It’s time for me to switch my poetic styles this month. The winter is dragging on, and I wanted to jazz things up a bit. I came across the Bop Poetry style and thought it sounded interesting. Afaa Michael Weaver created this style at an African American poetry retreat at Cave Canem. I love the simplicity of this verse style because the rules are very simple. There is no thyme structure, and the stanzas are unmetered. I call this Bop Poem Mama Misery.
The simple rules of Bop Poetry and Mama Misery
The poem is three stanzas long.
The first stanza is six lines long and lays out a problem.
The second stanza is eight lines long and explores or expands the problem.
The third stanza is six lines long and gives a solution or failed attempt at resolution of the problem,
There is a short refrain between the stanzas.
I think this style will be fun to explore. You are welcome to join me while I explore this poetic style. I’m not certain if I can pull off this switch. It is challenging to come up with a new poem every day. I hope you have as much fun reading these attempts as I am writing them now if I can only capture the laid-back feel of the Bop in Mama Misery.
Mama Misery Mama said I was wasting my life When I told her I was thinking of being a wife But I’ve been married to the man Forty-nine years, so what more can I say I guess we never could agree About how I should spend my days Mama never could think straight about my man, but she couldn’t stop comparing every male to daddy. Daddy was a man with a superpower. He was the incredible invisible man. Disappeared when I was five, And he never came back again. I know he isn’t still alive. I didn’t cry a tear when I heard About his death somewhere in Missouri His death put Mama out of her misery. Mama never could think straight about my man, but she couldn’t stop comparing every male to daddy. Mama came to admit before she died That you might be a good man. We never made our fortune. We had more kids than sense. But we made a good union. That survived the hazards of living. Mama never could think straight about my man, but she couldn’t stop comparing every male to daddy.
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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Fantastic and so real, Molly!
Thank you.