Hello everyone! This is Gayle from Bodhirose’s Blog and I’m your host for Form-For-All/ Meeting the Bar. Today we’ll be taking a look at the poetic form known as décima. There are various versions of it, but we’re going to be working with the version popular in Puerto Rico. It is a 10-liner with 8 syllables (octosyllabic) per line in the following rhyme pattern:
A B B A A C C D D C
In Puerto Rico and other parts of Latin America, the décima is often sung and improvised. The form is also sometimes referred to as espinela after its founder, Spanish writer and musician Vicente Espinel. Those who write and perform décimas are known as decimistas or deimeros.
Vicente Espinel, in full Vicente Gómez Martínez-Espinel (baptized December 28, 1550, Ronda, Málaga, Spain—died February 4, 1624, Madrid), who was remembered chiefly for his picaresque novel, La vida del Escudero Marcos de Obregón (1618; “Life of Squire Marcos of Obregón”).
Vicente Espinel; Photo Pinterest.com
He attended the University of Salamanca where he graduated with a bachelor of arts and ten years later earned a masters of arts at the University of Alcalá. Espinel traveled widely, and in one of his trips was captured by pirates in Algiers in 1572, Espinel entered the army and led a roguish life very much like that of his character Marcos from his novel, visiting Italy, Flanders, and the Netherlands. He returned to Spain in 1584 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1587.
As to the form, the décima deals with a wide range of subject matter, including themes that are philosophical, religious, lyrical, and political. Humorous décimas typically would satirize an individual’s weakness or something silly they did. A decimero would frequently challenge the target of the satire, or his/her defender, to respond in kind with a décima, thereby setting up a song duel that tested the originality and wit of each composer.
The décima, when sung in Puerto Rico, is invariably sung to the tune of a slow seis—the music which has been fused with the décima and which is traditionally played with a cuatro, guitar and güiro, or scratch gourd.
I found an example of a décima written in English by George Santayana (16 December 1863 – 26 September 1952 / Madrid)
Silent daisies out of reach,
Maidens of the starry grass,
Gazing on me as I pass
With a look too wise for speech,
Teach me resignation,–
teach Patience to the barren clod,
As, above your happier sod,
Bending to the wind’s caress,
You–unplucked, alas!–no less
Sweetly manifest the god.
As with many forms where syllables are counted and especially when the form originates from a different language there can be less or more (7 – 9) than the standard eight that we will be keeping to today.
My own décima:
Spring
Spring, you have mostly come and gone.
I think you were here a moment;
we seem to just get a token,
flash-in-the-pan liaison.
I suppose we can’t much count on
you dallying here when winters
are mild with barely a shiver.
No, that would be much too greedy
so let’s make up now my sweetie;
I forgive that you don’t linger.
by Gayle Walters Rose; all rights reserved.
So let’s see what fun we all can have as we dabble in the poetry form of Latin America!
Here are instructions on linking your poetry:
- Leave a small comment below, or please join us in our discussions.
- Click on Mr. Linky and enter your name where indicated, copy the URL of your poem and enter it into the space provided and then click “Enter.”
- There you will find links to all the other poets. Others will join during the next 48 hours so check back for more reading.
- Read and comment on other poet’s work, we all come here to have our poems read and to be acknowledged.
- Promote the poetry that you like on the social media of your choice.
- Please link back to dVerse from your site.
- Enjoy and have fun!
Bodhirose said:
Welcome everyone! I hope you feel inspired to join in with our latest prompt. I think it will be fun…not too challenging.
Gayle ~
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
I had actually more trouble than I thought at first.. sonnets are easier.
Mary said:
Ha, you jest! Smiles!
Bodhirose said:
That’s what I think, Mary! :~)
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
No I found the short lines being challenging…
lillian said:
Jest indeed! I agree!
Bodhirose said:
And I find sonnets more challenging…I wonder why that is??
Mary said:
Just challenging enough, Gayle!
Bodhirose said:
Good! 🙂
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
Hello everyone… this form was enjoyable… but also more challenging than I thought first… it’s a lot of rhymes.. and telling stories with just eight syllables is hard.. I think I understand why most English poetry is pentameter.
Mary said:
Gayle, I really enjoyed the form. It seems at the moment I am more inspired by forms than by topics. And I had never tried this form before so it was fun to give it a try! Thank you!
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
I’m glad you thought so… there are so many good forms out there. I have played around with free verse a lot (but often it’s pentameter with extra line-breaks)
Linda Kruschke said:
I agree. I prefer form/lesson prompts rather than topic prompts generally. This form is great!
Mary said:
I haven’t always felt that way, but lately since I am going through an uninspired time for some reason FORM is the thing that inspires me because it is sort of like putting together a puzzle.
Bodhirose said:
So glad you enjoyed the prompt, Linda, thanks!
Bodhirose said:
I’ve found the same thing, Mary, that when I seem to be in a slump a form can sometimes give me that push that I need. I’m so glad that it helped…you’re welcome!
Mary said:
Yes, as I said above, it feels more like working on a puzzle than struggling with finding an idea for a poem. Somehow when there is a form the idea comes. Odd, but it works.
Glenn Buttkus said:
I never tried this form before, but took to it like a dog to a bone. After writing a traditional one, with the proper rhyme scheme, my need for free verse snagged me, & I whipped out two more. Odd that, I got into the decima groove, & felt like I could go on & on effortlessly. Will wonders never cease?
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
Rhymes are fun I think… sometimes it’s like doing found poetry I think, liked your poem a lot, and nice to see you again.. it’s been a while, and this crazy month there are way too many prompts.
Bodhirose said:
Happy to see you, Glenn and I’m so glad you liked the form and even that you wanted to go free verse with it. There are apparently other decima forms but I went with the Puerto Rican one. We can’t get too scattered with our instruction, it might be too confusing…smiles!
lillian said:
Next you should pick up a guitar! 🙂
Bodhirose said:
I’ll be leaving for an appointment in a few minutes but will return later to catch up and comment further.
Gayle ~
lillian said:
Loved the video! And had fun with the form. Lately I’ve been in a light-hearted mood — for a while there I was on the dark side. As I wrote in my explanation, this is sort of like dueling banjos with words! Even though i don’t understand Spanish, I could tell those guys were thinking on their feet 🙂
Bodhirose said:
I’m appreciating your light-hearted mood, Lillian. I tend to move between light and dark depending on which way I’m inspired I suppose. I can’t imagine having to come up with a rhyming poem and then singing it as you go…pretty impressive! 🙂
Gay Reiser Cannon said:
Hi – I got it wrong the first time – thought it was abba cddc cd so when I re-read the article I changed it. I think Bjorn is right, sonnets are easier. Anyway this is my entry for the day. If I’m lucky I’ll get a chance to read as I’m hoping to do. My life as y’all know is always in flux. I’ll do my best!
Bodhirose said:
Hi Gay, sorry about getting the rhyming messed up but I’m glad you had the time to change it and link it up. I’m going to have to focus on doing a sonnet for real. All my sonnets thus far have been “Not a Sonnet” as categorized in my poem list. :~)
Sanaa Rizvi (@rizvi_sanaa) said:
Hey everyone,
Happy Earth Day 😀 (in advance) hope you’re having a wonderful day so far, sharing my poem “Renascence.” Thank you Gayle for the lovely prompt. Hope you like it.
Lots of love,
Sanaa
Bodhirose said:
Hi Sanaa, nice to see you and happy early Earth Day to you too! xo
Pleasant Street said:
This one is outside of my means but I am enjoying reading ^_^
Bodhirose said:
I’m glad you’re enjoying the reading, P.S. :~)
Bryan Ens said:
Gayle, this is a wonderful prompt. I had not heard of this form before, and it called out to me to re-write a segment of a legend.
Mary said:
I really loved your take, Bryan!
Bodhirose said:
Super happy that you liked it, Bryan. I discovered it a few years ago and wrote one and then decided to share it with everyone today. I look forward to reading yours.
Myrna said:
Gayle, thank you for this prompt. I just had to write something since I remember my grandfather and others singing in our living room. Often the themes were patriotic about our little island in the Caribbean. Anyway, this brought back so many memories I just had to write about it. It’s amazing to me now to think that i knew poeple who could sing these while spontaneously coming up with original lyrics. Wow, it says a lot about culture.
Bodhirose said:
Myrna, I was especially touched by what you shared in your decima. I feel that your grandfather cared deeply for you and wanted to share his/your culture with you. It put a lump in my throat. I’m so glad that you decided to write a decima in his honor. I know he would be proud.
Bekkie said:
I love to rhyme but have never tried this form before. I agree with a lot of you, I like to try new forms and it’s a lot freer than a topic because you can write about whatever pops into your mind. When I learn a new form I usually bring forth some new thoughts too!
I have always used different forms in my poetry but still say sonnets are hard! Lol!
Thank you, Gayle, for this great form to try. Now I must see if I can come up with something.
Hugs! Bekkie
Bodhirose said:
Hi Bekkie, I feel the same way that you do about sonnets. I’ve yet to write a “proper” one. I’m glad you want to give this form a try and look forward to what springs forth. Hugs…Gayle
Bekkie said:
Just posted it Gayle! It took a little work but I think I did it. It’s late here so going offline now I just couldn’t stop until it was done. Lol!
Night! Bekkie
whimsygizmo said:
In a rush today, and got a little silly with mine, but syllable count and such are there. Back later to read. 🙂 Thanks, Gayle.
Bodhirose said:
Hi De, I think silly is good and am glad you came up with something…thank you!
Arcadia Maria said:
Hello everyone. I haven’t written a decima poem in awhile. I decided to try my hand at it once again. 🙂
Bodhirose said:
Hi Maria, so glad you wanted to give it another try. Thanks for joining with us.
Bodhirose said:
It’s almost 11PM here so will be signing off until tomorrow after I finish with my wee three year old. Thanks to all who have shared today, I appreciate you.
Gayle ~
kim881 said:
Hi Gayle! This looks like a prompt to get your teeth into! I’m sad to say my daughter has now returned to London but will be back in two weeks for the second fitting of her wedding dress, which will probably be the last before the wedding. I always hate to see her go and shed a tear when I left the station. So now I’m ready for a challenge! It’s a very grey and dreary day here in the UK and it looks like rain – purple rain in honour of Prince would be good instead of the usual grey British rain. i can’t see my decima being humorous. I’m looking forward to reading a wide range of deciimas when I get back from listening to children reading later on this morning.
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
Oh yes… I would love to see a homage to Prince… that’s one of the things that’s so great with poetry… the contemporary touch… the immediateness where you get to know the news.. I think news should be set in poems-
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
Just saw that Barry did just that…
Bodhirose said:
I feel your disappointment at your daughter having to leave again. But it seems like you have some happy times to look forward to, Kim. Such a special time to celebrate together.
Yes, purple rain would be appropriate. Such a shock… Today I worked on another decima in his honor. I’ll see if I can finish it up and post it a little later. So glad you want to link up a poem too.
Gayle ~
kim881 said:
I couldn’t wait to read them all! I’m sure I’ll get through them before it’s time for the Norfolk Reading Project session.
Mary said:
This was a really good prompt, Gayle. I will use the form in the future as well. I enjoyed reading some good poetry that resulted. Thank you once again for hosting.
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
I really think this is a form for you Mary… I look forward to read a lot more.
Bodhirose said:
I’m really pleased that you enjoyed it so much, Mary…and you’re very welcome.
Rosemary Nissen-Wade said:
I found it easy to use, but not so easy to use well!
Bodhirose said:
Rosemary, I really liked what you did…truly, you did a great job with the form.
Candy said:
Mr Linky expired before I got a chance to post 😕
Bodhirose said:
Hi Candy…so sorry about that but if you’d like you could post it for Open Link Night this week. I would love to read it!
Gayle ~
Candy said:
Good Idea!