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For the Word Craft Poetry, #TankaTuesday Ekphrastic Poetry Challenge no. 335, I wrote my poem in the Than-Bauk Burmese poetry form. The form was unknown to me until I read Melissa’s Women in White. Thank you, Melissa Lemay, for introducing me to this unusual poetic style of internal rhyme. I like the fact that the rhyme is inside the lines and not at the end of the line.

 I’m fascinated by this poetry form.

Than-Bauk Poetry Style

The Than-Bauk is a Burmese Climbing Rhyme of only three lines of four syllables. Easy! It’s even shorter than a haiku!
The last word in the first line rhymes with the 3rd word in second line. The 2nd word in the third line rhymes with the 3rd word in the second line. You can write it as a chain and go on for as long as you like (don’t tempt me). The style lends itself to lightheartedness.

Ekphrastic poem

The #TankaTuesday prompt is to write an ekphrastic poem about the oil painting by Berthe Morisot (1841-1895). She painted it in 1875 at the scenic location of the Isle of Wight. Her husband, Eugène Manet, wears a boater in the foreground.

Eugène Manet on the Isle of Wight (1875) by Berthe Morisot

The Model Husband

Berthe Morisot is painting a picture of her husband Eugène Manet, who is posing in a relaxed manner, looking out at a summer scene. There are yachts sailing on the sea (the location is Cowes, the Isle of Wight, so no doubt the boats are racing in the famous regatta,*Cowes Week). He is unaware that he and Berthe shall have a beautiful daughter three years hence, as he watches a mother and daughter walk by. They will name their only child Julie. Meanwhile, he is obliging his wife who is a keen painter. There is, however, only so long one can sit as an artist’s model holding the same position. Is there not?

My poem, THE MODEL HUSBAND, is a brief exchange between the artist Berthe Morisot and her husband, Eugène Manet. To avoid confusion in the duologue, Berthe’s lines are in italic.

In the poem, Berthe refers to her husband, Eugène, by the fond abbreviation of Eug (she calls him by that *nickname all the time). Also, in the poem, Eugène abbreviates Berthe’s name to Berth (sounds like something you’d find in a ship’s cabin). I checked her name on a syllable counter site to discover that Berthe has not one, but two syllables. The Than-Bauk poem is very monosyllabic. Therefore, Berthe also now has a shortened nickname. What one does in the name of poetry!

Because this is my first attempt at the climbing steps Burmese poetic style, I’ve colour coded and emboldened the rhyme words.

The Model Husband

EUGENE WANTS A BREAK, BUT BERTHE WANTS TO KEEP ON PAINTING

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A little bit about the skiff

In the UK, we use the term, skiff, for several types of boats. They can be either small river or seagoing craft, varying from rowing boats to sailing boats. The poet John Milton wrote of a “night-foundered skiff” in Paradise Lost (pub. 1674). (Milton’s tomb is just down the road from me, in Bunhill Fields, if you want a piece of useless information:). There were skiffs on the Thames in the 19th century (referred to in historical accident reports). Percy Bysshe Shelley drowned sailing a skiff off the coast of Italy. Sir Walter Scott wrote that his Lady of the Lake used a skiff. The skiff turned up in Ernest Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea. And now we have the skiff mentioned in The Model Husband to add to this illustrious list.

Once upon a time, I sailed a skiff in one of the largest regattas in N. Ireland. I jumped off a skiff in a relay race, missed the jetty, and injured my leg by skewering it onto a submerged pole. They treated the gaping wound by pouring an entire bottle of Black Bush Whiskey on it. Well, almost an entire bottle. I drank the rest. (It was fortunate the race sponsor was Bushmills’ Whiskey).

Skiffs are boats of many guises. Row boats, sailboats or motor boats They can be rowed by oars, sailed, or propelled by a motor.

* NOTES

Cowes Week
Cowes Week is the largest sailing regatta in the world. It is a key part of the sailing calendar and takes place at the Isle of Wight each year in early August. The first sporting event took place on the 10th of August, 1826.

 (I was lucky enough to enjoy taking part in some memorable yacht racing at Cowes.)

Nicknames
Did Eugène and Berthe abbreviate their names? I do not know. I made it up to fit the syllable count. Therefore, please do not accept this as a fact. I’m sure the rest of my rhyme is true, though. Have you ever sat as an artist’s model? 
It’s a pain in the neck.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank you, Colleen Chesebro, for your #TankaTuesday ekphrastic poetry challenge. 

Thank you, Melissa Lemay, for writing your poem Women in White. Without it, The Model Husband should not be written. It’s all your fault! Please, take a bow, and take the blame.

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Lesley lives in the City of London Square Mile. An artist, actor and sculptor (her first ceramic sculpture won the V&A inspired by… Award). Scenic artist & book illustrator, playwright, (her musical play, Rapscallion performed in inner city schools and theatre school); TV dancer; Animator and illustrator for TV production. Set up Pinecone Studios Ltd and IIMSI Ltd drama and filmmaking workshops in London – producing award-winning films made by children.