Mary's Mixed Bag: Friday the Thirteenth

Friday the Thirteenth

Hi Toads and Friends,

Welcome to Mary's Mixed Bag!!  Do you suffer from friggatriskaidekaphobia?   In case this word is unfamiliar to you, it means 'fear of Friday the 13th."  According to a web article on the History Channel fear of Friday the 13th affects between 17 and 21 million Americans.  If you are interested in the history of the day, you might wish to click the link above or read the information in this Time Magazine online article.

I am so excited to be the one to present the Friday the 13th Challenge.  Rather than only one idea, I came up with four ideas for you to choose from.    Hopefully one or more will intrigue you.  Here goes:

(1)  Write a rondeau poem.  A rondeau poem has 13 lines plus two lines of refrain.

Perhaps the best-known rondeau is the following World War I poem, In Flanders Fields, by John McCrae:

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow   (A)
Between the crosses, row on row,      (A)
That mark our place, and in the sky,   (B)
The larks, still bravely singing, fly,     (B)

Scarce heard amid the guns below.      (A)
We are the dead; short days ago           (A)
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,  (A)
Loved and were loved, and now we lie  (B)
In Flanders fields.                                   (C)

Take up our quarrel with the foe!            (A)
To you from failing hands we throw       (A)
The torch; be yours to hold it high!         (B)
If ye break faith with us who die             (B)
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow  (A)
In Flanders fields                                       (C)

Notice that the (C) lines are the refrain, and the refrain is the first half of the first line!

Explained differently ( Fisher Circle Poetry Handbook):  A Rondeau has 13 lines plus a four syllable refrain—the first half of the first line—used twice, arranged in three unequal stanzas; usually two main rhymes, plus third rhyme in refrain; iambic lines with four stresses.
    a a b b a
    a a b c
    a a b b a c
(2) Think back to the time when you were thirteen years old (or thereabouts); and write a poem about that time in your life; or write about what you experience(d) when  your own son or daughter was 13 years old.

(3) Write something related to fears or anxieties about Friday the 13th or any other popular superstition(s).  Here are a few popular superstitions.  You can find more by doing a Google search.

            a.  A bird in the house is a sign of death.
            b.  A swarm of bees settling on a roof is an omen that the house will burn down.

            c.  If you say good-bye to a friend on a bridge, you will never see each other again.
            d.  A bed changed on Friday will bring bad dreams.

(4) Here is a simple prompt if nothing else resonates. Write a poem with the title "Friday the 13th."

I do hope that one of the suggestions above will motivate you to write a Friday the 13th poem!  Please link it below, leave a comment, and visit the work of other people who link.  Enjoy.

Mary