Double Quadrille (88 Words) for dVerse Poets




Bruegel Narrates Hunters in the Snow

Down by the stony road
where the trees grow
snowy twigs, and the frozen
creek babbles in its baffling
string-like voice, and tiny
flickering candles defy
the winter gloom from thatched
roof houses, and the north wind
scrapes an alto low moan from God’s

own rudder-spiked mountains
that spill chills on the good brothers
of the monastery, where
only music, and no words, sing
human duets in this
unhurried landscape.

And then he leans back on his stool,
adds a dab more white snow,
and signs his painting.

for dVerse Double Quadrille (88 words sans title) include the word “dab” plus @bruegelbot link-back, @Experimentsinfc #APoemADay on Twitter. © Misky 2021. The Hunters in the Snow, also known as The Return of the Hunters, (the image is clickable to view the full excerpt) is a 1565 oil-on-wood painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.  Full image at Wikipedia.

35 responses to “Double Quadrille (88 Words) for dVerse Poets”

  1. I like the feeling how the painter really entered the canvas and dabbed himself a story in paint.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. I absolutely love this painting and how you’ve narrated it. Your use of enjambment in the second-to-last stanza is just wonderful: ‘and no words, sing’ recalls Keats ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’ – a favourite of mine!

    Like

    1. I’m glad you enjoyed reading it.

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Oh, I love this–the narration by the artist is wonderful. Like Ingrid, I also like the enjambment.

    (I didn’t know a double quadrille was an option, but you definitely needed to complete the story.)

    Like

    1. I probably isn’t an option, but it’s a prompt.

      Liked by 1 person

  4. Lovely! And you saved the word for the end. I’d never thought of this painting in connection with a monastery before but now you mention it, I can hear plainchant across the snow.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you, Jane. 🥰

      Like

  5. This is masterfully done, Misky! I especially love; “the north wind scrapes an alto low moan from God’s own rudder-spiked mountains.” 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you very much. ❤️

      Liked by 1 person

      1. You’re most welcome 🙂

        Like

  6. Laughing here, I was doodling along with the pleasant enough description – though ‘an alto low moan’ is pretty fabulous – and then wham – I’m sitting next to the artist, and I’ve been wandering through a hand-made landscape (much like this poem) – and I’m intrigued and delighted.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Fab! I love his paintings. There’s so much happening in them. I’d love to write a whole collection based on a few of his paintings.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Now that’s a wonderful idea!

        Like

  7. I wish I’d written this.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Glenn A. Buttkus avatar
    Glenn A. Buttkus

    I applaud your audacity with this excellent poem. I think you’re the first of us to ever double a quadrille. Your word-smithing is excellent, and your point of view is creative. We could use more prompts from paintings.

    Like

    1. Thanks, Glenn. Appreciate your comments.

      Like

  9. Beverly Crawford avatar
    Beverly Crawford

    Double the pleasure. I didn’t know 88 was allowed, but I loved your “take”.

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Very enjoyable!

    -David

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you, David.

      Liked by 1 person

  11. Oooh! I love this!

    Like

  12. I’m loving all the ekphrases for this prompt! Were people dabbling in a bit of a conspiracy to add that to the brief?

    Like

    1. Not to my knowledge, Xan. 😁

      Like

  13. Thanks for taking me on that painting journey. A canvas well painted
    Happy Monday

    Much💝love

    Like

  14. This was beautifully done! Loved the perspective.

    Like

  15. Breathtaking words to match the majestic image. I do feel the divine in both ✨

    Like

  16. Beautiful and evocative, thanks for sharing (^_^)

    Like

  17. A stunning ekphrastic double quadrille, Marilyn! I admire the way you’ve entered the canvas via the stony road and explored it with all the senses. I love that Bruegel image and felt like I was there with him, walking the path, breathing the wintry air, listening to the creek babbling, and passing the houses with their ‘tiny flickering candles’. But oh, the spectacular picot on the north wind, that blows from the ‘rudder-spiked mountains’! Great ending, that brings me back to ‘reality’!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks, Kim. ❤️

      Liked by 1 person

  18. Oh you’ve painted the scene so well with the words….and then the twist at the end as the painter dabs a bit more white snow and the scene is complete simultaneously with his brush stroke and your words. Brilliant!

    Like

    1. Thanks, Lillian! 😀

      Like

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

Blog at WordPress.com.

%d bloggers like this: