A Trio of Verses

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Put all your faith in poets. You will find few others to share Beauty with you; and it cannot be borne alone. ~Christopher Morley, American journalist, novelist, essayist, and poet

The Toad:

There once was a toad so black
With warts upon his back
He hopped around
With nary a sound
Looking for something to snack.

The Cicada:

Cicadas seem to have vanished
Into the sunset, or wherever they go,
Crawling deep into the earth’s underground
And hibernating for several decades.
Don’t worry, they’ll be back eventually
And announce their presence with loud fanfare!

The Stag Beetle:

When

I was

Out walking

The Monk, we saw

This immense beetle

Chilling on the sidewalk.

I stopped to get his picture.

Shivering at getting too close

To his wicked pincers and finding

Myself captured by those strong mandibles.

Note: First poem is a Limerick; second is Acrostic; third is Etheree.

31 thoughts on “A Trio of Verses”

  2. Great photos and fun words to go with them! I don’t think I’ve ever tried my hand at writing a limerick. (My favorite is about the fellow from Yuma…)
    I’ll have to look up the third form you shared.

    • Kelly, I encourage you to give Limerick-writing a try! As an Irish gal, I find the rhythm and rhyme appeal to me — and I love finding the quirkiness in the message. Here’s a link on Etherees — they’re fun to write, too!

      • I have a lot of Irish ancestors myself, so I’ll see what I can come up with! Thanks for the link on Etherees. I’m off to check it out…

      • How about that! The Etheree has Arkansas connections! I guess I’m too old for it to have been a thing when I was in school. I like it, though, and might have to give it a try.

        • I actually went to Etheree’s home town to try and get more information about her. I got run out of the cemetery where she’s buried by some free-roaming dogs, and no one at the school or library knew much about her, or the poetry form. I did learn that her brother played Santa Claus for the town every year!

        • Oh, do, Kelly! I was a bit leery over it at first (I don’t consider myself a poet!), but I’ve grown very fond of it. Probably something about its structure that appeals to me.

    • Thank you, Barbara, for indulging my silliness this morning! I suppose I could’ve written a single post for each of these critters, but I was pretty impatient to get them off my camera. There’s a bit of an ewww factor on seeing that Stag Beetle, ha!

  4. Debbie, I love all THREE of these! As I’ve shared many times before, you are beyond clever with your poetry. I so admire the way you use words!

    Also, these three photographs are stellar. The detail you capture of the Cicada is awesome!

    Have a faaaaaaaabulous Sunday, my friend! And the Monk too! X

    • Ron, you make me blush! Thanks for your kind words. I love it when something I write is appreciated, and I can’t be serious all the time!!

      Isn’t that Cicada amazing? It looks like somebody gently put some paint on his back. And just look at his delicate wings!

      The Stag Beetle, frankly, gives me the creeps. I remember having to capture one of these for my insect collection back in the day — and I wasn’t any braver then than I am now!!

      Happy Sunday to you. We’ve got rain — and a lovely cold front. Should feel splendid this week! xx

    • Dawn, Monk never seemed interested in that toad either, and I think that’s a good thing. Some of them can make a pup sick; others can poison them to death. Yikes! I guess they have a pungent odor that even a curious Monkey doesn’t want to mess with. Good for Penny!!

  8. That’s one beautiful cicada! I’m rather fond of them, and especially of that droning sound that’s such a part of summer. I’ve never seen a stag beetle; the etheree captures my feelings about it rather well. And of course, who doesn’t love a limerick? “There once was a poet named Deb/who clearly was very well read/she’d penned several lines/without struggling for rhyme/until she gave up and went off to bed!”

    • Oh, well done, Linda — thank you!! Nobody’s ever written a Limerick just for me … and I love it!! Best present I’ve gotten all day … and it’s not even my birthday!

  9. Love the variety in the poems! Ugh, that cicada is a scary looking beast – I’m pretty sure it’s an alien invader! Thank goodness it chose to invade the US rather than Scotland… 😉

    • I’m sorry, TD, that my little scary critters met with your disapproval. They *are* pretty creepy, aren’t they? At least the Monk leaves them alone (he probably doesn’t care much for big bugs either!)

    • I don’t think it was me! I’ve been hoping we’d have one though. Did I say I was going to host?? If I did, I’m sure it was before my mom passed away and I got stuck in all these estate-details. Maybe next year??

      • It could be that it wasn’t even you that Robin told me would do it this year. After all, that was a year ago that we (she and I) discussed it. I have no problem doing it. You and I an post about how it works, I’ll do that next week…will pick a date near or at the end of October so that maybe we’ll have some color…and we’ll see how it goes! I love Walktober!

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