Incremental Poetry ~ 51 Lines

Rainy Day

Hurray! happy day
hear the scratching of pencil on the paper
and the rain pitter-patters

gurgling and whirring
slurping foam off a sip of cappuccino
and the rain pitter-patters

tap-tap-tappity
raindrops dancing on the canvas overhead
and the rain pitter-patters

splishity-splish-splash
tiny drops diving into the swimming pool
and the rain pitter-patters

chirping birds in trees
swooping down to snatch up a breakfast of worms
and the rain pitter-patters

one above the rest
calling “Ricky, Ricky, Ricky” all the day
and the rain pitter-patters

squirrels chitter-chatter
scampering playfully on trees and fences
and the rain pitter-patters

leaves enjoy the wash
bowing down to allow the trickle to fall
and the rain pitter-patters

sprinklers on timer
gurgle to life, then spray already wet grass
and the rain pitter-patters

flowers hang closed, hushed
awaiting the sun and the buzzing of bees
and the rain pitter-patters

chair scrapes on concrete
time to whip up a second cappuccino
and the rain pitter-patters

chimes let go a ring
soft song announcing a trifling gust of wind
and the rain pitter-patters

trees whisper welcome
to the breeze that blows and mumbles through the leaves
and the rain pitter-patters

tree branch scrapes the roof
thud-thump-thunk signals a squirrel lurching away
and the rain pitter-patters

from somewhere unseen
a gecko’s throaty screech calls to his lover
and the rain pitter-patters

tick-tock of the clock
an alarm rings, reminding me to move on
and the rain pitter-patters

Hurray! happy day
done, the scratching of pencil on the paper
and the rain pitter-patters

Copyright © 2019 Abigail Gronway – All Rights Reserved

Welcome to my series, Incremental Poetry, where each week (or as often as I am able) the featured poem will be one line longer than the one I shared the week before. As the poems get longer, it is becoming increasingly difficult for me to keep up the weekly pace, especially when I have to search high and low for a form that employs the set number of lines. But I am nothing if not tenacious. (My husband calls it stubborn.) And so I will keep pressing on toward my goal of a 100-line poem, even if there are weeks of silence between my compositions. As always, thank you kindly for stopping by.

Scansion:
Caccia
Meaning “catch” an Italian hunting song of the 14th and 15th centuries
usually carries a refrain at the end of the stanza
favors onomatopoeia, incomplete phrases, and exclamatory statements
stanzaic: any number of tercet stanzas
syllabic: 11-7-5, in any order, but consistently throughout the poem
rhyme at the discretion of the poet

For this one I used a 5-11-7 syllabic pattern with no rhyme.