Laura is the host of dVerse today. Laura says:
The Challenge therefore is to CHOOSE ONE of the extracts of [Laurie Lee’s] prose … and with your own alchemy, turn it into poetry.
I chose to follow your tips, Laura, and used unexpected adjectives in a quatrain form with 9-syllable lines (one has 10) ABCB rhyme scheme. I chose the first passage to use for inspiration, shown below:
“I had never been so close to grass before. It towered above me and all around me, each blade tattooed with tiger-skins of sunlight. It was knife-edge, dark and a wicked green, thick as a forest and alive with grasshoppers that chirped and chattered, and leapt through the air like monkeys” (Cider with Rosie)
Anchored like Gulliver first awake
Worm-like wiggling, my iced limbs blocked still
Tinkling cries where strained eyes could not fall
Bull frog called to each lung and each gill
Statued, ’twas peasy to climb my peaks
Ordered they clumped, green and ripe alike
To learn how slab-me was to be split
‘Twixt air, land, and water this hare moon’s night
Junebugs perched on the ramp of my nose
Minnows swam ‘tween my teeth, under tongue
Vain butterflies, my brow’s balcony
Spiders’ silk hammocks on my ears hung
Mice, rabbits, and snakes took my lowlands
Birds and butterflies, teats and belly
As reps moth, frog, and catfish decide
How to dish out my human jelly.
Please note I’m also linking this to the quatrain Mr. Linky.
Tao Talk 
Wow! I loved that 🙂 The third stanza was magnificent. Well done
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Thank you so much, Christine. It was a strange one to write but it was what was spelled out.
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I tried…not sure I got it right though 🙂
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Well done! I like the thoughts of human jelly.
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Toni, thanks! I had no idea it was headed there, but there it is.
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you have immersed yourself in the wildlife in a wonderfully wild and imaginative way – as Lee’s child in the grass saw things too – that first stanza is excellent and sets the vivid scene and the dash of unexpected adjective is sheer enjoyment:
“Vain butterflies, my brow’s balcony
Spiders’ silk hammocks on my ears hung”
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Laura, so glad you enjoyed it. It alighted with Lee’s inspiration and your assistance <3 Thank you!
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Personified Jelly ha ha
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:)
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First the flesh and bones become jelly, and then dust, unless we choose to embrace fire, and reduce our husk to ash.
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I want to be buried in a bio bag, under a tree seedling, on a hill in the woodlands.
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What a truly imaginative poem Jade- I love it!
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Thanks Linda :)
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Excellent piece Jade. love the Hare’s moon reference. ;-) btw, tagged you for imagination plantation should you desire to participate.
https://wideeyedwanderingspoonie.wordpress.com/2019/06/25/imagination-plantation-a-hullaballu/
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Thanks JP. I wrote to that picture yesterday.
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You certainly weaved a wonderful poem from blades of grass!
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Thanks, True :)
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Wow! Very imaginatively done, Li. 🙂
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Thank you, Punam. It kind of took on a life of its own.
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Some poems do! You are welcome.
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Scary!
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It would be for the helpless person for sure! I just thought of a person as a bug that gets paralyzed like a spider paralyzes a fly.
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A different perspective :)
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I appreciate your open-mindedness, Reena <3
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This is about going back to nature—literally! I could feel all those sensations.
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Thanks, Jane. It’s Laurie Lee’s fault! ;)
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I had to read Cider with Rosie at school. It was made into a film too, very soft focus. He’s a very English writer.
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I love the selections presented by Laura last night and plan on looking up more of his work.
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My husband read all of his books. Started off enjoying them but he wasn’t entirely convinced by his Spanish Civil War book.
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What would you recommend as a first book to read?
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Cider with Rose. That’s about his childhood in First World War rural England.
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Spiders’ silk hammocks – what a pearl, as is the poem.
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Thanks Paul. Glad you like it.
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I did! :)
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:) It’s like a Gulliver’s Travels gone wrong.
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Yes, but that makes sense :)
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Green River, I can hear the bullfrog calling me.
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Indeed!
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Yes, Gulliver’s Travels gone wrong! I found it disturbing, Lisa…you used adjectives and imagery too well.
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I agree with you, Lynn. I had such a bad nightmare last night and it was connected to the poem!
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Yikes!
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“human jelly” reminds me of the time my daughter sliced open her chin and said “Mum! I can see my meat! ”
Such a good read <3
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OMG that cracked me up. Oh the wondrous list of experiences each parent goes through while raising up their children <3
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I love the way you become part of nature here… many many great lines.
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So glad you enjoyed where the passage took me. It was quite a ride! Thank you, Bjorn.
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I love how nature takes over all things. Enjoyed the rhyming verses of your quatrian.
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Grace, thank you.
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Wow Lisa! A wonderful Bosch-esque tale. It was ooey-gooey awesome! Really liked it!
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Rob thank you! Ooey-gooey is a good way to describe it, and yes, could see a Bosch with this theme.
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Very nice last two lines.
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Frank, thank you very much.
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Great immersion here. (K)
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Thank you, Kerfe, I did get “into” it.
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Beautifully crafted, especially the rhythm and rhymes!
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Frank, thank you very much and am glad you liked it.
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My pleasure! :)
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