Well, here we are again. December 1, 2021 and I’m casting off into the deep, dark waters of creation and experimentation with words and poetic forms. Welcome to the December Dailies. If this is the first time you’ve been to OneSureChord.com, you will find that it features poems written as part of a challenge to myself to “write and publish a poem a day during the month of December”.

Typically I choose a poetic form and mess around with that form until I have something that is poem-like. Please understand, with very few exceptions, the poems and posts you see here each day will be given roughly an hour of time from their inception to their publication. They will not be perfect, far from it in fact. This is an exercise in action and movement. The goal is simply getting something written down and shared each day. I invite your comments if they are kind and/or constructive. If you are just gonna be a jerk, get your own blog and be a jerk there.

Something I’d like to spend some time on this year is being mindful of my process and what might come up for me as I do these exercises. I hope you will allow me to reflect and share some thoughts in addition to my poems. Perhaps as part of being the audience you could share with me things that occur to you as you read and consider the exercises. I would enjoy hearing from you.

For today, I chose the “Dansa” form which is essentially an opening quintain (5-line stanza) followed by two or more quatrains (4-line stanzas). The opening line of the first stanza is also the final line (refrain) of every following stanza, including the first stanza. The rhyme scheme of the opening stanza is AbbaA and the rhyme scheme in all the other stanzas is bbaA. Note that the capital A indicates the refrain of the first line. I think you’ll see it clearly as you read the poem for today.

I think people tend to assume I am writing my poems about specific people and sometimes that is the case. Let’s just say, don’t assume too much. Enjoy! If you can see yourself or someone else in these pieces… That’s perfect.

The poem for today:

Photos from a box.

There’s something in that smile-
calming and fine,
subtly divine,
all part of her style-
there’s something in that smile.

The curve and the line,
flirtations design,
reflecting her wiles-
there’s something in that smile.

Forever enshrined
in the back of my mind,
she continually beguiles…
there’s something in that smile.

©2021 Tim Geoghegan

Ever see a photo of a friend or loved one and think, “Man! What a great smile!” I see photos all the time like that. There isn’t one particular photo that inspired this poem, but I imagine we all have a favorite photo of someone that makes us stop and think, “What a great smile.” Yeah, there’s something in that smile indeed.

Cheers! See you tomorrow…