Task 1: Iambic Pentameter

With Spock and Alf asleep upon the bed,

I write these lines to pull them from my head.

The day is cold, the sky is bright and blue.

It’s Christmas soon, I have so much to do.

The book I read is wrote by Stephen Fry,

And talks of poems silly, grave and more.

To write some twenty lines he does require,

Which helps to show the point of all this text.

I have my list for shopping ready here.

I need to go next week to buy the rest.

We decorated all the office walls,

With handmade decs from wrapping paper made.

It’s not the greatest work concieved by man,

But brightens up our room and spreads good cheer.

I have a headache; drugs are failing me.

Soon Mum will hoover; that won’t help, I’m sure.

Just four more lines I have to write today.

Now three, then two, then one, then done, hooray!

The cats are still asleep upon my bed.

With closing eyes and gently nodding heads.

I’m currently re-reading Stephen Fry’s The Ode Less Travelled – I started reading it a few years ago (I see there is a new edition now) but never finished it. So I’ve started again. It’s a great little book – it’s written in a way that you (well, I anyway) hear his voice as you read it – unquestionably Fryish. He sets little tasks throughout the book, initially focusing on meter rather than sense or depth etc., and today’s task was Iambic Pentameter. Nonsensical but hopefully scans!