Blitz Poetry is an interesting style of poetry with specific rules. I have written this style of poetry in the past. I thought it might be interesting to play with it again in the cold month of February. The rules make this form of poetry challenging. The rhythm of the poems created using this style depends on word choice and placement. This style of poetry, created by Robert Keim, takes thought and precision. My experience in the past is that it can sometimes feel like you are writing on a fast-moving freight train filled with words. Even the title of the poem is found within the word placement. I call this Blitz poem Desk Beyond Unfinished.
The rules for writing a Blitz Poem and Desk Beyond Unfinished
A Blitz Poem is 50 lines of short phrases or images
*Line 1- use a short phrase or image
*Line 2-another short phrase or image that uses the same first word as the first word of line 1.
*Lines 3 and 4-short phrase or image that uses the last word of line 2 as the first word of the line.
*Lines 5 and 6, short phrases or images using the last word from line 4 as the first word. Continue until you reach line 48 using the same pattern found in this rule as lines 5 and 6.
*Line 49 will use the first word of line 48
*Line 50 should be the last word of 47
The title should be three words long, using the first word of line 3 followed by a preposition or conjunction and then the first word of line 47.
*There should be no punctuation.
As you can see, there are many rules, but I plan to have fun with this Blitz Poetry style.
Desk Beyond Unfinished Cluttered desk syndrome Syndrome of the cluttered desk Desk loaded down with work Desk in need of cleaning Cleaning up one task at a time Cleaning is like eating Eating a giant grey elephant Eating him one bite at a time Time to get it all done Time to have creative fun Fun while doing a thankless job Fun playing with words that rhyme Rhyme with a secret meaning Rhyme that turn into verse Verse with a specific meter Verse that tells a sad story Story of love and loss Story of growth and victory Victory of the human spirit Victory that makes me happy Happy that my character won Happy that I am finally done Done and can type ‘the end’ Done so I can store the story away Done so I can take it out again one day Day when the characters I created Day when they can come out and play Play on my computer screen Play in the corners of my mind Mind of a writer dangerous at times Mind that imagines another world World that can sometimes be mean World that is sometimes kind Kind but not comfortable Kind but clumsy with grammar Grammar that is not always correct Grammar that hates the commas Commas that never know how to behave Commas that dance on the page Page filled with letters making words Page filled with lives left unlived Unlived by characters in stories Unlived because there are no final endings Endings that bleed out onto my fingers Endings of tasks left unfinished Unfinished to tackle another day Unfinished desk clutter syndrome Unfinished… Day…
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I have a cluttered desk problem too. LOL. And a comma issue too. That’s soooo true. As soon as I declutter the desk, it gets cluttered again. I mean it feels like a forever unfinished task…
I hear it is a sign of creativity. That’s my excuse, and I am sticking to it.
Me too. It’s a great excuse for a weekend morning like this. Wish you have a great one.
Constantly cleaning my desk!!!
It’s one of those jobs you never get finished.
Exactly