The Friday Fling Holds a Quaternament!
Friday Fling #214 for January 11th 2013
Now that most of us are more or less stuck indoors a lot, we thought it would be a good time to do some format learning. No recommended topic this week, this week the Fling will topically wing it. But we wanted to suggest a format you could write in on a topic of your choice.
It’s one we have never done on the Fling before, partly because it is a longer format and a bit challenging, thus, as ShadowPoetry.com notes:
Quatern
A Quatern is a sixteen line French form composed of four quatrains. It is similar to the Kyrielle and the Retourne. It has a refrain that is in a different place in each quatrain. The first line of stanza one is the second line of stanza two, third line of stanza three, and fourth line of stanza four. A quatern has eight syllables per line. It does not have to be iambic or follow a set rhyme scheme.
line 1
line 2
line 3
line 4
line 5
line 6 (line 1)
line 7
line 8
line 9
line 10
line 11 (line 1)
line 12
line 13
line 14
line 15
line 16 (line 1)
Example #1:True Love, Redefined
One day she hopes true love to find,
One soul, one mind, two hearts entwined;
Somewhere out there’s the perfect guy,
For Youth has set her standards high.
He must be rich, handsome, refined,
One day she hopes true love to find;
Yet no one seems to measure up
And disappointment fills her cup.
The years go by, her nights grow long,
Her aging voice sings sorrow’s song.
One day she hopes true love to find,
Her definition redefined;
Simply a plain and faithful friend
To see her to life’s journey’s end;
For though her face with age be lined,
One day she hopes true love to find.
Copyright © 2003 Linda Newman
Example #2:Behold Your Son
Woman, woman behold your son,
In manger lies the Holy One.
Wondrous star in heaven aglow,
Christ the babe in swaddling clothes.
In desert heat, the baptized one,
Woman, woman behold your son.
Satan tempting the Great High Priest,
Son of Man resists fallen beast.
Athirst for blood a vicious mob,
Curses the Christ as he is flogged.
Woman, woman behold your son,
Condemned to die, the wounded one.
Beneath the cross, a loving pair,
Christ gives his mother to John’s care.
Says to Mary, his last breath drawn,
Woman, woman, behold your son.
Copyright © 2006 James Dupy
This week the Friday Fling takes a sharp Quatern to a new (to us) and challenging format!
Be sure to save time to read and comment for all quaternity on your fellow Pals’ poetic productions. Then enjoy a weekend where the merriment just won’t quat – er quit!
Fickle Finger of Fate Award for January 4th
Congratulations Angel Love!
I had no idea what pics to decorate this challenge with, so here are a few of my favorite photos from my family album, which may or may not stir your own muse.








Welcome everyone to the Friday Fling’s Quaternament challenge! Pull up an eight beat line or 13 and try your hand at this long but not really so difficult format, which does not need to rhyme and can be on any topic of interest to you! All you need to create is a baker’s dozen of lines, since one is repeated three times. We’ll be patient, especially since helping Bettie with last night’s challenge this week and writing two poems for it, I’m still working on my own Quatern! I hope you enjoy this challenge!
Got Ice Cream?
~~
Ice cream pleasing and so yummy
On my face so sticky, scummy
Melting fast and tasting so sweet
I’ll share with you this creamy treat
~~
Satisfying to my tummy
Ice cream pleasing and so yummy
A vanilla scoop in a cup
I’ll try and save some for my pup
~~
Smeared all over around my mouth
Dripping so fast and going south
Ice cream pleasing and so yummy
Needing cleaned up by my mummy
~~
Another scoop would please me much
And sticky on the things I touch
Making everything so gummy
Ice cream pleasing and so yummy
~~
Michelle R King
1-10-13
I will be back tomorrow. I have to get up at 4:00 am so it’s my bedtime now! Have fun and I’ll be back! Nighty night all! :love: Sorry I missed you tonight (((Bob))) I hope to catch up with you sometime soon! :love: :love:
My attempt at the Quatern form not the best but tried me did ..
~
MY QUITE TIME
*~*
Quiet time for my soul to be see
Is when I write my heart to be
I write to ease my feelin for thee
On a blink space paper and are computer be
~
Rememberin all lifes of me and other be
Quite time for my soul to be see
Thoughts of present past and future
My heart content I do sometimes go astray
~
I await the words to come be
But most times the words are already there
Quite time for my soul to be see
As nights turns days I am there with thee
~
All my hearts dreams comes true
Still I wonder just when awaken no we
To be found in my dreams are sleep found
Quite time for my soul to be see
*~*
Written By: Bettie Davis ————————– © January 1o , 2o13
FAMILY JEWELS
Family means the world to me;
A loving wife and daughters three.
All four grandboys are very dear
I hope my love for them is clear.
While sometimes I wish I was free,
family means the world to me.
Daughters’ children are my grandsons
fun even when they act like Huns.
The youngest daily does surprise,
though much too young to realize
family means the world to me
or that in him myself I see.
Older brother the math marvel,
bonafide genius larval.
Pray both as adults I get to see.
Family means the world to me.
Quatern Copyright January 10th 2013 RGD
Archived image unavailable
OPEN SPACES
Echoing through the open space,
memories thought forever lost.
Sweet children having fun at play,
their laughter sometimes brings a tear.
Joyful as I listen to them,
echoing through the open space.
Birds soaring so high in the sky,
their joyous songs filling my heart.
Delighting me in what I hear,
each time I listen, sound sublime
echoing through the open space
as listen carefully I must.
In joyful silence hearing them,
the song in my heart I must sing.
All treasures each and ev’ry one
Echoing through the open space.
(c) barbara kausteklis
Archived image unavailable
JUST LONG ENOUGH
Stopping here just long enough
to reflect upon sweet Nature’s soul
on a morning that beckons so softly to me
within the quiet of morning’s first light.
A new day emerges from the dark of night,
stopping here just long enough,
to reveal what this new morning holds
within the rays of the sun’s early glow.
And on this morning, as if still in a dream,
I inhale the scene that fills my heart,
stopping here just long enough
as Nature’s soul envelops me.
And as it fills my morning’s view,
peace settles upon my own soul,
once more revived by Nature’s touch,
stopping here just long enough.
(c) barbara kausteklis 1-11-13
Great writes by all with thumbs up left…too drained to comment…but here is my attempt at this format. 🙂 :love: :love: :love: