One extra day… that is what I thought I had, like so many others. And what did I do with it? I am not too sure I used it well. But then again, it was an event in itself and in other things that happened in our lives. So, here I go, leaping into March today while I ponder over the last few days..
My son had his first driving lessons and first couple of hours behind the wheel. A cousin and his wife had twins (leap babies!) – long awaited bundles of joy for the whole family.
And to show us the bitter-sweetness that life is, one of our relations(a cousin on my in-law’s side) passed away. And it was a weird coincidence that he was also born on a leap day(February 29) many decades ago. While we dealt with the news, we also realized we should have been in touch with them more than we had. And that it is OK to start now – to keep in touch – with others who we lost touch with.
Poetic Sundays
The Pregunta
This week’s form is called the pregunta (discovered it @ WritersDigest). The word pregunta is Spanish for question, and that is exactly what this poetic form is about.
What is the pregunta poetic form and how to write it?
The pregunta is a Spanish poetic form that originated as a poetic debate in the Spanish courts of the 14th and 15th centuries. It was thus an oral poetic form, where one poet presented his question (pregunta or requesta) in a poem, and another poet gave the answer(respuesta) in a poem of identical form and structure.
Preguntas and their corresponding respuesta were most often paired, but it was not uncommon for multiple poets to reply to the pregunta, sparking a longer poetic debate. Many a time, the pregunta were related to paradoxes or choices in love; for example: should he try to continue wooing the woman he desires but who has not shown any interest, or should he turn to another who is more responsive but whom he loves less?
Note that the form of the poem was free-choice for the poet asking the question, while the answering poet had to stay true to form to the question poem (in its purest form, even the rhyming words).
So the pregunta’s features are
- A poetic debate in a Q&A format, and hence a collaborative form (while a single poet could pose a question, and try to answer it, in the absence of multiple poets for collaboration/debate)
- The first stanza is a question with any structure/rhyme scheme/form
- The second stanza answers the question and has to copy the structure/rhyme scheme/form of the first stanza (in purest form, even the rhyming words)
- While this is not strictly enforced, since it was a poetic debate, normally poets tended to keep the number of syllables across the lines constant
h/t and additional reading
Note: I had hoped to have my example pregunta ready for the post, and you will see it soon…
Last Week
On My Blog
It was all fairy tales and short stories!
My Most Recent Posts
- Deal Me In: Catching Up : Discover short stories (old and new) each week as I update my reads for the Deal Me In challenge
- The Magic of Fairy Tales: Tell One Today : It was National Tell a Fairy Tale Day this last week.
- Mini Reviews: Fairy Tales, Fun Twists : Two tales, with twisty tails (endings, I mean!)
Elsewhere
Loved reading this article on CreativeHealthyFamily. It resonates strongly with what I believe.
MyPhotoADay
Here are a few from last week. Again, this challenge has ensured I take a photo (at least one) everyday but that is not the one I necessarily post on instagram – those are older ones that fit any one of the many daily photo themes to use.
Upcoming
On My Blog
Since I did not get everything I planned to post this last week, I hope to get to them this week! 🙂
Elsewhere
This coming week is full of fun events, and I am listing a few I think I will enjoy celebrating (am skipping the very many foodie national days I know I will enjoy as well!)
- National Read Across America Day (Dr.Seuss Day) – Celebrated annually on March 2nd, which is Dr.Seuss’ birthday (or if March 2nd falls on the weekend, then on the closest weekday) to encourage reading everywhere (since 1998). #ReadAcrossAmericaDay #DrSeussDay
- National I Want You to be Happy Day – I want you to be happy on March 3rd, and on every other day of the year too!! Make an extra special effort to make someone/anyone/everyone you know happy. #IWantYouToBeHappyDay
- National Grammar Day – Celebrated annually on March 4th since 2008. #NationalGrammarDay
- International Women’s Day – Celebrated annually on March 8th since the early 1900s. #InternationalWomensDay
And of course, this month also has many celebrations, one of the more important ones I plan to highlight will be National Women’s History Month.
Wrapping up my Sunday Scribblings
So, dear reader,
- Will you be celebrating any of these celebrations? Which ones, and how/why? Do let me know..Any other comments welcome as well!
- What did you do with that leap day?
Linking this to the Sunday Post over at the Caffeinated Reviewer and the Sunday Salon.
You had a busy week! Your son is driving and your cousin had twins. I’m sorry to hear about the loss of your cousin. Why does it take something sad to remind us to do more visiting with others?
The pregunta sounds like a lot of fun. Collaborative poems are not something that people do a lot here, do they? We should change that.
Have a great week.
My leap year day was uneventful,
I’ve never heard of the pregunta, thanks for sharing something new.
Wishing you a great reading week
You had a busy week. Congrats on the twins. Sorry about your family loss. I need to work harder on staying in touch with family members too.
I hope your son’s driving goes well. My eldest grandchild will be getting his driver’s license in April. He is careful but still, it is nerve-wracking.
Nice photos!
Have a good week or life and reading!
I used my leap day for reading and a day of nothingness. Well, I at least planned to and intentions are more important, right? In reality, it was another typical day. Sigh!