This week, Dawn Minott is our Poet‑of‑the‑Week for W3 Prompt #210. She invites us to write a Dectina Refrain in honour of Mother’s Day (ours was in March), reflecting on mothers by blood or by choice. The focus is unconditional love, and the poem must include the word mother (or a variation of it).
For details on the poetry form see below.
Dawn’s prompt: Dectina Refrain
The Dectina Refrain is a 10-line, unrhymed, syllabic poem with a precise structure:
- Line 1: 1 syllable
- Line 2: 2 syllables
- Line 3: 3 syllables
- Line 4: 4 syllables
- Line 5: 5 syllables
- Line 6: 6 syllables
- Line 7: 7 syllables
- Line 8: 8 syllables
- Line 9: 9 syllables
- Line 10 (Refrain): Combine the exact text of lines 1–4, in order, as a single closing line
Key Points
- No rhyme is required.
- Keep the syllable count strict for each line.
- The final line should repeat lines 1–4 word-for-word, creating a reflective or cumulative ending.
Tip
Because the last line reuses your opening lines, think carefully about how those first four lines will resonate when brought together at the end.
My Mother’s Wise Words
Wise words from one’s mother tend to stay with you for life. One lesson returns every time I empty the washing machine. My mother said: “Always check for odd socks and give the drum a spin to see if anything’s left behind.” I can’t unload a washing machine without thinking of my ma.
As a child I was fond of slouching and watching the ground, so another instruction, “Look up, never look down,” which was meant to make me more graceful, stayed with me too, and became the seed of inspiration for this poem.
Posture
my
mother
said: look up,
never look down
keep your head held high
walk tall, don’t sigh, don’t frown,
she forgot to tell me that
with chin tilt aloof—I’d fall flat
and miss all the spilt coins on the ground
my mother said: look up, never look down.
—Lesley Scoble, May 2026
Audio — Posture
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My thanks to Dawn for her inspiring prompt.
Thank you, as always, David, for your encouragement and your motivational weekly prompts.
And most of all, my thanks to you, the reader, for spending this time with me.
LesleyScoble.com 
Leave a comment