A Poem a Day (164): Skeltonic verse

For today’s poems, I took a prompt from NaPoWriMo.net. This was to write a poem in Sketonic verse, also called Tumbling verse. John Skelton, a C15th poet, came up with this. Verses are short and the endings rhyme, but there is no rhyme scheme per se, and the meter is irregular, with two stresses per line. You just keep on rhyming the endings until you get bored with that rhyme and move on to a new one. I found it was a bit like brainstorming and the lines do tumble down as you write. The link at NaPoWriMo has more info on this and example links. You’ll find loads of fun prompts on that website. Cheers :)

I just read an interesting article online about employers monitoring the work of employees at home on their computers in the US. It was all about the legal ramifications. In Europe, we have GDPR to protect employee data, and any monitoring has to be transparent and the employee must be told about it, or it’s illegal. And our data is protected from being made public. Crazy that we live in a world where anyone would spy on an employee, but there you go. I guess trust is an interesting subject. Are humans less trustful the more technology they have to track people? Is control getting out of control? Do we no longer have a choice over what people and strangers know about us? Is the right to privacy gone? So the first poem is about that. The second poem was sparked by the chirpy birds outside!

Stand in line

You stand in line

To take what’s mine
All the damn time –
To you that’s fine.
The cat has nine
Lives on the line,
So I’ll just pine
While I dine
Within this rhyme,
Not worth a dime.
I’ll live with less,
Sweep up this mess.
What you’ll confess
I can only guess.

Summer sun

The sky is young.

Where stars hung
And the moon swung
Now shines the sun,
Promising fun.
You’ll go for a run
And I’ll make tea,
Dreaming of the sea;
Watch a bumblebee
Pollinate a rose.
He powders his nose
Fulfilled, I suppose.
Secrets he knows
Mean this rose grows.
And off he goes,
Avoiding his foes.

Copyright Vickie Johnstone, June 3, 2020