My 1st Zéjel
There's raw, deep sage honey for bread;
Freshly churned sweet butter to spread;
'Course, some prefer beet jam instead...
Some love their tart tidbits with tea;
Take doughy plot holes with coffee;
Relish fruit bars, nutty toffee...
~ It's stale, corny flavors I dread.
For clichés some pour out their purse;
Favor lines bland and much rehearsed;
On neat platters, spiritless verse;
~ Sate the stomach; not so the head.
Wond'ring, I combine odd flavors;
Might sour lim'ricks gain some favor?
Rich elegies, wrapped in laver?
~ S'okay... They'll be hot when I'm dead.
d’Verse prompt
Poetry Form: Zéjel
At d’Verse, we were prompted to write a Zéjel, which is a Spanish form with Arabic influence related to the Qasida and adopted by the Spanish troubadours of 15th century. It may have appeared even earlier, around the tenth century in Moorish Spain as part of a movement looking for freedom from the classical forms of the day. The zéjel tended to be a lighter form, like the English limerick.
The Zéjel is distinguished by linking rhyme established in the opening mudanza (strophe in which the theme is established in a mono-rhymed triplet). There have been many variations of the form, in Arabic a variation of the form is called the Zahal.
The elements of the simplest and most common form of the Zéjel are:
- syllabic, most often written in 8 syllable lines.
- stanzaic, opening with a mono-rhymed triplet followed by any number of quatrains.
- rhymed, the rhyme of the opening mudanza establishes a linking rhyme with the end line of the succeeding quatrains. Rhyme scheme, aaa bbba ccca etc.
The Skeptic's Kaddish 🇮🇱 
That’s a good one David
Thanks, Sling.
🧡
David
Great title how cleaver. I love hummus. Nice piece.
We are out of hummus right now and carrots. Hugs 🤗 to you and your family. Joni 💕❤️
Out of hummus?! How awful for you, Joni!
❤
David
You have such a great sense of humor David. You are a hoot.
❤️Joni❤️
The metaphor of food to poetry is great:
On neat platters, spiritless verse;
The problem with adhering to form I think
💝 Björn 💝
Are you now tempting your readers with words that make them hungry? Haha.
Wonderfully written. Makes my mouth water. 🙂
🧆 Terveen 🧆
I laughed out loud when I read your title. This is a tasty poem!
🤭 Sara 🤭
Thanks!
David
I need breakfast now!😋
❤ Diana ❤
Much love,
David
I love your word combos David – so tasty!
❤ Marion – thank you! ❤
kaykuala
There’s merriment in the title David. It jives with your writing!
Hank
❤ thanks so much, Hank ❤
You pulled this together with humor and verve.
❤ Lisa ❤
I pulled it out of my Verve Pipe!
Much love,
David
Toot! Toot!
David, for heaven’s sake! Your name has become a synonym for clever in my dictionary and now you invade the space culinary!!
❤️😊
well – I was imagining the first three lines with the monorhyme as a bar of butter, which I proceeded to spread on the following three stanzas 😉
You did it smoothly. 😄
no lumps in the butter, then? 😉
Lol! No. 😂
First of all David, I LOVE your title. That’s the kind of title I would be proud of. And I love what you’ve done with the form, working in all of those tastes and flavours, both poetic and culinary!
💟 Thanks so much, Ingrid 💟