Welcome guys, to my first attempt at a Dizain poem! This has been a tricky one working out eight to ten syllables per eight or ten lines. I chose the rhyming option of 8 x 8 (8 syllables in each of 8 lines). I know! To the ignorant like me, it’s complicated! I admit I find the form difficult and expect I shall tweak this poem long after I publish! My poem Under the Verde Tree is in response to the poetry W3 prompt to write a Dizain poem from the perspective of somebody who has Synesthesia.

Under the Verd Tree I Heard Red | Abstract in oils: Lesley Scoble

Under the Verd Tree I Heard Red

I heard red at the thundery boom
And watch’d rain cry mazarine tears
Breathing moist petrichor perfume
Through sweet gold lapis water-spears
slashing aslope where springtails graze.
Mauve clouds rumble low o’er my head 
Aswirl in oxide silver haze.
Under the verde tree I heard red.

Mauve clouds rumble low o’er my head aswirl in oxide silver haze | iPad Painting + Animation ©️Lesley Scoble

The Dizain Poem

The Dizain Poem originated in 16th century France. In French, the word dizain translates to the tenth part. Oops, I chose the eighth part! I chose this rhyming option, as I thought I would have less to write and it would be quicker and easier. Ha ha, no, it’s not. Btw, the tree in the poem in deference to the French origin of the Dizain is verd (old French) and not green.
John Keats wrote Dizain. Well, if it’s good enough for Keats, it’s good enough for me!

I looked up how to construct a Dizain and found it uses the iambic pentameter. Oh no! If you read my post on the Minute Poem you will know the confusion I feel about that! I shan’t go into it now as I don’t want to. However, please feel free to read all about it in that particular blog Got a Minute tor Read a Minute Poem? please click here

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My thanks to David Ben Alexander for causing me angst with this Dizain prompt! My thanks also to Murisopsis for coming up with the colourful idea of ‘writing a Dizain poem from the perspective of somebody who has Synesthesia.’
I’ve found this challenge difficult but interesting, especially as I mentioned this sensory condition in a blog I wrote last year iPad Paintings: a visit to the David Hockney exhibition, The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020 at the RA (Should you wish to read this blog post, please click here).

I shall now wish you all a fond farewell and go and lie down after all the effort it’s taken me to try to write a mere 8 syllables X 8 lines Dizain with an a, b, a, b, c, d, c, d, rhyme scheme! Who knows, next time I might try the 10 x 10 (dix by dix!).