A real challenge today from http://www.napowrimo.net to”compose a poem in Sapphics. These are quatrains whose first three lines have eleven syllables, and the fourth, just five. There is also a very strict meter that alternates trochees (a two-syllable foot, with the first syllable stressed, and the second unstressed) and dactyls (a three-syllable foot, with the first syllable stressed and the remainder unstressed). The first three lines consist of two trochees, a dactyl, and two more trochees. The fourth line is a dactyl, followed by a trochee.” Well then, here’s my effort! (Just the one quatrain. I was in a grad school class from 9 am to 4 pm today, and my brain is unwilling to do more work tonight!)
.
There is nothing underwear can help, although
Lace and satin brassieres up-standing bestow
dignity of private pleasure, of secret
slitherings below.
.
(This theme is completely because ‘underwear’ is such a nice dactyl, lol)
Shawn L. Bird 
Very nice… I dare not close my eyes to allow my imagination to run wild
lol
I like it! Thank you for the explanation too – I love learning those details about poetry and composition.
The NaPoWriMo.net prompts are usually quite thorough. I was quoting from the instructions. You should check it out and give it a try!
Your poems are amazing. All new n refreshing. Love it!
Thanks, Archana! I do my best!
Wow. Wonderful work for a very difficult challenge. My head was spinning just reading your instructions. But you made it look easy. The mark of good writing.
That’s kind of you to say, Tony.
Wow, this is fantastic! The prompt instructions were way too complicated for me to understand, much less even try! Kudos to you on a stellar sapphic 🙂 Nice dactyl underwear and all 😉
Thanks. When I wrote Grace Awakening, I included a quatrain in dactylic hexameter to start every chapter- it’s also a Greek meter used in epic poetry. I spent an entire summer at it. I’m pretty sure no one ever reads them when they’re reading the novel, either. lol
Slitherings, eh?
Yup. Into crevices, most uncomfortably, like snakes.
SHAWN;I have a love of the longer version! The more descriptive the better from my view! Old-fashioned I guess??? THANKS for your blogging!!
Thanks, Sandy.
I think I prefer the longer version, too.
the sapphics prompt was a tricky challenge
Yes, it was!