[Poetry] Until the Farthest End

A Cascade poem about the intersection of nature and civilization.

Image by Sven Lachmann from Pixabay

 

Until the Farthest End

Stumps lined up along thirsty furrows From here until the farthest end I could only sigh as I pushed the harrow. It's where my family's lives depend. Rancid cadavers of wild creatures strewn everywhere. I could only sob at the death of this sparrow. The earth is burning and no one cares. Stumps lined up along thirsty furrows. The once lush forest suddenly appeared as barren land. For the sake of development, Mother Nature lends. Yet people abused her and used her until she was bland, From here until the farthest end. The air is still, arid, hot and dry. What lies ahead on the morrow? I glanced up at the heavens once more, at the cloudless sky. I could only sigh as I pushed the harrow. Mother Earth has tremendously suffered from our oppressive hands. It's not too late to mend, to end the trend. Let's clean our rivers, our streams, and the strand. It's where my family's lives depend.

Written for: "April 13 Poem--Intersection of nature and civilization"   in "Dew Drop Inn"  and "The Whatever Contest -- Closes Oct. 2" 
Prompt for "Dew Drop Inn" : Intersection of nature and civilization…

Prompt for "The Whatever Contest -- Closes Oct. 2" : Find a form of poetry you've never written before and both describe it and write an example.
Form Chosen: Cascade [rhymed-ABAB]
Poetic Form Details:

The cascade poem was a form invented by Udit Bhatia (who also apparently created the Alliterisen, which I'll try to deal with in a future post). For the cascade poem, a poet takes each line from the first stanza of a poem and makes those the final lines of each stanza afterward. Beyond that, there are no additional rules for rhyming, meter, etc.

Here's what a cascade poem with a tercet would look like:
[ABC abA cdB efC]

A quatrain cascade would look so:
[ABCD abcA defB ghiC jklD]

And, of course, you can make this even more involved if you want.

For the purpose of following the rules of "The Whatever Contest -- Closes Oct. 2" :

Prompt: Find a form of poetry you've never written before and both describe it and write an example.
Written for "The Whatever Contest."  "The Whatever Contest -- Closes Oct. 2" 
Word/Line Count:
20 lines | 163 words | 906 characters
04/13/22 10:34pm EDT