merry meet & merry part

Dear Fellow Bard or Word-Lover,

Here you find a smattering of my poetry, often written in common measure. I compulsively wrote 300 poems over the last three years.

'Be still. A heart cannot heal fast.
Observe mine shifting hands.
A changing mind whose growth will last,
Must swim a tide of sands.'

Poetry helped me make sense of a traumatic ten year relationship, the divorce, my banishment from shattered communities, isolation borne from broken friendships, horrible injuries, disability, surgeries— and then, the slow growing seed of my new, different life; armed with the will and wisdom to mend hope, protect myself, and love again.

My poems await, perched in the trees,
Foul-feathered, patience gone.
They roost on branches, brave the breeze,
But dare not fly til dawn.

These poems have been collected into a book: “Merry Meet and Merry Part” is a guide through aging and timing, luck and loss, hope and rage— all the happy tragedies of life and love, following a philosophical thread; reuniting hardship with stoicism, without losing care and joy.

“Merry Meet & Merry Part”, launched on Kickstarter in October 2023. If you missed that little quest— worry not! Preorders are now open from my Etsy shop, and I hope to ship in the new year. ♥︎

In the mean time, enjoy the array of petit fours below, and I hope to add more here when time allows.

Merry meet!
Aimee

ps— all my writings are copyright Aimee Wood, but please feel free to share my poetry where you will, as long as my name and a link here is included. For commercial use, please contact me for arrangements.

pps— here is the RSS feed for this poetry blog. I do not send emails or letters for these poems, so an RSS reader is the only way to get notified of a new poem here. For apple users, I recommend NetNewsWire, “It’s like podcasts — but for reading.” I use it to follow many artists on many indie sites.

Common Meter in Common Meter

The following is a playful introduction to writing poems in the Common Meter (or Metre or Measure), written in the common meter! Please enjoy, and share where you wish.

My dear adventurers, it’s me!
My name is Aimee Wood.
Today let’s speak of poetry—
The awful and the good.

Specifically I’d like to chat,
About the common poem.
The beat of iambic format,
Is where I’ve made my home.

This cadence and the rhymes within,
Historically well tred—
From Shakespeare to dear Dickinson,
With ease this prose is read.

To memorize we oft prefer,
The power of the rhyme.
From toddler to the theater,
A mind minds best in time.

So let’s dissect the common mete,
We’ll start with the iamb.
Two syllables, a pair, with beat—
Like this, or that, kablam!

Next link your iambs in a row,
Like I am doing now.
Split words if needed, let them flow,
Then make it rhyme somehow!

The common common scheme is thus—
Eight six and eight and six.
With syllables you’ll make a fuss,
Let iambs be your bricks.

Inflect, my dear! Each second stressed,
And mind it’s all well tuned.
Lines odd and even rhyme when pressed,
And blooms grow best when pruned.

Used well by both the great and small,
The common puts at ease.
Of course, it may not top them all,
But seldom does displease.

The common measure remains my favorite, and my book of three hundred poems, “Merry Meet & Merry Part”, is written exclusively in this lovely lilt.

Permalink to this post, with embedded recording.

Aimee WoodNovember 13, 2023Comment