Phraseology: Prepositional Poem

[Callisse J. DeTerre]

Although I haven't engaged in this form for a long time, I like it because it presents a challenge with very little restriction and I've seen some very beautiful examples develop. I'll be honest and admit that I'm not that gifted at the form, but that doesn't stop me from appreciating it. Have a go at it. I'll try again, too.

Phraseology: Prepositional Poem
*any length, any meter
*often non-rhyming, but not limited
*one topic that is never named in the poem, although the title may present or hint at it
*no complete sentences and if titled, the title does not creates a sentence in conjunction with the poem
*string of phrases describing the topic or presenting a continuous reflection on the topic
*each phrase, each line, begins with a preposition
*typically, no preposition is repeated, so each phrase usually answers a different question
*traditionally, each phrase is composed of one line only, but if a phrase is more than one line, only the preposition is capitalized
*a line may contain more than one preposition, but a preposition starts on a new line if it's a different idea/answer
*no commas are used to end the phrases

Some people write prepositional poems as if they are a riddles. Objects, especially those of nature, are the easiest topics with which to begin, but you'll discover this type of poem is not limited in that way.

[Callisse J. DeTerre]

I have now posted my attempt, "The LA Range", in the Rhyming Forum with a link back here...

poetry-here-and-now.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=rhymers&thread=326&page=1

I would not say that my attempt follows all of the traditional guidelines, but the point of the challenge is to spur, not stifle, creativity. As no one is participating, I'm wondering if this challenge too hard, too constricting, too boring or what. Won't someone, anyone, give it a try?

[Fire Monkey]

I'll see about it but I'm not sure if I will manage anything or not.

[Brigid Briton]

Hi Callisse,

I think it's a good challenge, don't despair. Personally, I'm suffering from a bit of the blahs but will come back to this later. I like your new avatar.



Brigid

[Fire Monkey]

Ok, I sat down and gave it a try - not my normal style but I believe I stuck to the rules. Who knows, maybe later I'll take this and make a poem that is more my type out of it - it was a kind of fun challenge but I kept wanting to write lines that broke the rules and had to settle for things that I felt did not do the job as well. Mostly I'd have liked a few lines that didn't start with prepositions ;D

Amid the Weight of Days
With silence as my only guide
Towards a distant gleem
From foggy darkness moving forth
Across some star encrusted scene
As if with winds to drive me on
Beneath a cold nigt sky
Towards some unknown ocean
Of tears from those who cry
Once gathered to make crytal shores
Now still like frozen glass
Since then had faded as a dream
Near by yet its time past

[Brigid Briton]

Hey Tim,

You fudged! Callisse said that each line should start with a preposition! Several of yours don't---and several don't contain prepositions at all, so it looks like you got to break the rules after all.

This was harder than I thought it would be. Here's my attempt:

behind the wheel
under the influence
after the party
over the speed limit
on some unfamiliar street
in this god-awful place
beyond all hope

Brigid

[Fire Monkey]

Which words do you think are not prepositions because I was fairly careful to make sure I have only prepositions to start each line...

[Brigid Briton]

Well, Tim, I don't think that once and now are prepositions. I'm always willing to learn, though.

[Fire Monkey]

Well, a preposition is a word which locates a noun in time or space.

A preposition usually indicates the temporal, spatial or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence as in the following examples:

from www.writingcentre.uottawa.ca/hypergrammar/preposit.html

So once can be either a preposition or an adverb, depending on meaning - "I believed it once but not twice." would be an adverb because it indicates a number of times something was believed, whereas "Once I as young but now my youth has faded." would be a preposition because it indicates a position in time. As for "now" that is definitely indicating a position in time.

At least this is my understanding. Although I did study such things at great length, that was many years ago and I generally have little interest in them now so I am less sure than I would have been 40 years ago when I was taking English courses, but I did look up prepositions prior to writing the poem to double check the definition and make sure I was remembering it correctly and then I found a list of over 100 prepositions and used that to be sure - now if that list had any errors on it then I could be wrong because I just accepted the list as correct [not always a good idea but the words I chose did seem to fit the definition]

Either way, if I am wrong then the poem may not fit the challenge perfectly, but I still like what I wrote ;D and I'm not sure I could go back and fix it with other words - that could be far more difficult than just wrting a whole new poem

[Brigid Briton]

Well, Tim, I checked your link and several others, searching for "once" and "now" on lists of prepositions. I didn't find them so I'd be interested in knowing what list you used. I did find a site that I liked a lot, mostly for the pictures, but then I do tend to be visually oriented. www.chompchomp.com/terms/preposition.htm

Now that I've had a look at several lists, I see how sadly lacking my own effort in this challenge has been...must reconsider my entry.

[Fire Monkey]

Sadly I don't know which list I used since it wasn't important so I didn't bookmark it but I'll see if I can find a complete list - there are actually only something like 150 or 160 prepositions in English so it should be possible to find a complete list and then we can be certain. ;D

[Brigid Briton]

OK, Tim, out of desperation, I dragged out the "New Lexicon Webster's Dictionary" which has been languishing in the closet since the advent of Google. It's not exactly "new" any more, but according to it, neither "once" nor "now" is a preposition. They're a lot of things, just not "preps".

So, the good news is, you got to break the rules AND it only added to the charm of your poem!



Not really a fanatic
but plays one on TV,

Brigid

or, as Jon Kyl might say,
"not intended to be a factual statement"

[Fire Monkey]

Ok, I bow to the evidence at hand ;D but though I may have broken the rules, I did not know I was doing so at the time

Perhaps I'll do another poem so that I have one that doesn't break the rules ... if I can think of something to right it about ;D

[Callisse J. DeTerre]

;D You guys are fun and thanks for your educational comments as well. Tim, as I said before, the challenge is to stimulate, not stifle creativity. Have another go at it for the stimulation, but not out of any need to make up for a poem that doesn't perfectly follow the rules. I like the first half better than the second. Post it in the appropriate forum with a link if you want more feedback; this'll help spread word of the challenge also. I like both of your responses to the challenge. Interesting that you both chose a person as the subject.