Sally is the Poet of the Week for the W3 Weekly Prompt #94. She invites us to write a cethramtu rannaigechta moire poem. Here are her guidelines:
Sally’s prompt guidelines
Thematic (required): Travel;
Where would you like to go? What your favorite place you’ve been? Or, put into poetry some experience you’ve had while traveling!
Form (required): Cethramtu rannaigechta moire;
At least three stanzas.
Cethramtu rannaigechta moire?
The “cethramtu rannaigechta moire” poetic form has two fundamental requirements:
Syllabic:
Each verse has four lines;
Each line has three syllables;
Rhyming; The 2nd and 4th lines of each stanza rhyme;
Any number of verses.
Journey of a Steam Train
Listen to the sound of a steam train
The steam train’s
funnel goes
Puff, puff, puff.
Smoke billows.
From the stack
Coal smoke black
Nutty slack
Clickety clack
The steam train
Huffs and puffs
on the track,
Puff, puff, puffs.
At the bridge
a toot sounds,
In the dark,
thunder pounds.
The tunnel
ends in sight,
A pinhole
of bright light
Hurtling on
quicker than
Pegasus
flying can
The wheels go
Clickety clack,
on the rails,
Clickety clack.
The wheels turn
on the rails,
Slowing down,
The brake fails.
Screech, screeching,
Sliding skid,
Sparks flying,
as it slid
It derails
in the fog
and slides slow
in a bog
I stare out;
All I see
is nothing,
but a tree.
Rescuers,
come erewhile.
Men with lamps
and I smile.
~
Lesley Scoble, February, 2024
NOTES
Cethramtu rannaigechta moire
I looked into how to pronounce the Irish Gaelic words and their meaning.
PRONOUNCIATION
Cethramtu: The first part, Cethramtu, is pronounced like keh-thrahm-too.
Rannaigechta: The second part, Rannaigechta, is pronounced as rah-nay-gekh-tah.
Moire: Moire means great or grand. It emphasises the significance or magnitude of the poetic form.
TRANSLATIONS
Cethramtu: This word translates from Irish Gaelic to quarter or fourth. (I trust that signifies the quatrain stanzas, right?)
Rannaigechta: The second part, Rannaigechta, is pronounced as rah-nay-gekh-tah.
Moire: The third part, Moire, is pronounced like moy-ruh. I knew this one! I’ve a friend called Moire (aka great).
My poem
My poem is based on fact. I travelled on an electric train that derailed. I’ve changed the train to steam because, let’s face it, steam trains are more writeable about than electric ones, are they not?
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you Sally for introducing me to the cethramtu rannaigechta moire poetry form. I’ve enjoyed it enormously.
My gratitude to David, the Skeptics Kaddish for your wonderful weekly prompt.
Steam train sound clip from Zapsplat.com
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.
LesleyScoble.com 
Leave a comment