Poetry. An Elegy Poem. Goodbye, Puppy Love

One way to kick start creativity is to do something different. If I find myself getting blocked or frustrated with my fiction writing or if the editing process starts to get me down, I will stop what I’m doing and research a form of poetry that I have never written.

I thought I would take a break from my gems series and share my latest attempt at poetry. The elegy form caught my eye and I decided to give it a try.

An elegy (not to be confused with eulogy) is a poem of mourning. The subject can be a person, thing or idea that has been lost to the poet somehow. It consists of three parts. Grief and sorrow, praise and admiration, and consolation and solace. Stanzas are usually four lines of two end rhyming couplets. I chose to write my poem with ten syllable lines and one stanza for each part.

Goodbye, Puppy Love


Sections of me died one hot afternoon.
Shadows held court over me, drenched in gloom.
Forever, life was over in my mind.
I mourned the loss; his love never to find.

Would my heart ever soar to heights so grand,
And passion swell ‘til I could understand?
Would my eyes ever be blinded to faults,
And stomach tie in knots and somersaults?

The pond is tiny and the fish are big.
The bait is still ripe; the worms I must dig.
From the bonds of childhood I have now fled.
Puppy love behind and real life ahead.

If you write poetry, what are some forms that you prefer to use? Do you like poems that rhyme or are you more attracted to non-rhyme?