April PAD Challenge + NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 13 & 14

Image by Diego Ortiz from Pixabay

Image by press 👍 and ⭐ from Pixabay

I created two suites of poetry over the weekend.

The first is the Living World suite.

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2024-april-pad-challenge-day-13

The April PAD Challenge prompt called for a living poem.

https://www.napowrimo.net/day-thirteen-10/

The NaPoWriMo prompt asks for participants to play with rhyme.

I opted not to write rhyming poems.

Start by creating a “word bank” of ten simple words. They should only have one or two syllables apiece. Five should correspond to each of the five senses (i.e., one word that is a thing you can see, one word that is a type of sound, one word that is a thing you can taste, etc). Three more should be concrete nouns of whatever character you choose (i.e., “bridge,” “sun,” “airplane,” “cat”), and the last two should be verbs. Now, come up with rhymes for each of your ten words.

I didn't do this exactly. I chose ten subjects using prompts from Carpe Diem Haiku and wrote ten poems in Haiku, Senryu, or Tanka style.

https://chevrefeuillescarpediem.blogspot.com/2012/11/carpe-diem-53-rain-provided-by-bjorn.html

Rain

https://chevrefeuillescarpediem.blogspot.com/2012/11/carpe-diem-54-love.html

Love

https://chevrefeuillescarpediem.blogspot.com/2012/11/carpe-diem-55-sadness.html

Sadness

https://chevrefeuillescarpediem.blogspot.com/2012/11/carpe-diem-56-full-beaver-moon.html

Full beaver moon

https://chevrefeuillescarpediem.blogspot.com/2012/11/carpe-diem-preview-8-look-back-2.html

Jade

Butterfly

Glacier

Flowers

Mist

Heron

Image by press 👍 and ⭐ from Pixabay

Moving on to Sunday, I created my Ekphrastic Gallery of five poems.

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2024-april-pad-challenge-day-14

You can find the images I used as my inspiration in the above link.

https://www.napowrimo.net/day-fourteen-11/

Today's NaPoWriMo prompt asks participants write a poem of at least ten lines in which each line begins with the same word (e.g., “Because,” “Forget,” “Not,” “If”). This technique of beginning multiple lines with the same word or phrase is called anaphora, and has long been used to give poems a driving rhythm and/or a sense of puzzlebox mystery.

The five poems I wrote using this technique are as follows:

Stars

Wounds

Sailing

Screams

Strange Vacation

These are five of my favorite poems because they delve into difficult subject matter and have unexpected patterns. This is the kind of poetry I live to write.

I guess that about does it for this ol' session.

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Image by Desiret Aguado from Pixabay

November PAD Challenge 2022: Day 27: Artful Resolution

 

Henri Rousseau Self Portrait from L’ile Saint Louis

The artist Henri Rousseau

Painted himself bigger than life, you know

He stood at the center

Of the portrait he rendered

Where he was the best thing on show

I resolve to be like Henri

To make my life more about me

The way that I see it

I shouldn't dream it, but be it

Imagination will set me free

~Arty Owl Has Spoken~

Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay

notes and prompts used

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2022-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-27

Prompt: For today's prompt, write a resolution poem.

https://imprompt.wordpress.com/2022/11/27/day-27/

Prompt: The self-portrait by Henri Rousseau

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Rousseau

Henri Julien Félix Rousseau; (21 May 1844 – 2 September 1910) was a French post-impressionist painter in the Naïve or Primitive manner. He was also known as Le Douanier (the customs officer), a humorous description of his occupation as a toll and tax collector. Ridiculed during his lifetime by critics, he came to be recognized as a self-taught genius whose works are of high artistic quality.

His self-portrait, painted in 1890, is on display in the National Gallery in Prague.

Today's Playlist

https://odysee.com/@GamingAmbience:6/the-ascent-highstreet-cosmodrome-%281-hour:c?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16&lid=1efd39d91f3ef0894d6f6ec7aa4c51f99279535c

November PAD Challenge 2022: Day 26: A Particular Tree

 

Image info below

outside 

my window

I imagine 

a particular tree

it grows in a land 

beyond imagination

in a land where impossible 

dreams come true

I give a second thought 

and then a third

to me and you

and what

became

of 

the 

seed

of 

love 

we planted

how long ago

my love

how long ago

~ornery owl has spoken~

Image by Erik Karits from Pixabay

notes and prompts used

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2022-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-13

Prompt: Write an ekphrastic poem

Image Information

Hinds House Window

c. 1900

maker

Tiffany Glass & Decorating Company

(American, New York, 1892–1902)

America, New York, 20th century

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1966.432

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2022-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-26

Prompt: Write a second thought poem.

https://imprompt.wordpress.com/2022/11/26/day-26/

Prompt: Imagine a particular tree

Today's Playlist

https://odysee.com/@GamingAmbience:6/the-ascent-deepstink-dnexus-%281-hour-of:5?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16&lid=1efd39d91f3ef0894d6f6ec7aa4c51f99279535c

November PAD Challenge 2022: Day 23 1/2: Family Dinner

 

Picture info follows the poem

simmering in my own stew

on this Thanksgiving day

I think about the way

my family of origin

served up problems at the table

an unpalatable side dish

promoting indigestion

no wonder my son never enjoyed

visiting my family for dinner

I was so used to the tension

I didn't think much about it

"So what did you do today, Failed Daughter?"

"I quit my job at the casino."

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Free use image from Open Clipart Vectors

notes and prompts used

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2022-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-13

Prompt: Write an Ekphrastic poem.

The selected image:

Evening, Melancholy I

1896

Edvard Munch

(Norwegian, 1863–1944)

Norway

Woodcut hand colored with watercolor

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1959.82

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2022-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-23

Prompt:

Write a family poem.

My family of origin had a lovely habit of discussing problems at the dinner table.

https://imprompt.wordpress.com/2022/11/24/day-24/

Go to the last poem (or flash or whatever your thing is) that you wrote.

Use the last line of it as your first line today. 

OR

Use the first line as your last line. (Seven lines minimum.)

If you are feeling particularly masochistic, start with the end AND end with the beginning. 

I was feeling particularly masochistic.

Today's poetry soundtrack:

https://odysee.com/@GamingAmbience:6/deus-ex-mankind-divided-prague-%C4%8Dist%C3%A1-2:8?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

https://odysee.com/@GamingAmbience:6/deus-ex-mankind-divided-%C4%8Dist%C3%A1-district:c?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

November PAD Challenge 2022: Day 15: Dawn Thoughts

Dawn Thoughts 2

See notes for image information

I once despised dawn

today I am glad of it

opportunity

new thoughts I can imagine

old pain I can put to rest

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Image by Frauke Riether from Pixabay

notes and prompts

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2022-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-13

Told ya I was gonna keep on truckin' with the ekphrastic poems! Find the info below.

I created the header image by layering two photos and using special effects from Pixlr.com

Image by bess.hamiti@gmail.com from Pixabay

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1938.6

Ancestral Commemorative Head (uhunmwun-elao)

possibly mid-1500s or early 1600s

Nigeria, Benin Kingdom, Ẹdo peoples, members of the Igun Eronmwon (royal brasscasters) guild

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2022-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-15

Write a thoughtful or thoughtless poem. I think today's Tanka is pretty thoughtful.

https://imprompt.wordpress.com/2022/11/08/day-8/

Write in praise.

https://imprompt.wordpress.com/2022/11/15/day-15/

Write an aubade. An aubade is a poem about dawn. It has no specific rhyme or rhythm scheme. 

Today's aubade praises the dawn, something I never thought I'd do again in this lifetime.

"Well, who hates the dawn, Ornery, you crusty old owl-crab? What kind of misanthropic curmudgeon doesn't love to see the sun come up on a new day?"

One who knows they probably have yet another day of bullying and abuse to look forward to.

One who will go to a job they hate. 

One who is grieving.

One who is traumatized.

Someone whose first waking thoughts are abusive rhetoric that has been drilled into their psyche. It has only been during this past year that my first thoughts on waking haven't been something along the lines of "you fat, disgusting pig, nobody could possibly love anything that looks like you. Eww, you're so gross! Why don't you just stop eating, Fatty?"

I didn't stop having these thoughts because I lost a semi truckload worth of weight and now I have a "revenge body." What a wretched concept. I'll likely always be fat unless my zombie thyroid suddenly revives and revs up my metabolism to transwarp 666 gazillion parsecs per nanosecond, turning me from a portly and perpetually pissed-off prairie witch to a svelte Borg siren existing for the sole purpose of serving man.

In other words, not gonna happen.

Nope, I finally realized how horrible and shitty diet culture really is and concluded that anyone hell-bent on judging a person based on their physical appearance rather than their personality is someone whose opinion matters no more to me than a gnat's fart in a category 15 hurricane. In other words, less than not at all. 

This realization was even more freeing than the day I decided I was tired of being blonde and stopped bleaching my hair to hide the gray.  I started going gray at 27. I have thick, somewhat coarse hair that tends to be resistant to coloring, so I started bleaching it. My hair became very dry and brittle, having the approximate texture of straw, and it was falling out. I decided I no longer gave any fucks about people thinking I'm (gasp) old, and I dropped the bleach habit.

I used henna to color my hair for a while, not because I cared about hiding the gray but because I found it fun to dye my hair different wild shades of blonde, brown, black, or red. Unfortunately, I developed an allergy to henna, which caused big flakes and scabs to form on my scalp. I now use silver brightening shampoo and a color-depositing conditioner to enhance the silver tones. I'm pleased with how shiny and soft my hair is since I started this routine.

I really don't care if anyone thinks someone else's physical appearance is unattractive or "unhealthy." Let's face it, the "for your health" screed really isn't about health. It's code for "but fat people are ugly and you have such a pretty face and if you'd just lose (insert arbitrary amount of weight here) you'd be fuckable." People are going to think what they're going to think. The more enlightened among us check our prejudices and call ourselves out on our bullshit. 

People's bodies are nobody's business but their own. If you feel the urge to insult someone's appearance, whether simply to be hurtful or because you believe you're being "helpful," I suggest taking ten steps in the other direction and going in search of your beeswax elsewhere. Other people's bodies are none of your beeswax.  

Nobody deserves the dawn thoughts I woke up to for decades. Don't be the person who awakens such thoughts in someone else.

Here is some gorgeous background music from Mirror's Edge Catalyst.

Here is the link in case you can't see the player.

https://odysee.com/@GamingAmbience:6/mirror%27s-edge-catalyst-rezoning-combat-3:b?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

But wait, there's more!

Once again, here's the link in case you can't see the player.

https://odysee.com/@GamingAmbience:6/mirror%27s-edge-catalyst-rezoning-combat-2:6?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

Building this post is taking a while. Here's some more background music from Mirror's Edge Catalyst.

Here's the link in case you can't see the player.

https://odysee.com/@GamingAmbience:6/mirror%27s-edge-catalyst-rezoning-gridnode:8?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

November PAD Challenge 2022: Day 14: A Fix-Up Story

 

The Seamstress by Jacob Lawrence 1946

the seamstress takes the patches

she pieces them together

where once there were only scraps

she now has a lovely quilt

a gift for someone she loves

an item to bring comfort

imagination alive

~ornery owl has spoken~

Image by Mikes-Photography from Pixabay

Ornery Owl is digging this unique and colorful owl sculpture.

She may not know art, but she knows what she likes.

notes and prompts

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2022-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-13

Prompt: write an ekphrastic poem. I may keep doing this for several more challenges. Or, you know, the rest of the month.

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2022-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-14

Prompt: Write a (Blank) Story poem. 

The metaphor won't be obvious to anyone but me, so I'll just explain it.

For most of my life, I struggled to become the "right" kind of writer. You know, the kind who writes linear novels. 

It was only within the past couple of years that I discovered the term fix-up novel and realized what I'd been writing all along. 

I can write a linear novelette. Anything beyond that starts sprouting a garden of sub-plots. And you know what, that's absolutely fucking fine. I have no desire to be a novelist-bot. 

I'm still hoping to get my revenge on all the people who told me the way I did things was no good. No, I don't mean stalk them and murder them or even plot to destroy their lives with lies. I'm too lazy, too much of a pacifist, and don't need that kind of bad karma. Besides, even the shittiest human being where I'd start chuckling gleefully if I heard they dropped in a sinkhole may have a family member depending on them or such. I'll leave it to the Powers that May Be to sort that shit out.

Nah, the best revenge would be for one of my books or poetry volumes that doesn't adhere to the rules to be successful. I don't know if this will ever happen, but it would be the best revenge. If at that point, my detractor blows a gasket because they simply can't abide someone who refuses to play by the rules doing well, I'm not going to cry or waste my time going to their funeral. Why should I? Such a person certainly has never wasted a kind thought on me.

I honestly don't know why so many people insist everyone must think the same, create the same way, write the same stuff in the same style, and basically be a carbon copy of someone's idea of a writer. I can think of few things more boring than being a clone of someone's concept of what a writer should be, writing formulaic stories with no heart or soul.

https://imprompt.wordpress.com/2022/11/06/day-6/

Today's colorful masterpiece was created by the African-American artist Jacob Lawrence (September 7, 1917 – June 9, 2000). I did not know about Mr. Lawrence before today, and I think that's a damn shame. People should know about him. I'd enjoy reading a biography. In the meantime, here's the Wikipedia article for the basics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Lawrence

The poem consists of seven non-rhyming lines. Each of the lines has seven syllables. There may already be an existing poetry form calling for seven-syllable lines, but I don't know. In the meantime, I'm calling this form Sevensies. 

Beautiful background music from the Dragon Age soundtrack.

Here's the link in case you can't see the player.

https://odysee.com/@GamingAmbience:6/dragon-age-origins-haven-ambient-themes:a?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

I guess this is what you'll hear if you go hang out at Mikhail's penthouse. Mikhail has good taste in music.

Here's the link in case you can't see the player.

https://odysee.com/@GamingAmbience:6/cyberpunk-2077-fixer%2C-merc%2C-soldier.-spy:e?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

November PAD Challenge 2022: Day 12 + Day 13: The Thirst

 

See the notes at the end of the post

in the past, you sought intoxication

at present, you pray for inspiration

the future will bring no satiation

for the thirst

you've had from birth

the aching need for acceptance

buried in disguise

behind your crystallized eyes

masquerading as addiction

parading wantonly as craving

for the validation you will never find

in or outside of your nefarious mind

in the guise of no god

in the arms of no man

you were born distorted

in the distant past

you will die broken and alone

in days of the future passed

your thirst never quenched

your desires never satiated

nothing was ever enough

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Image by supra from Pixabay

notes and prompts used

I created the image at the top of the post with pixlr.com by superimposing a free-use photo by Christine Sponchia on Pixabay over a photo of a portion of Salvador Dali's 1931 painting, The Dream. 

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2001.34#

Image by Christine Sponchia from Pixabay

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2022-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-12

Prompt: "For today's prompt, write a future poem. The future could mean years into the future, or it could be less than a minute. Or it could be a poem in the past that looks at the future that is still in our current past."

When I was younger, I always wrote about a sci-fi future. When I was in the 5th grade, my class made a quilt to be shared with future students. On my square, I crudely embroidered a flying saucer. The school buried a time capsule that year, and I really and truly thought that when the time capsule was opened in 2000 we would have flying saucers.

The future looks much more dystopian to me from my current vantage point.

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2022-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-13

Prompt: Write an ekphrastic poem. I selected Dali's The Dream.

I've been a fan of Dali's work since childhood.

https://imprompt.wordpress.com/2022/11/05/day-5/

The Prompt:

"Imagine that you are thirsty. I mean really thirsty. I don’t know how that came about, and it may not matter, but you are."

The lines "buried in disguise behind your crystallized eyes" are a nod to the lyrics from one of my favorite songs, Still...You Turn Me On, which was written by the late Greg Lake (10 November 1947 – 7 December 2016) and initially appeared on Emerson, Lake, and Palmer's 1973 album, Brain Salad Surgery. 

The line "in the days of the future passed" is a nod to another of my favorite prog rock bands, The Moody Blues. It references the title of their 1967 album, Days of the Future Passed.

Here are today's soundtracks. We're in the Dragon Age now.

Here's a link in case you can't see the player.

https://odysee.com/@GamingAmbience:6/dragon-age-origins-orzammar-ambient:1?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

So ya liked that crap? Truth be told, I don't care if you did or didn't. I did. So here's another one.

Here's the link in case you can't see the player.

https://odysee.com/@GamingAmbience:6/dragon-age-origins-orzammar-the-proving:9?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

30 Days of Haiga 2022: The House of Dark Dreams

 

Original image

Murmuration by Lee Madgwick

Used with permission of the artist

text

my favorite tales

born in the house of dark dreams

conceived in shadow

notes

I'm grateful for today's prompt from D'Verse Poets, which provided me with the amazing artwork used to create the Haiga.

https://dversepoets.com/2022/09/13/the-strange-houses-of-lee-madgwick/

I'm okay with you using the Haiga if you wish, but you will have to credit both me (Cara Hartley/Ornery Owl) for the digital manipulation, text art, and poem and the original image creator Lee Madgwick. For me, a link back to this blog is acceptable. Here is a link to Mr. Madgwick's website. https://leemadgwick.co.uk/

I used Pixlr.com to create the text art and the decaying effects used on the image.

I've got a few thoughts, but nobody is beholden to stick around for them.

This day started badly. One reason it's hard for people with psychological issues to maintain relationships is that prospective partners think they can fix us, but when depression or anxiety flares up (or never completely leaves) said partner becomes put out that they have not, in fact, fixed us. The trauma that led to my multiple nervous breakdowns occurred 25, 30, 40, or even 50 years ago. I should be over it, especially if I received the wondrous healing love that we're all taught to expect will totally happen if we're worthy of it, right?

I don't have a partner and I won't again. I no longer see this as a failing on my part or see myself as a failure because I just don't do romance right. I am just learning at nearly 60 years old to respect and care for myself. That it is necessary to be coupled to be a complete human being is an erroneous idea that does many people a great disservice. Some of us truly are better off without it.

I also found myself yet again explaining to some know-it-all who totally understands how metabolic health and issues like poverty, stress, and food insecurity work (bask in the sarcasm, I've slathered it on with a trowel) that a "war on Teh Obeesiteee" in which individuals are shamed for their physique and assumed to be constantly shoveling "bad food" into their gobs and never lifting a finger to do anything but play video games is not only ineffective but harmful.

After that, I was just tired and discouraged. Sometimes I tire of explaining reality to dimwits, especially dimwits who want to keep on feeling morally superior for their simple-minded stance on complex issues. I also caught (probably) a cold last week. So I took a nap.

I still felt bad about myself when I woke up from my nap, but as I worked on today's Haiga challenge, I started feeling better. Then I was able to remember something I already know.

Fat is not the worst thing a person can be.

However, being a sanctimonious jerk who shames other people's bodies is bone-headed and boorish.

I'd rather be fat than a boorish bonehead.

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Ornery Owl

Free use image from Open Clipart Vectors

Hangin' with Hangry Wyrm

If you're Hangry--eat!

Free use image from Pixabay

Pooh Bear is My Hero: A Quadrille and Sort of a Sijo

 

Would you believe that I am trying to be more like Pooh?

That willy-nilly silly old bear is my real hero.

Because he’s good-natured even when he’s bothered.

Because he believes that things can get better even when they’re bad.

I love you, Pooh.

~cie~

Day 18: Write an Ekphrastic poem.

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2021-april-pad-challenge-day-18

The picture of Pooh at the top of the poem is a true work of art.

Day 19: Write a poem with an animal in the title.

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2021-april-pad-challenge-day-19

Pooh is a bear, and the word "bear" appears in the title.

Day 20: Write a love poem and/or an anti-love poem.

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2021-april-pad-challenge-day-20

I heart Pooh Bear.

Write a Quadrille (44-word poem) using some form of the word "bother."

https://dversepoets.com/2021/04/19/quadrille-126-come-bother-up-a-poem/

I did.

Day 18: Write a poem using the title of another poem or book chapter.

https://www.napowrimo.net/day-eighteen-7/

I didn't do this.

Day 19: Write a humorous rant.

https://www.napowrimo.net/day-nineteen-6/

A lot of things grind my gears, but I didn't write about them. I wrote about wanting to be more like Pooh, who has a healthier approach to being bothered than I do.

Day 20: Write a Sijo.

https://www.napowrimo.net/day-twenty-8/

A Sijo is a Korean poetry form. Like the haiku, it has three lines, but the lines are much longer. Typically, they are 14-16 syllables, and optimally each line will consist of two parts – like two sentences, or a sentence of two clauses divided by a comma. In terms of overall structure, a sijo functions like an abbreviated sonnet, in that the first line sets up an inquiry or discussion, the second line continues the discussion, and the third line resolves it with a “twist” or surprise.

Well...

All of my lines except for the last one have between 14 and 16 syllables. The lines don't have two parts and there are five lines. So, this is sort of a Sijo but probably not really.

This is something that's neither here nor there, and I never thought the day would come when I'd hear myself say it, but I kind of like getting up early. I was always a "crack of noon" person in my earlier life, which is why I tended to work night shifts. Maybe no longer being a slave to a time clock has something to do with it.

The Icky, Sticky, Nit-Picky Legalese If You Please (Or Don't Please)

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NaPoWriMo 2020 Day 6 + April PAD Challenge Day 6 + April PAD Countdown Catch-Up Day 4: Trap

Lying loose and limp without a thought

That anything might do me harm

Between powerful jaws I was helplessly caught

My heart exploded with alarm

Basking in the sunlight's sultry charm

Suddenly with peril I was fraught

By unexpected assault was I disarmed 

Lying loose and limp without a thought

Every caution I'd been taught

Went hazy in the spring day's charm

To my detriment, I'd full forgot

That anything might do me harm

I had no defenses to rearm

A docile, helpless forest tot

My spirit quivered with alarm

Between powerful jaws I was helplessly caught

A simple lesson can be taught

From my fatal fall to harm

My last moments were with terror fraught

My heart exploded with alarm

The sweet spring day has lost its charm

Bones picked clean and left to rot

No elegy or call to arms

For prey animals by predators caught

Lying loose and limp

~cie~

notes

NaPoWriMo: Write a poem from the point of view of one person/animal/thing from Hieronymous Bosch’s famous (and famously bizarre) triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights.

April PAD Challenge Day 6: Write a "trap" poem.

April PAD Countdown Catch-Up Day 4: Write an elegy

Poetry Style: Rondeau Redouble