Over at Ethical ELA for the Monday Open Write, host Wendy Everard challenged participants with this thing called the double dactyl.

It’s deadly. Don’t even think of trying it.

Ok, not really deadly. You just kind of wish for grim death.

Ok, not really…but…it’s danged hard to write this “simple” poetry (or is it just me?).

Wendy shared the process:

• The first line must be nonsense, often higgledy-piggledy or jiggery-pokery. 
• The second line must be someone’s name. (Again, it has to be a double dactyl, so not every six-syllable name works. Matthew McConaughey does; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar doesn’t.)
• The last line of the first stanza must rhyme with the last line of the second.
• One of the six-syllable lines must be one word. This can be anywhere in the poem, but Hecht [one of the form’s creators] preferred it as the sixth line.

Ummmmmmmmmm….

So, here’s an example by John Hollander, another of the form’s creators:

Higgledy piggledy,
Benjamin Harrison,
Twenty-third president
Was, and, as such,

Served between Clevelands and
Save for this trivial
Idiosyncrasy,
Didn’t do much.

…and here are more good examples.

—All right. I gave it a shot. No one can call me a coward. I used one of my favorite Harry Potter characters: Professor Snape.

I know what you’re thinking: This post is getting grimmer by the line.

Yeah, well, so does my poem; even with ongoing revisions I still can’t get the dactyls right.

But I am letting my double-trouble terri-dactyl fly (get it? get it?).

Stand back!—[stretching arms, cracking fingers]—

A Spell of Redemption

Grim-diddy-grim-grib-roo
Snape the Professor, there
Greasy hair, face a-glare,
Stares holes in you.

Adaptability?
Impossibility.
Snape can never forget
The love he knew.

‘Tis misfortune indeed
For you, The-Boy-Who-Lived,
Always reminding him,
Turning the screw.

Wizard-child, unwitting
He’ll give his life for you
All due to your mother…
Snape’s love, still true.

—welp. I tried to do it, and him, at least a little justice.

P.S. I know the double dactyl is supposed to be humorous…like I said, I was feeling grim.

“younger sev snape“. Snape’s True Love. CC BY 2.0.

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Composed for Day 20 of the Slice of Life Story Challenge with Two Writing Teachers

—and allow me to celebrate a milestone: This is my 1000th post on Lit Bits and Pieces.