Over at dVerse Laura has us thinking about cascades. In particular the cascade form. In this form the first stanza flows and cascades through the following stanzas, each line forming the final line for the following stanzas (so in our case ABCDE, xxxxA, xxxxB…). Laura challenged folk to write a cascade poem of six stanzas, each with five lines. As an extra challenge, she suggested we drew the first stanza from previous work. Go check out the other cascading poems here.
I’ve followed the extra challenge. My first three lines came from an old poem (actually written for a different dVerse prompt). The prompt for that verse was to find poetry in our bookshelves, in particular the titles of the books on our shelves. You can go see the original here. I have added two extra book titles to make the five lines (sorry, no picture this time).
Finally comes the poet
Speaking in stories
Following the Celtic way
Overhearing the Gospel
Doing time in the pulpit
First there came the Word
Then there came so many words
Noise drowning out sense
Prose seeking to prove itself
Finally comes the poet
The world is spoken anew
A call for us to renew
Simple, careful, clear
A breath of fresh life
Speaking in stories
Treading the thin space
Life as a pilgrim
Heart open to all
In thought and deed together
Following the Celtic way
In the study, in the street
In verse and tale
With ears wide open
Eavesdropping reality
Overhearing the Gospel
Looking to make out the Word
In the mouth of the Other
Reshaping this existence
And re-forming it in love
Doing time in the pulpit
The books mentioned:
Finally comes the poet – Walter Brueggemann
Speaking in stories – William R. White
Following the Celtic way – Ian Bradley
Overhearing the Gospel – Fred Craddock
Doing time in the pulpit – Eugene Lowry
Hope you enjoy, please feel free to comment.