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Sharpen your pencils, keep an  eraser close

or keep your fingers poised on the keyboard

rein in your rambles, let loose your imagination

write, count, erase/delete count again; remove that word

all I ask for is forty four words of poetry, not prose!

Hello everyone!

I am Punam and I am your host/bartender tonight.

Do pardon my bad poetry above! You certainly don’t need this advice, for today is dVerse’s most popular poetry prompt day and you all do know how to craft masterpieces in just forty-four words.

For those new to dVerse, a  quadrille is our very own homegrown form where we write a poem of exactly 44 words excluding the title. If you are adventurous you could write a sijo, a tanka, a golden shovel or use any other poetic form as long as you don’t exceed the word limit.

Okay, let’s get to the business of writing. Tonight we are having a slumber party ( as it is way past midnight where I live) and everyone is invited! Bring your fluffiest pillow, come in your most comfortable clothes, the drinks and food are on the house but you must compose a Q before you slumber! Yes, that’s the word you are using today!

I found something very interesting as I was researching the word slumber. ‘Sleep and slumber are often used interchangeably, but there are subtle differences between the two. Sleep generally refers to the natural state of rest in which the body is inactive, the eyes are closed, and consciousness is suspended. Slumber, on the other hand, specifically refers to a light or partial sleep, often used in a poetic or literary context to convey a peaceful or tranquil state of rest. While both terms refer to a state of rest, slumber carries a connotation of a gentler, more serene form of sleep.”

So let’s get started. Below are diverse poetic interpretations of slumber.

A slumber did my spirit seal

By William Wordsworth

A slumber did my spirit seal;

I had no human fears:

She seemed a thing that could not feel

The touch of earthly years.

No motion has she now, no force;

She neither hears nor sees;

Rolled round in earth’s diurnal course,

With rocks, and stones, and trees.

Memorably used by The Beatles as the lyrics for their song of the same name on the Abbey Road LP, ‘Golden Slumbers’ is a lullaby from Thomas Dekker’s 1603 play Patient Grissel, written with Henry Chettle and William Haughton.

Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,

Smiles awake you when you rise;

Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,

And I will sing a lullaby,

Rock them, rock them, lullaby.

Fear of slumber tonight

By Joseph Estes

Fear of slumber tonight

Ever been afraid to sleep?

Afraid to dream?

What slumber I need,

the slumber I dread!

Blissful slumber!

My eyes are heavy,

but awake I’ve become.

Necromancer lady Wilde in the pumpkin garden of festive felines

By Vibrant Oddities

Gentle redwood whisper in the valley of corpses, nomadic carriage of rat dancers follow her soles.

Weightless within the clouds in search of sweet slumber she embraces pumpkin garden under October.

Cemetery felines joyful as skeletons are resurrected, endless necromance from raccoons who sing.

The challenge tonight is to write a quadrille of exactly forty four words including the word “Slumber” or any variation of it but please, do not interchange it with “sleep”.

Here’s a song to get the party going.

Please note Mr. Linky will remain open till next Monday noon.

  • Please link back your post here.
  • Do not leave a link of your blog at Mr. Linky, leave the link of your post.
  • Do come back to read what others have posted.
  • Most importantly, have fun!

I verge on the edge of slumber as I await your entries.