Amsterdam

Amsterdam Onzin

Another Dutch poetry form is the Onzin - much harder then the Elfje I talked about yesterday! It consists of 11 lines of verse,  each line has 11 syllables,  and the rhyme scheme is abcbcdcdaee. It certainly taxes the brain and has you feverishly counting syllables! Here's what I came up with,  following a trip to Amsterdam.

Each grey waterway has its own character
Some wide open spaces,  with pavements on each side
Where bikes fight for priority over cars
And pedestrians take their chances,  and hide
In house doorways,  on steps,  coffee shops or bars.
Others butt up directly onto the house fronts
Which slope inwards towards their rooves and the stars
Looking quite as if they toppled over,  once
Their hoists had pulled heavy goods from the water.
I stand on a bridge and watch the ripples spread
Trying to capture Amsterdam in my head.


© Copyright 2018. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved.

Comments

  1. Carol J Forrester3 March 2018 at 05:51

    Lovely poem, you've worked within the form really well. One little criticism, in this context it should be 'butt' instead of 'but'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UleyChris3 March 2018 at 06:40

      Well spotted! An Autocorrect which I didn't spot.

      Delete

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