W3 Poetry Prompt #170
I wrote my quatern poem in response to this week’s Poet of the Week, Dennis Johnstone, who invited us to craft a poem of 20 lines or fewer, inspired by a photo of a gathering of gnomes.
We were asked to include the word “donsy” somewhere in the poem, and to use a traditional poetic form—no free verse! That means incorporating structure: rhyme, meter, stanza pattern, etc.
I chose to write a quatern. I hope you enjoy my ‘donsied’ gathering of gnomes!
March of the Gnomes
by Lesley Scoble
Gnomadic gnomes are on the move,
Each one of them has much to prove,
They come in protest here today
Angry en masse—to have their say!
Old gnomes—and young ones in the groove;
Gnomadic gnomes are on the move,
Bertie, James, Keith and Beyoncé,
To gather here in a donsy.
They’ve moved all day—from near and far,
Some by squirrel and some by car,
Gnomadic gnomes are on the move,
To rally on the interfluve.
Gnomes’ garden homes are under threat,
To be entombed in concrete, yet,
They march to speak and disapprove,
Gnomadic gnomes are on the move.
—Lesley Scoble, July 2025
Introducing
The Metro-Gnomes Band!
with their debut performance: March of the Gnomes, a quatern poem set to song.
THANK YOU
Enormous thanks to David, The Skeptic’s Kaddish, and to our Poet of the Week, Dennis, for inspiring me to write March of the Gnomes!
My heartfelt gratitude to you, the reader, for reading and listening to my poem.
To find out more about David’s W3 Poetry Prompts, follow the link below.
LesleyScoble.com 
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