Title: Superstitious Poet: RavenoftheBlack Status: Public Word Count: 264
This is for the voting "week" of February.
Superstitious
Superstitious
Eleven days, I’ve been without my knife, I’ve waited patiently within my house, I spend my hours with my kin and wife, We even caught ourselves a little mouse!
We hung the creature up by string and tail, It squeaked in desperation and in fear, But it’s a trick I know will never fail, Our cabbages will be quite large this year.
Twelve days my knife has not been by my side, But still I make my journey in the dark, The slightest sound will make me twist and hide, Away from each and every airborne spark.
The ghostly lights that rule the riverbank, Who knows with certainty what they could be? I chew, in silence, marshroot and give thanks, That twigs will keep the kelpies off of me.
It’s thirteen days, my precious knife still gone, As I think back on everything I’ve seen, And in the golden, brilliant light of dawn, I put the orange leaf to my wound and clean.
The day is slow, my kin grow restless, tense, They thirst for action, women and the men, I tell them “soon, our mission will commence,” And then at night apply the leaf again.
Now fourteen days my lovely knife has slept, I go at once to bring it back to me, A fortnight hence I came here and I left My prize within a twisted ghastbark tree.
And now my kin and I go make the graves, My daughter’s soul will be avenged this day, My little girl forgot to break the waves, And now that korrigan is going to pay!
Joined: Sep 22, 2013 Posts: 5699 Location: Inside my own head
Identity: Human
This was quite riveting. I kept expecting it to turn really sour, as if some information was being withheld or imagery being recontextualized because of who the narrator was, and was pleasantly surprised when it both did end up with a hint of blood to come as well as not being as grisly as I was expecting. Still, a haunting little piece.
because the only way I can read is in iambic pentameter is to treat "orange" as a single syllable, which isn't a thing I've ever really heard. is that the intention?
because the only way I can read is in iambic pentameter is to treat "orange" as a single syllable, which isn't a thing I've ever really heard. is that the intention?
Hmm. Maybe this is a regional dialect or something, but I usually pronounce "orange" as one syllable. "Orange Juice," for instance, is two syllables to me.
because the only way I can read is in iambic pentameter is to treat "orange" as a single syllable, which isn't a thing I've ever really heard. is that the intention?
Hmm. Maybe this is a regional dialect or something, but I usually pronounce "orange" as one syllable. "Orange Juice," for instance, is two syllables to me.
weird, I've only ever heard it as rhyming with "door hinge" and if I try to do it as one syllable, the mess of consonants at the end makes me subconsciously insert a vowel anyway, but if that's how you pronounce it then it fits the meter, and I'm too much of a descriptivist to argue that the way you pronounce it is somehow "wrong", so as long as that's the intent I have no issue.
weird, I've only ever heard it as rhyming with "door hinge" and if I try to do it as one syllable, the mess of consonants at the end makes me subconsciously insert a vowel anyway, but if that's how you pronounce it then it fits the meter, and I'm too much of a descriptivist to argue that the way you pronounce it is somehow "wrong", so as long as that's the intent I have no issue.
Strength
Twelfths
English is a (C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)(C)(C) language. While I tend to pronounce <orange> with a schwa as the second syllable, even Wiktionary's pronunciation guide for my dialect (General American) gives one of two pronunciations where the second vowel is optional: /ˈɔɹ(ɪ)nd͡ʒ/
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