/https://public-media.si-cdn.com/filer/5a/2a/5a2abdb4-3b55-4438-9bc8-491888296bad/michael_wolgemut_-_dance_of_death_-_wga25860.jpg)
she reads the last few pages of the book,
a tale of high adventure ev’ry page,
vicarious indulgence, what it took;
done to distract her thinking from its rage
exciting tales of bravery and hope
where villains die and heroes conquer all
no need to weep and in the darkness grope
eat, drink, be merry, maskless for the ball
we’re dancing dead to mortis’ rigored squall.
image: “Death Dance Macabre” (artist unknown)
Laura is today’s host for dVerse’ Meet the Bar. Laura says:
Since today is the 9th of the 9th month it is fitting for that numeral to inform today’s poetry form – so let’s meet The Novelinee!
Your novelinee poem can be just one nine-line stanza (do not split it!)
OR
you may choose to write several stanzas in this form (an open novelinee)
OR
you might like the two stanza closed novelinee form, in which the beginning line of the first stanza is mirrored at the end of the second stanza, whilst the last line of the first stanza is reflected in the first line of the second stanza
Tao Talk 
Excellent! I am in awe of you poets!
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Dale, you make me smile. Thank you ❤
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So glad I do 😉
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If only reality could be more like the adventures in the book… but in reality it’s more complicated I think
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the dans macabre goes so well along with your rhymes – but don’t forget #9 is also a d rhyme!!
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Thanks, Laura. I just edited it. Let me know what you think.
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good one Lisa!
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🙂 Thanks, Laura.
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“Maskless at the ball” a very on-point part of our current danse macabre.
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Alexandra, thanks and yes it is 😦
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Yeah, the masklessness of that line jumped out at me, too. Awesome work Lisa.
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Wow, this is very cool.
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Thanks, BSS.
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Lisa,
We do need our distractions these days! And thank God for them. Or else we would wake up to “mortis’ rigored squall”. Brilliant.
pax,
dora
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Dora, yes we do. Full frontal reality is a bit too much these days for me. Thank you for reading and your comment.
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Yes indeed. Within the seriousness of this pandemic are those of the dancing dead.
Much💖love
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Thank you, Gillena. I wish it wasn’t so 😦
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Fantastic take on the prompt Li.
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Sadje, thank you ❤
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You’re welcome ☺️
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Its nice to have fun and be merry. Still it would be a firght to dance dead to mortis’ rigored squall.
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Thanks, Grace, I agree.
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What an interesting poem Lisa. The dance of death we read about may just be our own!
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Dwight, thank you. It may just be.
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You are welcome!
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Ms. Lisa, you picked such difficult rhyming schemes and pull it off perfectly. love this line: done to distract her thinking from its rage
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Ms. Rosema, thank you for your generous comment ❤
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always, Ms. Lisa!
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🙂 ❤
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Most excellent, Lisa … and rather grim! 🙂
❤
David
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When half of the hospital staff my son works with signed a “religious waiver” so they don’t have to get the vaccine, the pediatric ward is at capacity, the whole state of Michigan is in the red zone for Delta variant risk, and my son and his wife are doing their best to keep their infant daughter from catching covid, yes, it’s rather grim. Thanks for reading and your comment, David.
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I’m fascinated by Danse Macabre and the whole medieval attitude towards death: certainly, getting engrossed in a good book is one way to distract ourselves from its inevitability 🙂
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Thank you very much, Ingrid. Reading and writing are great distractions.
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Reading as distraction is something I definitely do (and no one else with a mask on at my library yesterday!) Danse Macabre is perfect.
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Thank you very much, Merril ❤
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You’re very welcome, Lisa!
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Sometimes I think we could still be in the Middle Ages …
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Marion, I can see where you might feel that way sometimes.
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I survived my first dance with Covid…would rather not dance with the variant. This poem packs a message, Lisa!
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Lynn, thank you. So sorry you got Covid, and so happy you lived through it.
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Thanks, Lisa…me too!
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❤
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This is chilling Lisa, and well written. The longer this plague goes on, and the higher the level of denial and ignorance climbs, thr more concerned I become. I firmly believe we have not seen the final variant. This bug is outrunning us. We may have met the harbinger of the end time for human beings.
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Thank you. Rob, I think you’re right. I heard yesterday that numbers are up to what they were last March at the big spike. Biden is stepping up but not enough. America will be imprisoned by this pandemic as no sane country should let us travel to it. I also heard about its endless developing variants. Maybe Mother Nature is saying enough is enough.
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deep sadness, some fun, awesome writing …
love your theme, rhymes and oh my, that last line!
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Thank you, Kate.
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a real pleasure Lisa, praying the situation eases for your grandie!
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❤ thanks
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Ooooh! I say, msjadeli, that took a dark little turn at the end there! I was all hopeful at “no need to weep and in the darkness grope” then I got to “we’re dancing dead to mortis’ rigored squall” and thought goodness me, where am I?! I need to leave this party! 😀 You’re giving me Halloween vibes already ❤
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Thanks much for reading and your comment, Sunra. I’m just getting warmed up for Halloween.
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Cheery! Death in dance rhythm 🙂
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Thanks, dear. Good to remember for my next death poem 🙂
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I’m sure there’ll be more 🙂
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Wow…”we’re dancing dead to mortis’ rigored squall” Now THAT is a cool line!
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Thank you! You can thank Laura for suggesting I change the last word, which was song, so I did, to squall. I like it so much better. Thank you, Laura ❤
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Well Thanks Laura! lol… that is fantastic…I could see that being in a Dylan song easy
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