The Nove Otto poetry form was created by Scott J. Alcorn. It is a nine-lined poem with 8 syllables per line (isosyllabic). The rhyme scheme is as follows: aacbbcddc.
Marie’s Nove Otto:
Second Thoughts
I thought our connection was blessed;
and would have sworn to it, if pressed.
A line in the sand had been drawn,
To which I had turned a blind eye
‘til forced to return your goodbye.
Collecting my things, I moved on.
I thought our connection was strong;
Believed I was where I belong.
You took a glance back. I was gone.
Walt’s Nove Otto:
SHE DRAWS WHAT MY MIND ENVISIONS
She draws what my mind envisions,
from draft through many revisions
translating with sketch pad and pen.
Her artistry draws me to see
her wonder as written by me;
my muse is excited again.
Collaborative creation,
our kinship in celebration.
The poet, the artist; the friends.
POETIC BLOOMINGS 
Responses
Wonderful poems, Walt and Marie.
Marie, I love then end line.
Walt, the first two lines pulled me in. Glad your muse is excited again.
I agree: Marie’s is excellent, but Walt moved me with his tribute to the whole ethos of this site.
Football Fears
I think he may be just too small,
too young. It can’t be fun at all
to tackle and get pushed. Too late,
he has been hurled across the line.
We should have waited until nine
years old to pad him up, not eight.
Oh, no! He’s much too young. I can’t
watch. I hold my breathe while he pants
for air. He smiles wide, “Football’s great!”
Cute one.
Feliz ano de 2008 e Ano Internacional do Planeta Terra, de preferência sem sismos, vulcões ou tsunamis destrutivos ou mortais, os restantes além de não fazerem mal ainda fornecem dados para a ciência e por isso nada a opor.
Hi, your blog (and the subsequent comments) have inspired me to make the leap into being a freelance transcriber. I’ve been jostling with the pros and cons and also whether to give up my full time job and throw myself into my new venture. Thanks for the inspiration.
I think five years from now, when we are standing on lines with food ration stamps, I will cite Memorial Day 2009 as the end of the recession.You don’t deleverage an economy by issuing more debt.
don’t our children always surprise us? What we fear for them usually turns out to be their greatest joy.
Two Hearts
Two hearts in love shall beat as one,
and live forever in the sun.
True love shall guide them every day.
They find their way along the track.
No doubts or fears to hold them back.
They seek a common ground, halfway.
In unison a daily climb,
while laughing at old father time.
Two hearts in love they’ll always stay.
By Michael Grove
Nice! I like it.
Deanna
With bald head and nose like a beak
And they say she has lots of cheek
Her sixty years were less than grand
Signs of childhood abuse remain
An accident damaged her brain
She most always will lend a hand
She’s smart as a whip but she’s odd
But not too eccentric for God
For she shows she knows Him first hand
Your igneous heart destroyed me
pierced shards of metal right through me;
an irksome toy long forgotten
gathering dust in the garage,
as varmints erode love’s mirage.
A wildfire ignited cotton;
high-pitched sirens bridle the course
all observe destruction in force.
Plowing fields, my mind’s eye rotten.
*and I’ve posted a remix of this on Poetic Asides… both can be found on my blog:
http://lkharris-kolp.blogspot.com/2011/09/minds-eye-rotten.html/
You did a great job on the remix.
Thanks, Connie… I kind of like it better, too.
Walking in the Rain
Dramatic clouds paint the slate sky
Walking in rainstorm feeling high
Memories near from childhood days
Hail pelts me but I do not mind
A ride may come from someone kind
But I’d refuse it anyways
Home, I brush my tangled, wet hair
Stung, my family shows no care
But my childlike rainy joy stays
Amazing remix! My favorite line was “Stung, my family shows no care”.
One of life’s weird pleasures, but your poem is true: once you’re wet, you can be no wetter, and can revel in it atavistically. At least you can so long as it’s warm rain!
Doomed Love
It became abundantly clear
after fierce fights fought that first year,
you and I were not meant to be.
We wanted to cling together.
Reprimanding like your mother,
I drove you away. The debris
of our love littered my heart.
Broken, we decided to part.
Our first great decision, indeed.
Well written. Says a lot in a few.
Sciurus – Latin for squirrel
I smothered the bird feeder pole
In Vaseline, then spent the whole
Morning watching the squirrels slide
Helplessly back down to the ground
Clucking frustration as they found
Their dinner plans upset. Inside
The house, I poured a glass of wine
And wondered when I’d cross the line
From sabotage to sciurucide.
lol I can picture it.
SO FUNNY! Wait, does thinking it is funny make me cruel…oh, well. I really enjoyed your rhymes.
Did the same one year using Crisco. Smart little monsters, but they were so embarassed they didn’t try again.
Thanks for the word. I guess “scurry” has the same root.
and scurilous. Sciure is French for sawdust – totally irrelevant to your excellent and highly amusing poem! Sorry.
Tik Tok
So, deasil’s just another word
for clockwise, which is more preferred.
And how did they come up with this?
But on the other hand, admins
of lexicons say widdershins
which otherwise one might dismiss
since counterclockwise means the same
as widdershins (a better name?)
Yes…hands on clocks tick tock like this.
###
Note: This is also posted on Poetic Asides, along with the original version of the poem.)
Oh. My. Goodness. AMAZING job, RJ!
meg
Thanks! ☼
My sentiments exactly… WOW!
I love that word widdershins.
Guys, you do know that I can’t count and type at the same time. Can’t reach my toes.
Otto Dreams
I’d like to live on a high bluff
over a river, far enough
below to be a ribbon world.
I’d look down on blue herons, trees,
green silk, silver boats, sunburned knees–
ignoring the black road that curls
behind me, string tied to steel things:
loud, and crowded like the humming
town, far from bluffs and river swirls.
To Mick, who tried to tell me it was fall
All right. I’ll give you that it might
be fall some day soon. But last night,
with the misty fog, wasn’t fall
any more than Monday’s downpour,
Tuesday’s odd sweater weather, or
my urge for rich brown over cool
blue knee socks; or squirrels hiding nuts
ten deep in my big flower pot.
Maybe next week, though. You can’t tell.
bive? aaaaaagh
give.
All better, Barbara! 😉
Brilliant. Let’s stave it off as long as possible.
My September Song
Though August heat was hard to bear,
a fresh, cool nip now fills the air.
September slips into the room
and darkness greets me when I rise,
as if the night put out my eyes.
No rosy sunrise, tardy moon
peeks through my window when I wake.
The clock’s alarm seems some mistake.
I feel the days grow short too soon.
thank goodness I don’t have the alarm to deal with.
Love this one, Nancy.
Including Jane’s kind comment with her Nove Ottos. Thank you, Jane!!
From Jane Shlensky:
I’m loving Nove Otto, a form I had never tried and what our poetic friends have done with it at PB. It really challenged my will to rhyme;-)
Writing and Being
Sometimes words run away from me
Laughing like children, fleeting, free,
And I am peaceful, quiet, lost
Without their whispers giving voice
To thoughts and hopes; I have no choice
But feeling what is true across
A silent landscape, given time
To know a depth almost sublime
Dearer than words, despite the cost.
In Sight
A rosy blush on autumn pear
beckoned to him, caught unaware,
as he passed through the orchard’s shade.
His spaniel noticed nothing strange,
Though sunlight somehow rearranged
His heart for beauty, long delayed.
Now, he remembers as he dies
Learning to use rejoicing eyes
And meets this new light unafraid.
[…] a bonus prompt, and the poems by the hosts in response. You might also mosey around to their form […]
My Painted Bra
I walk in with my painted bra
you laugh and laugh, hah, hah, hah, hah!
This is for a very good cause –
There is a dolphin and turtle,
see my mind is not infertile!
Save your whistles and your applause –
Raising breast cancer awareness,
a worthy cause, in all fairness.
A piece of art, not a faux pas.
What a neat idea! Is it a for-real awareness program? Bet they would make for a fun fund raiser.
The fairness/ faux pas rhyme is my favorite.
Thank you! Yes it is for a real project – on Facebook it is ‘The Painted Bra Art Project’ to raise breast cancer awareness. Anyone can submit a painted bra and they will auction them off in October. All fund are going to the Liz Hurley Breast Cancer Fund at the Huntsville Hospital Foundation in Huntsville, AL.
what a fabulous last line.
Thank you! 🙂
My Nove Otto poem is also linked to your previous prompt, to use a magazine title.
Game On
In nineteen twelve, the Polo Grounds:
a pitch, a swing…Wood makes the rounds
as Boston, N.Y. duke it out.
The crowds are up; they’re on their feet.
They’re roaring for their team to beat
the opposition. There’s no doubt
collective breaths will all be held
since on that day, the Sox repelled
the Giants, with the final out.
###
I posted this on my site, based on a prompt idea from Sepia Saturday.
DAREDEVIL
She walks across the narrow cord
while stories down no net secured
to save her if she steps aside
and plummets to the ground below.
What then to say, what’s left to show?
But she insists she has her pride.
“In this I will not compromise,
so those who wish may criticize.
Then if I fail, at least I tried.”
#
I really liked this one, Sal. I think it worked brilliantly with the form.
The Sky is Falling
–American Photo, Sept/Oct 2011
Turns out
Chicken Little
was right
on that day our hearts
rained down
as terror
scraped the sky
and gravity
grabbed hold
of
comfort
security
hope.
Ashes, ashes
we all
fall
down.
Oops. This don’t go here. Sorry. Reposting in “Title and Deed” prompt.
My first Nove Otto! Whew hew!
Slacken Muse
Perpetual wranglings of mind
and will, summoned wisdom unbound
readily crafted Nove’s ace form
disentangled a slackened muse
Competent, tried and true amused
thoughts out of bounds naught uniform
a quickened knight’s battle his plight
against foes anointed in sleight
others yearn for the sacred form
Benjamin Thomas
[…] poem is a Nove Otto. I don’t really like this one – put it together very quickly. I’ll catch up with […]
July 21, 2011PERFECT TEASER!!this is exactly why I love him!!! haha congrats on the win!!! hope he makes it to the end!!! can’t wait for the Q&A!and just keep doing your thing as always Rachel, in the end is what works better for YOU and your books!! and believe me!! THEY WORK!!!
1f28The Ships’s Voyages…I believe technologies just can make it worse. Now there’s a channel to in no way treatment, now there will not likely be a chance for them to find….
Hi Bill, Surely you Jest!! Having Ryan on the ticket will take he and Mitt to the white house!!!! REPULICAN LANDSLIDE!!! lET THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES!!!