This month it was my turn to choose the Inklings challenge. I was intrigued by Wendy Everard’s prompt during Ethical ELA’s October Open Write to write a luc bat. Luc bat means six eight in Vietnamese, and the form alternates 6 and 8 syllable lines. There is no particular subject and no required length, but there is an interesting, interwoven rhyme scheme. Here’s how Writer’s Digest shows it:

xxxxxA
xxxxxAxB
xxxxxB
xxxxxBxC
xxxxxC
xxxxxCxD
xxxxxD
xxxxxDxE

You can read their full description here.

I knew I wanted to play around with this form, and I figured if I set it as the challenge, I’d be sure to do so. It turned out to be a relatively tricky form, at least for me. So, as I’m wont to do, I turned to the marsh for inspiration.

Again I Turn to the Marsh

dawn lures me to the marsh
some find this setting harsh and miss
the subtle shifts and bliss
of tide, land, wings that kiss the sky
as herons, egrets fly
gulls soar, their strokes a sigh, a clue
of movement against blue
and all that is askew turns right
My spirits, too, take flight

©Molly Hogan

If you want to see what the other Inklings did with this challenge, click on the links below:

Linda Mitchell
Margaret Simon
Heidi Mordhorst
MaryLee Hahn
Catherine Flynn

This week’s Poetry Friday is hosted by Anastasia Suen at her blog.