General Poetry posted May 24, 2016 Chapters:  ...405 406 -407- 408... 


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Progresso Quattro

A chapter in the book Little Poems

White Reflections

by Treischel



All things are simple, where I often stand,
in shallow water, looking all about,
as long legs balance talons in the sand.

I crane my lanky neck, and strain my eyes,
to spy a tasty morsel hid nearby.
Then, when I do, they'll get a big surprise,
as lightning quick, a jav'lin thrust applies.

Now, I don't claim to be too mean or neat,
but Giant Egrets, like me, need to eat.
So, I'll eat frogs and fish, or anything
with meat, that all my foraging may bring.
I'll stalk the shores until the day's complete.

I have the whitest feathers in this pond.
So tall and stately, I attract the girls.
Then when I spread my wings, they take command,
as all my feathered muscles then respond.
They lift me as my majesty unfurls
the biggest, baddest bird in this great land.





Recognized


This bird is a Great White Egret. I shot this photo two days ago, then thought, "This needs a poem."
Yes, I did intend a play on "reflections" in the Title.
Yes, I know its in the Herron family, not the Crane, but I couldn't resist that line about its neck.
The Great White Egret (Ardea alba), is also known as the Common Egret, Large Egret or Great White Heron. The scientific name comes from Latin ardea "heron", and alba, "white." It is a large heron with all-white plumage. Standing up to 1 m (3.3 ft) tall, this species can measure 80 to 104 cm (31 to 41 in) in length and have a wingspan of 131 to 170 cm (52 to 67 in). Apart from size, the great egret can be distinguished from other white egrets by its yellow bill and black legs and feet. It has a slow flight, with its neck retracted. This is characteristic of herons and bitterns, and distinguishes them from storks, cranes, ibises, and spoonbills, which extend their necks in flight. In North America, large numbers of great egrets were killed around the end of the 19th century so that their plumes could be used to decorate hats. Numbers have since recovered as a result of conservation measures.

This is a Progresso Quattro.
Progresso Quattro - Created by H. R. Jones - 4 progressive stanzas in iambic Pentameter, comprising of a Tercet, Quatrain, Quintain, and a Sestet in that order. 18 lines in length.
Rhyme scheme is optional, but at least one of the rhyme sounds from the Tercet must appear in the sestet.
Each of the stanzas builds on the theme of the Tercet.
It is similar to a Italian Heroic Sonnet with 18 lines. The Italian Sonnets do not have ending couplets. The difference between the Progresso Quattro is that the Heroic Italian Sonnet, is broken into 3 or 5 parts, and the Progresso Quattro is broken into 4 parts.
For this poem, I modified the Quintain's rhyme scheme to, eeffe, and picked up the "a" rhtyme from the tercet and included it in the sestet, as: ghgagha.
So, the poem's total rhyme scheme is:
aba cdcd eeffe ghagha.

This photograph was taken by the author himself in Battle Creek Park of Maplewood, Minnesota, on May 12, 2016.
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