Tomorrow I have a dentist appointment and haven’t been feeling too good anyhow, so thought I would post tonight. Here are a few more elfchen poems for your reading pleasure (with a few slight poetry form rule breaks lol):
1.
Woosh!
Down the
electric slide feet
first and head banging.
Rock on!
2.
Captivating,
moonlight glinting
off a rocky
ocean shoreline, lonesome
yet ephemeral
3.
Projection
please stop
blaming others for
your own bad ideas –
evolve
Not many 10-year-olds
could be hit
by a speeding
delivery truck
while crossing the street
and live
to tell the tale…
but I always was
a weird statistic.
The truck ran
me over
with the ease
of a speed bump.
I even had the
tire tracks
and imbedded gravel
across my stomach
to prove it.
When I woke up
in the ER
I screamed out the names
of all the people
I was going to sue…
until my mother
bought my silence by
bribing me
with the promise
of a brand new
Barbie doll.
(Poetry by Maranda Russell, marandarussell.com)
Recently I discovered Elfchen poems, which are 5-line poems that follow this pattern:
Line 1 – 1 word
Line 2 – 2 words
Line 3 – 3 words
Line 4 – 4 words
Line 5 – 1 word (different than the first line word)
It is also common to take the last word of someone else’s Elfchen poem to start off your own new one.
Here are several of my first tries with this poetic genre:
1.
Always
means never
when you live
in an unstable world,
alone.
2.
Stronger
and yet
weakness creeps in
settles on the edge,
waiting.
3.
Unsaid
the words
lie firmly under
your tongue in cheek,
bitter.
I’m a paper doll
with third degree burns.
Dress me up,
make me pretty,
and please, simply ignore
all the raw, peeling flesh
falling onto the floor.
(Poetry by Maranda Russell, marandarussell.com)
I wish you could see
the spectre of depression
haunting my days…
dragging his knuckles
through the miry muck
and leaving a trail
of icy numbness behind.
(Poetry by Maranda Russell, marandarussell.com)
Ask me for my number
and I’ll give you
my IQ.
(Poetry by Maranda Russell, marandarussell.com)
Master of Time
By: Maranda Russell
Make the closed circuits
and tinker with the channels.
Embrace the metal of your own making
as well as that of the Gods.
Hold the pocket watch of eternity
in your shaking hands
and watch as time
starts to run backwards.
Today is the past,
yesterday, the future.
This little poem was inspired by a middle grade book series called “Malice” by Chris Wooding. I liked the world that was created, and decided to capture just a bit of it in poetry (my favorite line is the “mushroom lamps” one):
Malice
By: Maranda Russell
Take the evening train
into the cavernous abyss.
Light up the darkness
with your mushroom lamps
and a fist full
of round trip tickets.
A Bit of Lewis Carroll Nonsense
By: Maranda Russell
The serious ones
and the bonkers ones
are rare birds
telling tales of
biscuits and chewed pencils
served with curry
and elegance –
a feast
which you can chew on
for ten whole years.
