Earth Tone

Beautiful easily read poem William, music to my ears with soft wind strumming a new chord, I think you liked the rain.

The final stanza should read 'That was earth at Heaven's door. Sorry for the typo. Don't know how to fix this.

I like rain for my garden, but not for my sinuses or my left knee.

Very uplifting, thoroughly enjoyed!

Rained all weekend here too and of course now that we're all back stuck in the office there is glorious sunshine. Ah such is life!

Good one William.

Bill - if you pull up the article, there is a little blue link that says "edit," and that should let you fix it. I like the laughing flower. :-)

This will probably be true for my place today. It will be a relief after 90 degree temps for the last 4 days.

My house will be singing, also, as it will be cool inside again. HOORAY!

Lovely Bill. It's just stopped raining and my dog wants me to go out and see if any flowers are laughing. I really loved the poem.

Thank you Lisa and thanks to everyone for the nice words. However, I still feel my prosody is a bit off.

*sobs* what is a prosody???

THANKS FOR YOUR POSTING :)

THANKS FOR YOUR POSTING :)

this is a good one

Lisa, Prosody has a lot of definition possibilities, so I'll try to define this very important word (concept) that is of great importance to musicians, poets and public speakers. Intonation of the word (when spoken aloud) acts in counterpoint with the stress given to the word. All stress acts in conjunction with the rhythm of the verses or lyrics. To put it in more simple terms, it is the ease that the words flow together that gives the verse or lyrics a sense of flow that has some sort of melodic resonance. A very difficult word to define since it has so many different elements. I guess the key point, beyond the various types of meter, is the that the words should flow to form a pattern in sound.

And your knowledge of words like that, and my lack of it, is the reason that you get "I liked it," etc., from me. I can't tell you if it had good prosody. I just pray I'll remember the word another day. Thank you for explaining it.

Lisa, Anyone can write nice words. Most of the (so called) poetry I have read that has a patriotic theme in the past 5 years has been nothing but incomplete sentences put into stanza form. Of course it is politically incorrect to call this garbage. I can guarantee these types of 'garbage' poems will never get into any serious poetry book, journal, or magazine. A good poem dances with a rhythm when you read it aloud. It doesn't have to rhyme. Anyone who has read Keats knows a poem doesn't have to follow strict singular meter. Just because words touch your heart doesn't make it a poem. Unless the words have some sort of consistent rhythmical flow, it is not a poem. Prosody includes intonation, stress, and rhythm within some sort of metered framwork. The bottom line is not the style. It is that the form dances with a flow of rhythmic melody. If the (so called) poem doesn't, then it does not have prosodic elements and should be called prose, not poetry.

Nice job, William...WTG...!

I have heard of such poetry, but it is not very well respected in most circles, or at least by the serious poets I have met. It certainly is not found in major publications. It's just a vain attempt, in my opinion, to avoid prosody.

I only meant prose poetry in my comment. Paragraph poems, if they are poems, have the element of prosody. Personally, I do not care for paragraph poems, but they are a valid poem, although not widely used.

I guess if you dress a sow in a silk dress some would call her a lady. Throughout my career I have seen people put a label on something to try to make it something it wasn't. I don't care what a university textbook says, prose is not poetry period: At least not in the English language. Those that believe it is should get a pet pig, dress it up and call it the family dog.

Bill, thank you for sharing your knowledge about poetry. Prosody is the word I've not met before, but it's what been looking for. Sometimes I read or write things that sound right except for a word somewhere that feels like a stone in the flow. Now I have a word for what's wrong, and a peg to hang the idea on. Thank you.

William, I take a somewhat different view regarding poetry. To me, poetry is the language of the soul - it can be expressly written with the reader, as distinct from listener, in mind. Rather than sound patterns being its fundamental essence to convey whatever, words can also be used to construct imagery that speaks and conjures emotions and thoughts in the reader - and listener as well, if read aloud.

But that said, you do make some very good points.

I love the poem and the poetry lessons are well recieved.Thank you.

So do you Magi, but what you say is often a very difficult style to write. I can't every recall seeing a poem of excellence that did not have prosodic elements.

Well you lucked out Bill. A lengthy and complex comment went into the ethers...
Anyway,

What about music and song? Consider Bjork and her eclectic music-form...
I tend to be way more liberal in defining poetry. Still, surprises me that others would get so upset by your comments...

Thanks for the poetry lessons William :) I can usually "hear" if poetry works or not, but I simply thought it was because of my many years of music lessons. I guess its not, lol :) At least now I know there is a word for it.
By the way, I do like your poem. I had to read it three times to figure out why it didn't read quite right though. Then after I read the comments it makes more sense. I don't know how to fix it, but its the third line in the third stanza, and the second line in the last stanza where the rythm is off.
I love the imagery though :) Flowers listening to you singing in the rain is my favorite!

I'm not an expert by any means on Bjork. I can't recal Bjork's music having lyrics.
I appreciate your comment Kristen and will keep them in mind. I was not trying to rhyme. Actually, a comment made about a poem I wrote weeks ago made me dig out a photocopy of an old article by Dr. W. E. Jones, a linguistics professor from England, who wrote an article on prosody when he was 72. Not an easy read. I'm not sure why I saved this article, but I probably used it as a source in writing a research paper on intonation. I don't fully understand prosody, but realize its importance in the rhythmical structures in English. What make music and poetry different from prose, or that of common speech, is that these two arts have measured patterns of time, beat and stress. I'm not an expert on poetry, but have read translations of Greek, Italian, Japanese, Latin & Russian poetry. All have a measured pattern. I feel rules of construction are present for a reason and of great importance in any art form. I reject the notion that such rules of construction can simply be tossed aside. You can put a label on anything, but a label does not mean it accurately describes what something is. The difference between a short story and a poem (if both are written in verse form) is simply in the structure of the construction.

Oops! Sorry William, I didn't mean rhyme - I meant rhythm :) I knew you weren't trying to rhyme. It's the beat when you read it that I was listening to and trying to find why it feels slightly "off". :-)
I'm not an expert on poetry or music either. I just "hear" the patterns in the beat and the overall flow. Apparently that is the prosody you are talking about, and I have to agree that it does have an importance in the rhymical structure. If the measured pattern is off the verse doesn't flow right.

And thanks for the English lesson :) Very interesting, and I learned a new word today, lol! :-P

Kristen, You're right as rain. Thank you for the clarification. It does give my diminishing brain cells something to consider.

LOL William - you're welcome :) gee, and I thought I was the one who was lost ;)

and btw..... I still like the poem - it's good :)

I love the rain. This poem was perfect, to me. It has rained the last two days on and off. A nice break from the heat around here. LOVED it! I wish it was raining right now.