Terza Rima - JCC and The Machars

Terza Rima is an Italian poetic form which I believe to be invented by Dante Alighieri and used for his poem, the Divine Comedy. The poem is three line stanzas in iambic pentameter with a rhyming structure aba, bcb, cdc, and so on. It can have many stanzas. The poem ends with a single line or a couplet which repeats the rhyme of the middle line of the last tercet.

I'm offering two of my own, this one for one of my favourite modern poets.

Terza Rima for John Cooper Clarke

Those of the time embraced every word,
Listening in wonder to John Cooper Clarke,
The Bard of Salford who had to be heard.

Rapid from the mouth and skinny and dark.
'Evidently Chickentown', effing good.
He's magic with words, bright as any spark.

His wholesome description meant that we could
Smell the inhabitants of 'Beasley Street',
Rich mixture of urban decay and blood.

Life, humour and truth, a picture complete
And painted with colourful language that
Reaches all listeners not just the elite.

So thanks, JCC, I know where I'm at,
Laughing out loud at the poem called 'Twat'.

PMW 2012

Andrew Brown's statue, Port William, The Machars

We're currently away, touring favourite places in Dumfries & Galloway in our caravan and spending a few days in The Machars, exploring the peninsula.

The Machars

Garlieston, oh Garlieston, oh so quaint,
Swans on the water, snow-white in sunshine,
Gathered by the harbourside's weak restraint.

Isle of Whithorn while the weather is fine,
Blustery but sunny on the headlands.
St Ninian's Chapel, follow the sign.

Port William, gazing out to sea he stands
There in all weather's, leaning on the fence,
Andrew Brown's statue, the front he commands.

To Wigtown and let some browsing commence,
From bookshop to bookshop in this book town,
A bookshop-cum-cafe for lunch, makes sense.

Exploring The Machars, up hill and down.

PMW 2023

Thanks for reading, Pam x