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Toddaid

Hello, dVerse poets. This is my first dVerse prompt for 2024, so let me wish all of you a very happy and healthy new year!

This is Meeting the Bar (MTB), which means we’re working with forms. Today’s challenge is to write a toddaid. It’s a Welsh poetic form that I’ve seen as quatrains and couplets. As close as I can determine from asking Welsh poets on Twitter/X, it’s pronounced TOTH-eyed, with the th like that in “although,” a soft th, and o as in “got.”

Here is what Writer’s Digest says about the form:

“Comprised of quatrains (or four-line stanzas).
Lines one and three have 10 syllables; lines two and four have nine syllables.
Lines two and four end rhyme.
A syllable near the end of line one rhymes with a syllable in the middle of line two.
A syllable near the end of line three rhymes with a syllable in the middle of line four.
Note on length: Toddaid can be as concise as one stanza (like my example below) or run on for multiple stanzas.”

However, other sites indicate it’s written in couplets:

Our own Jane Dougherty offers this advice

“Structure is couplets, L1 10 syllables, L2 9 syllables. Main rhyme, which can be assonance or consonance, is mid L1 end L2, and there’s an echo rhyme end of L1 and mid L2. Like all Welsh forms it should be song-like.”

OK. So, what does all this mean? I would say start with one couplet, a ten-syllable first line and then a nine-syllable line. Be aware of sound–assonance and consonance. The main rhyme is the end of the line with the middle of the next line, while the lines end with almost-rhymes of assonance or consonance.

For this prompt, I want you to write at least 2 couples, that is, four lines–but write more if you wish. I’m not the poetry police, and I won’t be counting your syllables or deciding if you’ve rhymed correctly. I want you to have fun with the form. However, if you’re not going to follow the rules as best you can, there’s no point in writing to the challenge, right?

Here is my first attempt:

In this darkest time of year, comes a trill,
robins flutter still, and the sky wings

with songs of light, quick questions in the sky,
but answers fly, beyond our finding.

–Merril D. Smith 2024

When you’re ready, post your poem on your blog, and place the link to your post in Mr. Linky,
Then visit and comment on others’ posts!

Many of us don’t have the time to write to every prompt, and there may be prompts you don’t want to do. It’s you choice always!

Mister Linky for this prompt should be open until Saturday, 3PM EST. If you miss a prompt, feel free to return to it at some other time, and you can always link your poem for an Open Link Night.