The Bop is one of my favorite poetry forms. It’s something I discovered last year during the poetry marathon, although I’m going to warn you, it’s on the longer side.
This is the only formal poetry prompt that is part of the Marathon. We always do one per year.
The Bop was developed by Afaa Michael Weaver at a Cave Canem summer retreat a number of years ago.
There are three stanzas. Each stanza is followed by a refrain (so the same statement is repeated three times).
The first stanza is 6 lines long and presents a problem. The second stanza is eight lines long, and can explore or expand the problem. The third stanza is 6 lines long, and can either present a solution or document a failed attempt to resolve the issue.
sample?
I’m sorry! There was one linked (and it even shows up on the back end but not the front).
Made up something. Not sure if I did it right. I do like samples, though. Especially for those I don’t really “get”.
agreed, I swear I spent the first 20 minutes of this hour looking for a sample
I’m sorry! There was one linked (and it even shows up on the back end but not the front).
A bop poem
Where the Music
By Sandy Lender
Someone had prayed for peace on Earth, God bless them,
But prayed without specificity
Thus we awoke in July to silence outdoors
Spotify stopped, the airwaves dropped, Pandora closed her box
With Hope locked trembling inside
As if waiting for a measure of sanity to release her
We looked for the answer in three, four time
While timpani drums throbbed to a different beat
Our children wept in fear at the solitude, the absence
Song, melody, harmony, tonal blending gone
We’d crushed beauty fully
Muffled it with our hateful shouting
Overpowered the hum of the bees, the thrum of Mother Earth
With incessant complaint and discord
Recognizing our imbalance after a cleansing plague
Left us with only obscene screams
We looked for the answer in three, four time
While timpani drums throbbed to a different beat
We took our sons and daughters home
To teach them sense and love again
No matter the personal definition
No matter the political affiliation
We sought the sweet sound of songbirds
To offer sustenance for our souls
We looked for the answer in three, four time
While timpani drums throbbed to a different beat
very well done. I’m kinda terrified now ngl, but it’s also hopeful.
Aww…TY mhickok…the good thing is it doesn’t have to rhyme!!!! 🙂
Thank you that was beautiful and deep.
TY, Santosha. I’m still figuring out how to find/respond to comments, so thank you for yours! I hope the marathon is giving us all good word-flow!
Thank you Santosha,
I really saw this in panoramic perspective to what is happening world-wide as well as in the deep portals of a mindset also beset with questions and answers that cannot be resolved in this moment in time. Thank you for your grace in expressing this so poignantly.
Seventh Solstise
She left him there
Alone with memories of
What could have been
Alone with fantasies of
What he thought he’d had
She left him again
And he cried
He cried
She whispered in his ear
Paper-thin remnants of
The sweet nothings
She used to wrap and
Give to those before him
She left him there
Alone with his thoughts
And he cried
He cried
She returned to his side
To ask him
For a third “here goes nothing”
But he was already picking up
His own pieces
No room left for her, this time
And she cried
She cried