The Mermaid’s Song

It’s Poetics Tuesday over at the dVerse Poets Pub. This time our host is Laura Bloomsbury who has tasked us with this:

Write your poem as a rhyming tercet of 3 line stanzas though a composite 9 liner or more would do just as well
– Strict meter is not a requirement but for an extra challenge try pentameter (10 syllables to each line)
– You do NOT have to follow the ordered sequence of the above
– You may reverse the order of the 1st & 3rd words but otherwise keep the integrity of each rhyme set

 

  • SPEECH/REST/BEACH
  • ON/SEA/UPON
  • WORD/BREATH/BIRD
  • WAY/SOUND/BAY
  • SUNG/LIPS/TONGUE

After the mermaid’s sweet song was sung

with a pretty pout upon her lips

she tickled his tonsils with her tongue.

 

Shocked and aghast; at a loss for speech

the sailor gasped “Let’s give it a rest!”

They watched as the sun set on the beach —

 

twilight turned to dark. Without a word

she slid away; and he held his breath

she slipped into the sea. An odd bird

 

indeed, he thought, as the night drew on.

But his sad gaze was fixed on the sea

She’d left him with much to muse upon.

27 thoughts

  1. Those damned Silkies are like that. Then again, perhaps her leaving him was an act of charity, for surely his gills didn’t work well enough to follow her.

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  11. Garlick’s words do lead us into the realm of mermaids and other sea creatures, and I enjoyed your poem, Susan. I’ve just finished reading a book set in Victorian London called Things in Jars, about a beautiful mermaid with sharp teeth and, apparently, murderous tendencies. I love the contrast between the sweet song and pretty pout and the ominously alliterative ‘she tickled his tonsils with her tongue’. I’m not surprised the sailor was left with ‘much to muse upon’.

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  12. Oh she tickled his tonsils with her tongue
    and they collaborated on a song of the sea
    For some reason that tickled tonsil phrase makes me want to write a poem about it! I was totally entertained!

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