I’ve found an amazing group of poets at Carrot Ranch.com where every third Monday of the month, I host the Double Ennead Challenge as a guest at the Saddle Up Saloon.

Follow the link to the challenge.

What’s a double ennead? The Double Ennead comprises five lines with a syllable count of 6/5/11/6/5, (33 SYLLABLES per stanza) 3 STANZAS EACH = 99 SYLLABLES, NO MORE, NO LESS! Punctuation and rhyme schemes are optional and up to the poet.

I asked the poets to use the image above to compose their double ennead poem.

Here are the poems from the 2/15/2021 challenge:

Changing Fate’s Strings
(Of Things That Burrow) / Double Ennead


Sacred sleep is disturbed
In hare burrows, too
A Princess wakes from images of spring Paris…
By little fragments of
Broken mage mirrors


Thorns of roses cut deep
Then accumulate
In torrents of raven shadow, embody
The treacle of princes
Unwilling to budge


Their harsh oeillade visions;
Whatsoever they
Find they think they can rightfully claim as theirs –
Be strong, fool winters’ hounds!
Change the story’s end!

Jules

RISE, SPRING SUN


Winter slinks into view,
a wily stranger
from the unforgiving east, a weather feast
alighting on the land,
suffering shadows.


Here I ignite my stove,
cedar and fir burn,
as I peer into the night, content to hide,
to shelter in the warmth,
the comfort of home.

On the coming morrow,
snow mantles the earth,
the Beaufort Hills glisten with streaks of brilliance,
the softening of time,
the rising spring sun.


Bill Engleson

Remembering Alone


I wake way too early
Age defies long sleeps
Morning light glows over the small frozen pond
Trees and weeds glistening
I see from my room


Memories of thick ice
I long for my youth
When healthy muscles gladly shoveled away
Creating smooth patches
Enticing skate blades


Swishing among others
Speed, spills and laughter
Hearing happy sounds that no longer exist
Alone to remember
Silent tears falling

Sue Spitulnik

The Uncommon Cold

The bleak uncommon cold
of northern winters
speaks not to warmer Southern Hemisphereans
(well, bar Antarctica
and kitsch Christmas cards).


If I was there today
I’d want to leave soon
and sit by a fire with a dead tree book
sipping a fine cab sav
and munching hot toast.


Philistine, you may say,
seek horizons new!
But when icy chill has froze my nose and toes,
my ticket cum bookmark
siren calls me home.


Doug Jacquier

Surrender of Winter


soft pastels mist the morn
skyward gaze aglow
rising sun takes a look-see through clouds above
tasks at hand reaching out
nature has purpose


daybreak yields its aura
adapting rhythm
the universe spreads heartbeats through icy fields
so gelid to the touch
emotions exposed


morning turns to morrow
gentle touch of warmth
quiets lack-luster alabaster landscapes
the days omens faded
bartering of spring


Eugis Milieu

Let's Paint a Picture


Dreamy pastels await
Color palette grab
Listen, hear now the soft pinks calling, melting
Away like sweet butter
Frosting on a cake!

Turning shades of blue to
Creamy violet
Eyes close tight —Imagine a vision, picture
A fantasy, magic
A painting finished!

Winter delight so warm
Whites seem to vanish
Seemingly Sinks into the deep freeze below
That image born within
Heaven far away!


Myrna Migala

Wonder Land


mystical fleecy white
powdery softness
blankets the landscape, clinging to the grasses
pink and purple hues
ethereal beauty


undisturbed and serene
misty wintry light
invisible life hides beneath the flora
fantastical angels
protection guardians


hurry, whisk me away
mysteriously, please
to encounter the beings living beneath
surrounded and cradled
protected always


~RuthScribbles

Many thanks to everyone who participated in this challenge. Writing poetry makes us better writers!

Read: How Studying Poetry Made Me a Better Writer

I’ll be back at the Saloon, on Monday, March 15th! What are you waiting for? Join in and get your poetry on!