The Forms so Far

Concrete Poetry using the Loop (a little)

I love drawing, I love poetry; I also love all those different shaped poetic forms. So it was but natural I had to try out concrete poetry. I also loved reading about the form called the Loop. So in today’s feature, I have tried out both forms – emphasis on the tried – and the Loop, just in one part of the poem. But there you have it, two forms for you today.

What is Concrete Poetry?

Concrete poetry, one of the many ‘shape’ poetry forms, is one whose visual appearance matches the topic of the poem. The words themselves, their arrangement, the font, or a combination of all these form shapes to illustrate the poem’s subject or an aspect of the same.

The visual presentation enhances the effect of the poem’s subject and/or the poet’s intent to the reader. Another closely related form is the calligram. And word clouds are kind of an example of concrete poetry as well.

Here are a couple of popular examples:

George Herbert‘s “Easter Wings” (1633)

And a calligram

A Calligram about the Eiffel Tower

What is Loop Poetry?

Loop Poetry is a poetic form where the lines loop into each other through words. That is, the last word of the first line of the poem becomes the first word of the second line, and so on. The most common variation has no syllabic count, has stanzas of four lines with a rhyme scheme of abcb, and any number of stanzas.

For more details, example and variations, check out ShadowPoetry’s Loop Poetry page.

My Example Poem

Here is my attempt. No calligraphy here so definitely more concrete poetry than calligram, though I am not sure it is either!:) And the first stanza (which is at the bottom of the page/image) is the loop form. Follow the arrows to read the poem.

I tried to fit my rather wordy poem into the images, both of which convey my poem’s subject – Books! I wrote this onto paper as well as did the whole illustration in a hurry just a couple of hours ago, please ignore any issues, with typos or the handwriting… 🙂

And if you are unable to read it, then I have the poem itself following this image!

poem

Bookish Journeys
Sitting right here
Here on this chair you might see me
Me however, I am elsewhere
Elsewhere on a wondrous journey.
I have opened a book, you see
And hidden away in its story
Up the magical faraway tree
And 20000 leagues under the sea.
I came upon elves and goblins
In secret gardens with robins
Twisting turning paths I traveled
Leading myself to long-ago castles
With princesses who were knights
In disguise, and naughty sprites
Who gamboled on the edge of the lake
Of dreams. I took a bite of the cake
With the note that said ‘eat me’
I tumbled through a love story
Where a nightingale sang sweetly
As it perched upon the faraway tree
I shared a cup of tea with Anne
Performed a play with the March family
And then…well, as I chanced upon another story
Had to close the book back to reality!
– Vidya

h/t: Poetry4Kids and ShadowPoetry

Last Week

On My Blog and Home-front

We picked the few cherries that appeared on our tree before the squirrels could get to them. Our cherry tree has not grown since we first planted it -unfortunately, as we learned much later – in the wrong spot. But it manages to produce about a dozen or so cherries each year!

cherries on the tree

Attempting Other Things

I attempted a couple of different posts this week, including one about cooking;

we (rather, my 14 yo) baked our first homemade loaf of bread using this recipe here; and it was really wonderful. We devoured it in minutes, thankfully not before I took a few pics.

homemade artisan bread

And I tried to draw a couple more things. Attempted to incorporate the Madhubani art form with a quote and inspiration from a childhood favorite The Secret Garden

madhubani art inspired by secret garden quote

My Most Recent Posts

MyPhotoADay

Here are a few selections from my insta-feed this past week.

Upcoming

On My Blog and Home-front

Will be using DIY neem oil pesticide to protect the plants in our garden. And hope the pests stay away. While I hope to catch up on those other challenges this week on my blog.

And those celebrations…

Here are a smattering of this week’s many celebrations:

Wrapping up my Sunday Scribblings

So dear reader, this was it for my Sunday Scribblings. I would love to hear your comments on my post and if you had any favorite from the posts this week. And which of these days do you plan to celebrate (or any other)? 

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

9 thoughts on “Sunday Scribblings #34: Attempting Other Things”

  5. Your poem is beautiful in both text and illustration. I love your theme of books, and I love the composition of it. Wonderful.

    The Anne Frank quote has inspired me to see if I can find and read her book. The threat of the virus is terrible, surely, but the threats Anne faced were much more daunting. I find a lot of comfort these days in reading stories of others’ more awful times.

    I want to post a photo now and then on Instagram. I need to take my camera with me when we walk, I think.

    I hope you have a good week.

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