Here I am again with a weekend post from my new book. This poem is not all it seems however: the form conceals a secret:
So what is the deception?
The poem has been reconstructed to hide its original Renaissance form of a sonnet. Check out the internal rhymes and iambic pentameter!
It’s one of the Songs of Later Life – from Part VI of my new collection which develops the theme of the journey, the quest, the odyssey. The poems vary in mood and some were bound to be more sombre.
Shimmering Horizons is published by Bennison Books, available through Amazon at £3.99 or $4.99. I’ve posted a selection from the book at https://johnlooker.wordpress.com/extracts-from-shimmering-horizons/
Poetry from John Looker 
John – We prefer to be deceived indeed! It forced me to spend ages with this poem. Brilliant.
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By: Bruce Goodman on 4 September, 2021
at 16:36
Many thanks Bruce – that’s really good of you.
I hope you are well down there and not too inconvenienced by the new lockdown.
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By: John Looker on 4 September, 2021
at 17:20
Had my 2nd vaccination on Friday – seemed like going into a crowded hall was more potent than not having the jab!
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By: Bruce Goodman on 4 September, 2021
at 18:15
That’s good to hear Bruce.
(You’re up mighty early again. Go back to bed you daft kiwi 🙃)
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By: John Looker on 4 September, 2021
at 18:18
Ha ha! I usually (always) get up at 4 and wilt through the morning like a beautiful flower. Old dairy farm upbringing!
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By: Bruce Goodman on 4 September, 2021
at 18:21
I’m impressed!
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By: John Looker on 4 September, 2021
at 18:22
I once tried presenting a rhyming, iambic pentameter poem as a prose poem. Couldn’t do it. I wanted the reader to appreciate the work I did with that form. Ego won I’m afraid.
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By: Brian Dean Powers on 4 September, 2021
at 18:53
I’d like to think that I would have appreciated your prose poem. Questions of form are so compelling for a writer, aren’t they? But the main test is always whether the poem reaches the mind and heart of the ordinary thoughtful reader – well, that’s how it seems to me. Thanks for commenting Brian.
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By: John Looker on 4 September, 2021
at 19:09
As soo as I looked at it, I wanted to read it aloud and that always makes me spot spot the rhyme and rhythm……
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By: The Cheesesellers Wife on 9 September, 2021
at 17:10
Hi Kim. For some reason I have only just found your comment – thank you for responding. And, like you, I always listen for the rhyme and rhythm in a poem, wherever they may be hidden! If they’re not present, I miss them!
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By: John Looker on 21 September, 2021
at 12:16
😊
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By: The Cheesesellers Wife on 21 September, 2021
at 21:20
rather acutely and astutely observed – sobering too and just as it should be!
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By: Laura Bloomsbury on 22 September, 2021
at 21:20
I could relate to this poem deeply… Warsaw does evoke these feelings…very rightly articulated.
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By: thotpurge on 1 November, 2021
at 03:31
How nice of you to comment – thank you.
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By: John Looker on 1 November, 2021
at 08:53