We didn't know if it would take off ... but poets on Write Out Loud did us proud in taking up our challenge to write a nonet to mark World Poetry Day! We thought we’d invite our poets to try their hand at a particular, if not particularly well-known poetic form. What is a nonet, we still hear some of you say? It’s a nine-line poem. The first line contains nine syllables, the second line contains eight, the third line seven and so on down to one syllable on the final line. Or try it in reverse order - start with a one syllable line and work up to nine!

Our hard-working website profile manager and moderator Graham Sherwood, who’s always keen to get members more involved with our website, penned his own example to start the ball rolling. Here it is:

 

RING-NONET

by Graham Sherwood

 

if you said you would ring, then ring her

she will be expecting a call

what is it that’s stopping you

are you getting cold feet?

in that case ring her

go on ring her

ring her now

ring her

now!

 

He was soon folowed by fellow Write Out Louder, Tim Higbee. And John Gilbert Ellis provided us with three, all variations on a public announcement theme, with quite an undercurrent. Then came Leonidas, Angel Whisperer Indigo Child (two), Steve White, John Gilbert Ellis (two more), RA Porter, and Stephen Gospage, all adding theirs in comments below. Auracle added another on the blogs. 

There's no need to stop now ... just keep going, if you're just getting the hang of those nonets. But if on the other hand, it's a queston of no, no nonet ... don't worry, we're lining up another poetic challenge for you, just around the corner. Watch this space!