SunWe Tumbling Verse: I'll Miss You When It's Over II

I'll Miss You When It's Over

What shall we do,

When the elections are through?

No more nightly watching the news

about what is not true,

and which channel to view,

And who to believe.

I think you’ll agree,

And we’ll both quite see,

 You and me,

 will completely be

 stumped.

For the first time in months.

You’ll think me a chump,

For saying so,

But, I thought we’d grow.

But instead we didn’t.

There’s a serious rift.

You’re calling it quits?

Blame it on Romney or Obama,

Let’s discuss this and create a drama.

Give us something in common once more,

Without politics life is a bore.

Sam Henderson 2012

(Polished version of original. Critique welcome and appreciated.)

Prompt:

Today’s topic is Tumbling Verse a.k.a. Skeltonic Verse.

Named after John Skelton (1460-1529), the tutor of Prince Henry (later Henry VIII), Skeltonic verse is usually droll or satirical. It consists of

• An indeterminate number of lines
• The lines are short, usually 3 to 6 words.
• The lines rhyme, one with the next, an indeterminate number of times. When you get tired of one rhyme, you switch to another and sustain that as many lines as you choose.
• Each line may have a varying number of syllables. The variation in the number of syllables from line to line is part of what gives Skeltonic verse its tumbling quality. This is key. The syllables per line isn’t just indeterminate. Be conscious of varying the number of syllables from line to line so as to give the poem a feeling of momentum (test it by reading it aloud!)
• That said, each line should have a regular pulse of two or three stressed syllables.