I
To hide their land fairies enlist
Floating mist
A fine fairy dust outpouring
Obscuring
Protecting by bending light beams
Hidden dreamsOnly those that freely daydreams
Can find the hidden secret way
To let light shine through the fog gray
Floating mist obscuring hidden dreams
II
Who still believes in magic dreams?
Poets it seems
Who follows silvery moonbeams?
Who still dreams?
Who let fairies sprinkle a flick
of magic?Whenever life feels blue tragic
Write yourself unburdened and free
Proudly let the world again see
Poets it seems still dreams of magic
III
What’s got you squirming and fussing?
A mind abuzz
What have you found in your searchings?
A heart that sings
What’s hiding within your brain folds?
Stories untoldAdventure that never grows old
©RedCat
Finding words that makes the soul glow
As stanzas form, cascades and flow
A mind abuzz, a heart that sings stories untold
Yesterday I went on a search for a new interwoven poetry form. And found a Cheat Sheet of Repeating Forms wherein I found one I’d never heard of before Ovillejo. Searching for more information I found this article in Writer’s Digest which linked to a 2016 De Jackson (WhimsyGizmo) prompt at the dVerse bar.
And it felt like finding a new way home, as dVerse is where I mostly participate in the writing community.
This is by far one of the trickiest forms I’ve attempted. But fun enough that I’m sure I’ll write more of them. I would recommend heeding the advice from the cheet sheet “compose the tenth line first”
To see all art and read all poems for today go to The Wombwell Rainbow.
The Ovillejo is explained like this:
The explanation below is offered from several online sources, which seem to be attributed most often to Rhina P. Espaillat:
…the “ovillejo,” an old Spanish verse form that means “tight little bundle.” “-ejo” is one of our blessed diminutives, and “ovillo” means “tangled ball of yarn.” The last line is a “redondilla,” a “little round” that collects all three of the short lines. The rhyme scheme is established, but the meter is at the poet’s discretion, although in Spanish the longer lines tend to be octosyllabic (8 syllables).
dVerse
The ovillejo is an old Spanish form popularized by Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616). This 10-line poem is comprised of 3 rhyming couplets (or 2-line stanzas) and a quatrain (or 4-line stanza).
The first line of each couplet is 8 syllables long and presents a question to which the second line responds in 3 to 4 syllables–either as an answer or an echo.
The quatrain is also referred to as a redondilla (which is usually a quatrain written in trochaic tetrameter) with an abba rhyme pattern. The final line of the quatrain also combines lines 2, 4, and 6 together.
Writer’s Digest
There seem to be some different opinions on if the feet are trochaic or iambic.
And if the short lines are 2, 3 or 4 syllables long
The rhyme scheme is: a, A, b, B, c, C, c, d, d, A+B+C
Where A, B, C are lines that repeat verbatim.
Or line by line:
1: a rhyme in 8 syllables
2: A rhyme in 2-4 syllables – beginning of line 10
3: b rhyme in 8 syllables
4: B rhyme in 2-4 syllables – middle of line 10
5: c rhyme in 8 syllables
6: C rhyme in 2-4 syllables – end of line 10
7: c rhyme in 8 syllables
8: d rhyme in 8 syllables
9: d rhyme in 8 syllables
10: A+B+C or Line 2 + Line 4 + Line 6
The Ovillejo has no english Wikipedia article, only one in Spanish.

Ozankk at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
John Law “Am 68. Live in Mexborough. Retired teacher. Artist; musician; poet. Recently included in ‘Viral Verses’ poetry volume. Married. 2 kids; 3 grandkids.”
Kerfe Roig A resident of New York City, Kerfe Roig enjoys transforming words and images into something new. Her poetry and art have been featured online by Right Hand Pointing, Silver Birch Press, Yellow Chair Review, The song is…, Pure Haiku, Visual Verse, The Light Ekphrastic, Scribe Base, The Zen Space, and The Wild Word, and published in Ella@100, Incandescent Mind, Pea River Journal, Fiction International: Fool, Noctua Review, The Raw Art Review, and several Nature Inspired anthologies. Follow her explorations on her blogs, https://methodtwomadness.wordpress.com/ (which she does with her friend Nina), and https://kblog.blog/, and see more of her work on her website http://kerferoig.com/
April Ekphrastic Challenge – GloPoWriMo 2021
- 1 April – Dark Orchid
- 2 April – A Dirge for the Drowned
- 3 April – Granddaughters of Red Riding Hood
- 4 April – Raven Dream Flight
- 5 April – It’s Spring Time Again and The Sweetest Wine – A Quadrille
- 6 April – There Once Was A Cat and To All The Good Girls
- 7 April – Mind Finds Soul Fearlessly Shines
- 8 April – Trapped, Imprisoned In Her Own Mind – A Triple Triolet and Ode To My Dream Girl
- 9 April – The Aurora Butterfly – A Sonnet
- 10 April – The Dawn Sky Is Ethereal Blue – A Triolet
- 11 April – Blue Forest Of Remembrance
- 12 April – Incantation to Bau-Gula – A Sonnet
- 13 April – The Stars Are Out Tonight – A Villanelle and Cat Searching High and Low
- 14 April – Shadow People Before My Eyes – A Triple Triolet
- 15 April – Three Times Three Times Three
- 16 April – Autumn feast – A Sonnet
- 17 April – In The Badger Sett
- 18 April – Hellcat
- 19 April – Life Lessons and No Bother! – A Quadrille
- 20 April – Fairy Dust Magic – A Trio Of Ovillejo’s and Crows Calling At Night
- 21 April – Polished Mirror Women – Dedicated to Marisol
- 22 April – Word Salad and A Beltane Song
- 23 April – Floating Around Everywhere and Oh Bother! – A Quadrille in Ovillejo Form
- 24 April – A Thousand Paper Cranes
- 25 April – Change and Restless Body and Mind
- 26 April – Through Hell
- 27 April – Weaving Web and Another Piece Of The Puzzel – A Puente Poem
- 28 April – Sounds In The Wind – A Puente Poem
- 29 April – Fire That Burns Away All Fears – A Sonnet and Blackbirds Dusk Sings
- 30 April – Star Prayer – A Sonnet
Reblogged this on The Wombwell Rainbow.