WordSalad: The Poetry of Luke Prater

O Kýrie, eléison.
Engorging, slick, devour her skin;
Man’s avarice runs down his chin.

Atomic Power: blunt shotgun.
Her rising call – she’ll take us all,
tectonic plates unhinge the sun

with no respite, no interim -
O Christe, O eléison.

O Kýrie, eléison.
False credit, carriage, blacksack bin,
can’t hear the birds, can’t hear them sing;

endangered species face the gun.
Her rising thrall will force the fall -
one grimreap day will see us done.

In gouging: shit, sick in her skin -
O Christe, O eléison.

(Octain No. 5 – ‘Kyrielle’ High Octain)

☆

Kýrie, eléison – Greek for ‘Lord, have mercy’

Christe, eléison – ‘Christ, have mercy’ – both used commonly in Christian Liturgy/text.

This is a rewrite, in the Octain form I devised in December 2010, of the Kyrielle Sonnets I wrote recently.

Eight lines as two tercets and a couplet, eight syllables per line with the first line repeated (as much as possible) as the last. Meter is iambic or trochaic tetrameter, but fine to just count eight syllables per line for those who prefer that. I’ve used iambic tetrameter here.

Rhyme scheme – A-b-b a-c/c-a b-A

(A = repeated refrain line. c/c refers to line five having midline (internal) rhyme (eg. here/sneer), which is different to the a- and b-rhymes)

High Octain is simply a double Octain, but as one poem – the refrains are the same (though varying them to some degree is perfectly acceptable), a- and b- rhymes are the same, and the c/c line with the internal rhyme can optionally be rhymed in the second instance (as here). There is no restriction on the level of repetition, but in most cases the stipulated refrain A is enough; this may even feel too repetitive and need varying somewhat (as I have in this one), particularly in the High Octain, where it appears four times.

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True deference is how I view
our meetings, cradled, innocent.
Our greetings peel, are quickly spent,

hours bulge, disfigure, warp, with you.
These keen eyes trace a joyful face
each time two friends embrace anew.

From other lifetimes roads are leant;
true deference, my point of view.

☆

This piece is in my own form, the Octain that I devised in December 2010, of which over a hundred have now been written (just five by me – this is my fourth). Wanna try one? Details on the form can be found beneath my first, Breathe.

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I’m finished carving girls from stone,
creating women, crave to touch,
from blocks of marble – figures such

when animate, I’m not alone;
but stone is cold, and I grow old -
call on the gods to make this koan

true woman-flesh to warm my clutch.
I’m finished carving girls from stone.

☆

Second of my newly-invented form, the Octain. Details on structure/rhyme-scheme etc. can be found underneath my first Octain, Breathe. Anyone wanna give it a try?

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She breathes old stone and winding lanes,
cathedrals, ley lines, sacred sites.
When John of Gaunt spoke of the right

this England had, Her hills, Her plains -
see, they’re still here. Deep-six that sneer,
dare venture from your Tarmac veins.

Stay silent in a field at night,
and breathe old stone and winding lanes.

☆

This is an Octain, a form I invented just yesterday, prompted by friends asking me when I was going to devise one of my own.

Structure – 

eight lines as two tercets and a couplet, eight syllables per line with the first line repeated (as much as possible) as the last. Meter is iambic or trochaic tetrameter, but fine to just count eight syllables per line for those who prefer that.
Rhyme scheme -

A-b-b
a-c/c-a
b-A

(A = repeated refrain line. c/c refers to line five having midline (internal) rhyme (here/sneer, in this case), which is different to the a- and b-rhymes. Any extra midline rhyme is a bonus)

Anybody wanna try writing one? I need testers (so far five people have tried it, aside from myself). Oh, go on…

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