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 Pretty Shiny Thing
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.
Pretty Shiny Thing
Pretty Shiny Thing It’s in the thrill of the moment This object that caught your eye Sparking at the end of a string And like a cat, you reach for That pretty shiny thing A fleeting instant of entertainment To keep you from keeping score A place for your imagination to cling Soothing your short attention span It’s in the thrill of the moment Did you bother to ask yourself why? You never bothered to ask for more Something to make your heart sing Something greater than This object that caught your eye A new treasure, sparkling bling A new toy to possess and try Whatever can buy to keep you poor As long as it fits in the plan Sparking at the end of a string You change loyalty like a dirty whore Nothing lasts forever in a pigsty Good enough for your amusement Something to toss into a trashcan And like a cat, you reach for Coasting on a swift swing You wonder with a sigh Why does nothing satisfy anymore Since you held it in the palm of your hand That pretty shiny thing
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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