The Last Captain (in Response to the Rhyming Words Challenge by Chris Mills)

Rinita is a creative writer, with focus on poetry. She delves into several forms including Haiku/Senryu, Sonnets, Free Verse, and Prose.

Background

A fellow hubber Ann's response took me to the original challenge by Chris.

The challenge was about using the following words in a poem that have no apparent rhyming words, and finding the closest words that rhyme with them.

• silver
• purple
• month
• ninth
• pint
• wolf
• opus
• dangerous
• marathon
• discombobulate

Whenever I hear the word silver, it reminds me not of the shiny metal, but of the character Long John Silver, from the classic "Treasure Island". I always had a wish to offer a tribute in my own way to Stevenson's most popular work, and now I got my chance, thanks to this challenge.

The Poem

His name was Long John Silver

As the dawn turned to dusk

His blabber became glibber

On the grill, he was intense

A deceived chop, with sauce purple

Beets he placed instead of meat

Made the crew’s mouths gurgle

They sailed on the fourth month

Anchored on the ninth

At the island hundred-and-oneth

The treasure may not bind

John’s mean men went deep

From the forest howled a wolf

Gripping his wooden leg

John made a maddening swoop

Out came hares and boars

The pirates danced, fine dined

Barrels of rum de-boarded

All got more than a pint

No treasure and barrels empty

John’s crew set sail

Battling through tides dangerous

The ambience on board mutinous

It all happened at midnight

Rebel loose, the men broke

John’s wooden leg askew

A new voyage, a new marathon

Began with the new dawn

A new captain to be named

A new chef to lay the fire

The story narrated by my niece

Got my mind to discombobulate

Fierce drama, in a little mind

Fire in a glass, did encapsulate

I sit here, by my warm hearth

Dedicating a piece of the opus

To the last of the bold pirates

John, the captain ferocious

© 2018 Rinita Sen

Comments

Rinita Sen (author) on October 16, 2018:

Thank you, Doris. Happy you liked the pirate's tale. Indeed, this was a difficult challenge.

Doris James MizBejabbers from Beautiful South on October 15, 2018:

It's a neat pirate's tale with words that don't rhyme. Some people just got it. I'm not up to this one.

Rinita Sen (author) on July 08, 2018:

Thank you, Chris. This was a difficult but enjoyable challenge. Happy you were interested in my pirate's tale.

Chris Mills from Traverse City, MI on July 08, 2018:

Well, I read this a long time ago and put the link with the other responses, but I failed to comment here. Well done, Rinita. Thank you for offering this fine pirate's tale in the form of a poem as a response to my challenge.

Rinita Sen (author) on June 25, 2018:

Thank you, Peg. Glad you were entertained. Yes, your take around the beets is sure funny, and makes perfect sense!

Peg Cole from North Dallas, Texas on June 25, 2018:

Great job in putting those difficult to rhyme words to use in such an entertaining way. Those pirates didn't like beets. I agree. That would be grounds for mutiny.

Rinita Sen (author) on June 17, 2018:

Thank you, Frank. Glad you liked my contribution.

Frank Atanacio from Shelton on June 17, 2018:

a very promising result to the challenge.. awesome :)

Rinita Sen (author) on June 17, 2018:

Thank you, manatita. Glad you agree!

manatita44 from london on June 16, 2018:

Nice attempt and yes, Robert Louis Stevenson was cool!

Rinita Sen (author) on June 16, 2018:

Thank you, John. I am glad this was enjoyable. Thank you again for visiting my contribution.

John Hansen from Queensland Australia on June 16, 2018:

Rinita, I always enjoy a good pirate tale and Treasure Island was one of my early favourites. This was a good response to the challenge and very enjoyable.

Rinita Sen (author) on June 15, 2018:

Thank you for visiting, Li-Jen. Yes, I agree the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' cast and crew gave the audience some very memorable pirate stories.

Li-Jen Hew on June 15, 2018:

Hey Rinita, I enjoyed your poem! Reminds me of the drunken Jack Sparrow acted by Johnny Depp. The "blabber became gibber", "leg askew" ,"captain ferocious", "island hundred-and-oneth" are my favourite lines. Thanks for sharing! :)

Rinita Sen (author) on June 15, 2018:

Thank you, Ann for for visiting my response, and of course, you are very welcome for the link!

Ann Carr from SW England on June 15, 2018:

Very good, Rinita! This is fun; a great response to the challenge and a great tribute to Treasure Island.

Thanks for linking to me as well, that's kind of you.

Ann

Rinita Sen (author) on June 15, 2018:

Thank you, Verlie! This challenge was brain-racking, and so much fun! Glad it worked out.

Verlie Burroughs from Canada on June 15, 2018:

Perfect Rinita, what a wonderful sea shanty. Your rhymes are impeccable...Kudos!

Rinita Sen (author) on June 15, 2018:

Thank you, mactavers. I am glad it was amusing.

mactavers on June 15, 2018:

You met the challenge in a most amusing way.