Knowledge was my first thought for a word but that doesn’t sound very poetry inspiring. I am big on knowledge, education, and wisdom. They are all somewhat intertwined. But you can be wise without having a college degree. When I began the year with the thought of being positive with my challenges, who knew how challenging a year it would be? But in a way, it does bring about inspirational thoughts out of some… well I can’t even come up with a word that really captures the way things are these  days. As a former history teacher, someone that studied a lot of European history and being a US citizen, of course, I can see the similarities but also the differences of the events that are going on. I am a big believer in the old adage of “Those who do not learn from the experience of the past are doomed to repeat it.”. But I suppose I’m not really surprised at how today is. History has been swept well away to the side in the US education system in favor of STEM or STEAM now. History and the social sciences teach you about people, how they have acted and how they might act.

OVI POETRY

Ovi is a syllabic/metre poetry form. In this case, Ovi is from India, originating in the Marathi language. The Ovi  has been in use in written form since the 13th Century, but the women’s ovee/ovi predates the literary form by at least the 12th Century.

The Ovi are in general, lyrical folk songs expressing love, social irony, and heroic events. They are written in the following scheme.

4 line stanzas, as few as one stanza and up to as many as you like.

8 syllables or less per line

Rhyming is AAAb. The second stanza would be CCCd. The third, EEEf. And so on. Meaning nothing in one stanza must rhyme with anything in the previous stanza. The fourth line does not rhyme.

Example:

Roly Poly by Judi Van Gorder

The big toothed tot with golden hair
picked up a bug on Sister’s dare,
it rolled into a ball right there
and won her springtime heart.

Notice the rhyming pattern is AAAb or
A
A
A
b

My Attempt

Blue flowers continue to grow,
with the shadow’s making them glow,
giving life to darkness and woe,
dying each year to yet return.