I ripped another page from the calendar hanging on my kitchen wall. We enter the month of May with thoughts of Spring swimming around in our heads. The sun is shining bright on the days it isn’t raining. The snow vanished into distant memory. This month I plan to explore a poetry style that reminds me of a trickling waterfall. Udit Bhatia created the Cascade poem. There are no rules for rhythm or meter. The layout is simple in that the lines of the first stanza are repeated as the refrain lines in the stanzas that follow. The poem flows like this ABC, xxA, xxB xxC. Add lines to the poem longer. Thus, you are making a cascading effect with words. How hard can that be? This Cascade Poem I titles Friendship Betrayed.
Note: I will also be adding Black Out Poems as we go along the way. I plan to keep using this style until the book I’m using runs out of pages for me to play with to create these unique and visual poems. I might as well get started. I’m excited about jogging down this road.
Friendship Betrayed
Friendship Betrayed You tell me your secrets And I’ll tell you mine No qualms about playing Truth or Dare Things were so simple then I have learned to live with regrets Beyond the betrayals Both large and small Who would have guessed? You tell me your secrets Some words are hard to define They can be tangled Mangled into a long chain Link upon link beyond truth And I’ll tell you mine You told without contemplating How everything would play out There was no magic in the game No matter the outcome No qualms about playing Over the years it seemed unfair That the guilty walked away It was all so devastating The way your eyes glowed with delight Truth or dare Cheaters always win In this game of fools I forgot about it long ago I bring it up now because Things were so simple then
Who is Molly Shea?
Molly Shea is an accomplished fictional short story writer from Indiana who writes short stories and novels about a fictional town called Tecumseh. To read more of her short stories and adventures, click here.
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I love the last stanza of this poem; in it I find so much emotional truth and reflection!
Thank you.
Wonderful poetry.
Thank you.
I love cascade poems, and this is a lovely one, Molly!
<3
David
Thank you. I love them too.
I love this style. Great poem
Thank you.