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 titled Delight in Disaster.
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.
Delight in Disaster
Delight in Disaster Bottom feeders delight in disaster It is their stock and trade Bloated blood sucking leeches Sluggish vampires feast on despair Misery reigns when evil prevails What you serve is your master A slow dance at a lavish masquerade Mask in place so no one will know Persuasive words from important speeches Bottom feeder delight in disaster The answers in the reflection you portrayed Slick and smooth and down twisted trails Lies and rumors to increase fear Spoken without a single care It is their stock and trade For one who doesn’t practice what he preaches You always manage to get your share Your lips move, but we don’t understand When you leave out so many details Bloated blood sucking leeches We travel on wobbly legs unaware To reach a spot to rest in the shade Memories of when things made sense The image of hope starting to fade Sluggish vampires feast on despair Eyes that are weary with scales Can’t see the path where they strayed Water wets the face as tears fall A graven image in alabaster Misery reigns when evil prevails
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 don’t know why but I laughed at “Bloated blood sucking leeches”. I think you are having something or somebody in your mind.
Politicans and television news reporters. It makes no difference what party or station, they all feed off our attention.
I absolutely love this, Molly! Fantastic 💕🙂
Thank you.