every life matters to most, while gasping
“I can’t breathe” are just words, bringing
pain ... riots … looting ~ BLM — to center ring.
==================================================================================
Author's Notes:
The above Rhyming Poem has been three years in the making. I have created a brand new poetry format and I hope it will be part of my legacy. I call this poem’s structure - Extended Sidecar. The poem is comprised of three units. This structure builds on an earlier two-year format that I named a Sidecar poem in May, 2021. The timescale to write the three units requires 2-3 years, and the final rhyming, three-part poem should not be made public until the third-year anniversary of the original event - in this case, the tragic death of George Floyd in 2020.
History: Three years ago, I wrote a poem entitled Resistance?”. . . .. ‘a martyr in the making’. I submitted the poem as a Lune Poetry Contest entry in 2020. The poem references the killing of George Floyd in 2020 - one of the great American tragedies.
Floyd’s famous plea - I can’t breathe - forms the second line of the Lune poem.
Floyd died on May 25, 2020. Five days later, I posted this Lune poem:
every life matters
“I can’t breathe” ~
pain … riots … looting
FS Rules for the Lune Poetry Contest -
The poem has 5 syllables in the first line, 3 syllables in the second line, and 5 syllables in the final line. Rhymes are acceptable but not required. The subject matter is open.
Extended Sidecar Poem
The Extended Sidecar Poem is a new form created by FS Member - Lobber, between May, 2020 and May, 2022.
There are three ways to read my completed Extended Sidecar poem - “George Floyd (1973-2020)”
1. [] Read just the blue font downward - this is my original three-line Lune poem entitled “Resistance” - posted May 30, 2020.
every life matters
“I can’t breathe”
pain ... riots … looting
2. [] Read the blue and red fonts across, then down - this is my three-line, Sidecar, 20-syllable poem entitled “Three Little Words” - posted May 10, 2021.
every life matters to most, while
“I can’t breathe” are just words,
pain ... riots … looting ~ BLM
3. [] Read the blue, red, and ‘black’ fonts across, and you have my final three-line, Extended Sidecar poem, entitled “George Floyd (1973-2020)” - posted May 26, 2022.
every life matters to most, while gasping
“I can’t breathe” are just words, bringing
pain ... riots … looting ~ BLM — to center ring.
==================================================================================
Rules for writing a three-year Sidecar Extension poem.
Poem A: Write a 3-line Lune (5-3-5) poem. Select a topic or event that you can celebrate, pay tribute to, or honor annually for three years. (Suggestion) - Use blue font.
Poem B: For the 2nd year anniversary use Poem A to create a new “20-syllable” poem, i.e. Sidecar Poem (Poem B) by extending each line of your original 3-line Lune poem. Use the blue font for the original poem words and (Suggestion) - Use the red font for the new words (i.e., 7 additional syllables). Poem A and the new Poem B must address the same topic.
Poem C: For the 3rd year anniversary, extend each line of Poem B to create an Extended Sidecar poem (Poem C) on the same topic, and where all three lines must now rhyme. I maintained the colorings of the fonts used in the original Poem A and Poem B, and use the black font for the additional new words used to create Poem C - i.e. the Extended Sidecar poem.
Note: All three poems must address the same topic. There are no limits to the number of syllables for each line of Poem C.
In tribute to this American tragedy, I decided that the colors of 'red and blue' on 'white' as most appropriate.
- Lobber, aka
Gerald (Jerry) J. Smith
N.B. - For those wishing to write either a "Sidecare" or "Extended Sidecar" poem, I would ask that you give credit for the form(s) to Lobber, the original poet and creator. (May, 26, 2022)
