Yard Sale of Thoughts

The up and down coaster ride scream.
A crowd of teens groupie-style scream.

When willow branches woo the wind.
A mouth caught open hollow scream.

The alley drain dances the flamenco.
Stilettos scrape brick whisper-scream.

The slippery rocks block a forceful flow.
Hush of breath in lover's earlobe scream.
 
To parasail the weightless ocean's rim.
The squeezing-tight-for-him scream.

Parallel power lines with an urge to cross.
The cut-my-leg-off, survival, primal scream.

Bump of strings with the first chord strum.
A ring before the sermon cathartic scream.

Lover tucked in a white, floral wreath.
Until eternity, Katie's white-sheet scream.

©2025|K.F.Hartless

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Cover Art: Nino Akhalkatsi “Silent Scream” (2019)

GloPoWriMo#8: The ghazal (pronounced kind of like “huzzle,” with a particularly husky “h” at the beginning) is a form that originates in Arabic poetry, and is often used for love poems. In English ghazals, the usual constraints are that:

• the lines all have to be of around the same length (though formal meter/syllable-counts are not employed); and
• both lines of the first couplet end on the same word or words, which then form a refrain that is echoed at the end of each succeeding couplet.

Another aspect of the traditional ghazal form that has become popular in English is having the poet’s own name (or a reference to the poet – like a nickname) appear in the final couplet.

Now try writing your own ghazal that takes the form of a love song – however you want to define that. Observe the conventions of the repeated word, including your own name (or a reference to yourself) and having the stanzas present independent thoughts along a single theme – a meditation, not a story.