#AandIPoetryChallenge: October 2018 – Etheree - Dis Ekke
Posted by HesterLeyNel on 2018-10-16 27 Comments
Free image obtained from Pixabay
October prompt: Write a poem to, or about, your future self. How might you see yourself, or your life, in ten years time?
Since I am already fairly advanced in years, I sometimes ponder what my life will be like in another decade or two. One thing that I am very sure of is that I would like to retain my sense of humour and my love of life. Without these qualities, life would be very boring indeed.
For my poetic discussion with my future self, I decided to try my hand at an Etheree. This poetry form was developed by a lady poet named Etheree Taylor Armstrong from Arkansas, USA.
The Etheree consists of 10 lines with syllables graduating from one to ten: the first line is one word only, the second line two words, and so on, until you get to the last line which has 10 syllables. The lines are Unrhymed and have no Meter.
One can get very creative with an Etheree, for instance reversing the syllable order, starting with ten words in the first line and ending with a monosyllable. I wrote more than one verse, starting with the 1/10 syllable count in Afrikaans and reversing the Etheree in the second verse to the 10/1 syllable count in the second verse for my English translation.
By using centre alignment for my lines, I attained a neat diamond form, but this poem, of course, does not qualify as a diamante poem (diamante is a seven-line diamond-shaped poem that follows a specific pattern wherein each line a different part of speech is used).
If I chose to do so, I could have started with the reversed Etheree which would have resulted in an hourglass form.
Fun, isn’t it? I hope you enjoy the poem.
JONK VAN BINNE
jy sal lyk
jare van nou
jou vel vol plooie
jou rug geboog en styf
jou knieë te stram vir buig
dof van sig en hard van gehoor
maar hoop’lik daar binne waar dit tel
sal jy nog steeds huppel en spring en juig
surely you will still skip and jump with joy
deep inside where things really matter
despite weak’ning sight and hearing
those knees that refuse to bend
back bowed and stiff with age
and your wrinkled skin
but years from now
Jy het ons vorentoe tweetalig vasgevat. Dis briljant.💐💐💐💐
Dankie maatjie 😄
Dis sowaar briljant….soos my man altyd sê “Nie eers ek sou dit kon doen nie.”
Hahaha, inderdaad ‘n kompliment, dankie 🤣
Ek kan my inderdaad nie indink dat die Hester van Helsdingen wat ek ken ooit oud sal act nie.
Nee, ek sal maar disgracefully oud word 😃 dankie vir die inloer Abrie.
Nee genade Hester, nou het ek nie meer woorde nie. Dis so goed gedoen!!!
Dankie Unatjie 😊
Sjoe dit is Fantasties geskryf!
Dankie Sonell 😊
Oh I do like it, Hester. There is a feeling of overall vibrancy, zest for life and hopefulness emanating from the poem. The diamond shape adds to the visual appeal and is particularly suited to our bilingual poetry challenge.
Thank you Amanda, I am glad you like it 😊
Jou ou doring. As dit nie vir jou was noe sou my belangstelling lankal opgedroog het om te probeer dig. Dis nou briljant. It flows so easily from Afrikaans into English. I’m also going to try this the coming weekend(Long weekend here). Dankie vir jou bydrae ek waardeer dit baie.
Dankie Ineke, ek was ‘n bietjie benoud toe ek met hierdie uitdaging van jou en Amanda begin het, want gedigte was vir my ‘n vreemde media om in te skryf. Ek het nooit geweet ek gaan dit so baie geniet nie.
Dit wys jou ook dat sodra mens meer weet van n onderwerp dit makliker is om iets te probeer. Dis ook makliker om nie te probeer as om dit n kans te gee.
Ek dink dat om n nuwe uitdaging aan te pak maak die lewe die moeite werd. Hoe sal jy weet of jou iets kan doen of geniet as jy nie n proeseltjie proe nie.
Dis waar Ineke. Ons het so pas daaroor gepraat n.a.v. Christa se blog (volg jy haar? – lees gerus hier) https://christainthailand.wordpress.com/2018/10/17/hier-is-drake-bly-weg/
Ek het gou gaan lees. Baie interessant. Mens is tog maar altyd uit om avonture te ondervind. Sommer by Christa ingeboek ook. Dankie vir die aanbeveling.
My plesier. Sy skryf regtig baie interessante artikels.
Lyk so! Selfs haar kommentare is ook interessant.
This is so clever, Hester. Well done.
Thank you Robbie. One can learn wonderful things on google 😄
Uistekend Hester! Ek glo jy sal beslis altyd huppel en spring
Dankie, ek hoop so, want anders gaan die lewe darem baie vervelig word.