Hello, dVerse Poets! It’s Merril, writing from southern New Jersey, where we’ve been experiencing colder winter weather than we’ve had in a few years. It’s fitting then, that today’s quadrille prompt word is shiver.

Some may shiver in anticipation at the snow, others will shiver from the cold. You might shiver from delight, or love, or fear.

In this beautiful poem, Pablo Neruda imagines the stars shivering:

“Tonight I can write the saddest lines.

Write, for example, ‘The night is starry

and the stars are blue and shiver in the distance.”

–from Pablo Neruda, “I Can Write,”

Maya Angelou used shiver in her description of a woman

“Her jowls shiver in accusation”

–Maya Angelou, “Momma Welfare Roll”

And in Tennyson’s famous “The Lady of Shallott” (I just discovered there were different versions!),

“Willows whiten, aspens quiver,

Little breezes dusk and shiver

Thro’ the wave that runs for ever

By the island in the river

       Flowing down to Camelot.”

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “The Lady of Shallott” (1842)

Use shiver–or some form of the word—in a poem of exactly 44 words. The form is up to you. Shiver in rhyme, or shiver in free verse. Shiver in the past, present, or future.

If you’re new to dVerse or the quadrille, it’s simply a poem of 44 words, excluding the title. It can be in any form, rhymed or unrhymed, metered, or unmetered. You MUST use the word “shiver” or some form of the word in your poem. Are you shivering in anticipation? Go and write!

But–please do follow the rules and remember to link back to this post.

When you’re ready, post your poem, and add your link to Mr Linky below so that everyone can find it. Read the poems of others. You may be surprised by all the wonderful poets here at dVerse, and everyone appreciates it when others read their work and leave a comment.