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I wrote my first echo poem, The Bee Who Forgot the Words, in response to David’s W3 Poetry Prompts #201, where the poet of the week, O’nika, challenges us to write an Echo poem. I’d never heard of this form before, before. Have you, you? I’ve had great fun with it, it! Whether I’ve succeeded is another matter, another matter.

To read O’nika’s prompt guidelines, click below.

O’Nika’s prompt: Echo verse

This week, let’s play with rhyme and repetition by writing an echo poem about firsts.

What is an echo poem?

An echo poem repeats the ending syllable (or syllables) of each line. That’s it. No strict rules about meter or length.

You can do this in two simple ways:

• Option 1: Repeat the ending syllable(s) at the end of the same line.
• Option 2: Repeat the ending syllable(s) on a short line directly beneath it, like an echo.

For example:

Is there anything to know? No!
Is there anything at all? At all?

—or—

Is there anything to know? 
No!
Is there anything at all?
At all?

Our W3 challenge

1. Write an echo poem about a first — first love, first heartbreak, first bike ride, first apartment, first snowfall, first pet, first anything that mattered.
2. Show us how you felt — excited, embarrassed, afraid, proud, uncertain.
3. Include at least one variation of one of these words:
   • Early (earlier, earliest)
   • Begin (beginning, began, begun, begins)
   • Primary (primarily, primaries)
   • Start (start, started, starting, starts)
4. Let the repetition do some of the emotional work; and have fun with the echo!
   

My First Solo Comedy Song

When I was at school, I was given my first solo comedy song to sing in a show. I was thrilled and practised it over and over. The song was The Bee Song, with lines I can still remember today: “Oh what a wonderful thing to be, a healthy grown-up busy busy bee, whiling away all the passing hours, pinching all the pollen from the cauliflowers / bzz bzz bzz honey bee, honey bee,” made famous by the legendary comedy star Arthur Askey.

On the first night, I stood in the wings waiting for my cue. I preened my cloth wings and prepared to make my entrance.

In the echo poem below, Frank invites me to retell what happened when I stepped onto the stage to sing that solo for the very first time.

The Bee Who Forgot the Words

First of all I’d like to thank
Frank
for inviting me to speak here today—
okay  wahay
about the first time I sang on stage
at a young age
I was dressed as a bee
hee hee not me
I began the first line
which was fine
then I forgot the rest—
no jest!
to cover up my error
in terror
I circle all around the stage for an age in a blur 
and… er
run buzzing stage left and stage right 
in a fright
flapping my wings for a half hour or more when
then
I remember the last line
all’s fine
I take a bow  then buzz off stage—
backstage 
flying into the wings scared out of my wits—
do the splits
I’d hardly sung a word
absurd.

—Lesley Scoble, March 2026

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The Bee Who Forgot the Words – Audio Narration

Narrated by me.

Note on the Echo Form

The Echo form draws inspiration from echo verse, a poetic device popular in 16th–17th‑century Europe, where the final syllable or word of a line is repeated as an answering “echo.” Poets such as George Herbert (1593 – 1633) and Jonathan Swift 1667-1745 used the technique to create resonance, wit, and a sense of call‑and‑response.

In contemporary writing, Echo poetry has no single inventor and no fixed, authoritative structure. Modern poets adapt the idea freely, using repetition, reflection, or a second “voice” to create dialogue within the poem.

I rather like the echo form
like the echo form

Arthur Askey sings The Bee Song

The clip shows Arthur Askey performing on The Good Old Days, where The Bee Song is his second number.

THANK YOU

Thank you, David, for your Weekly Wea’ve W3 Poetry Prompts and for your continuing inspirational encouragement.

Thank you, O’nika, for your inspiring prompt — I’m truly grateful.

My blog has been included in BlogToRead’s Best Poetry Blogs to Read in 2026, which is rather lovely and unexpected — thank you, BlogToRead.com.

And thank you, dear readers, for your continued support.

Best Poetry blog to read in 2026