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Happy Monday, dVerse poets, and welcome to the pub, which is now open! It’s Kim from Writing in North Norfolk bringing you the Q44, our Quadrille, when we take any meaning of one word and transform it into 44 poetic words. Today, I want you to write a poem of exactly 44 words (not counting your title), including the word ghost.

According to Wikipedia, the English word ‘ghost’ comes from the Old English word ‘gás’ via ‘gaistaz’ which is West Germanic. The pre-Germanic form was related to the Old Norse geisa, meaning ‘to rage’. Besides denoting the human spirit or soul, of both the living and the deceased, the Old English word is used as a synonym of the Latin spiritus. It could also denote any good or evil spirit, such as angels and demons, as well as the spirit of God.  The now-prevailing sense of ‘the soul of a deceased person, spoken of as appearing in a visible form’ only emerged in the 14th century. The modern noun does, however, retain a wider field of application, extending on the one hand to ‘soul’, ‘spirit’, ‘vital principle’, ‘mind’, or ‘psyche’, the seat of feeling, thought, and moral judgement; and on the other hand, it is used figuratively of any shadowy outline, or fuzzy or unsubstantial image.

There are many different types of ghost, from the Holy Ghost to Banquo’s, Cathy’s or Marley’s ghosts. You can have a ghostly experience, a ghost writer and ghosting on the TV screen – you can even experience ghosting personally, which I understand is the practice of ending a personal relationship with someone by suddenly and without explanation withdrawing from all communication. Have you ever seen, heard or felt the presence of a ghost? Have you visited a ghost town, had the ghost of a chance or a ghost at the feast?

Don’t give up the ghost! Come ghostbusting with us! Just be sure your 44-word poem contains some form of the word ghost.

ephemera

Here’s how to Quadrille:

– Write a poem of exactly 44 words, including the word ghost.
– Put your poem on your blog and link back to this post.
– Link it up to our Mr. Linky.
– Visit other blogs. Enjoy some amazing poets. Comment. Come back later this week and write another one, and visit some more. Comment some more. Create as many ghostly poems as you please. I’ll be reading all week.