Tweetspeak Poetry

  • Home
  • FREE prompts
  • Earth Song
  • Every Day Poems—Subscribe! ✨
  • Teaching Tools
  • Books, Etc.
  • Patron Love

Ghazal Poetry: Sing the Old Songs

By T.S. Poetry 5 Comments

Ghazal poetry was traditionally a sung form, invoking other traditional symbols like the gazelle (an image often used to suggest the graceful, beautiful Beloved).

Poetry Prompt

Invoke the central image from an old love song. Feel free to use not only the image but also a few lines from the song. Put these in your ghazal poem, to either celebrate or mourn a lover, a place, or a friend (Need a reminder for how to write a ghazal? Go here.)

Thanks to our participants in last week’s poetry prompt. Here’s a ghazal we enjoyed from Monica Sharman. Says Monica, “One morning I woke up with ‘Celebrate Me Home’ (1977) playing in my head, and it did me in for several days. The one I heard in the store last week was ‘What a Fool Believes’ (1979). It has the words ‘He came from somewhere back in her long ago, ‘ which fascinated me, and which I used in my ghazal for this prompt.”

From her unbroken days the music, a song,
played in Motown sound—a bruising song.

In the rhythm and blues of blue-eyed soul
she mishears the words, confuses the song.

The catch of a phrase progressing the chord,
repeating to find the clues in the song.

Loose syncopations tighten the driving
beat, a nostalgic noose of a song.

From somewhere back in her long-ago
she finds the lyric. She won’t lose the song.

—Monica Sharman

Photo by Julius Reuchel, Creative Commons, via Flickr.

______

Sometimes we feature your poems in Every Day Poems, with your permission of course. Thanks for writing with us!

Browse poets and poems
Browse more writing prompts
Browse more ghazal poems

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
T.S. Poetry
T.S. Poetry
Helping you get inspired. With poetry & poetic things.
T.S. Poetry
Latest posts by T.S. Poetry (see all)
  • 10 Ways to Help Your Favorite Introverted Author—Day 1: The Basic - May 9, 2025
  • Free E-Book + Poetry Prompt! - April 14, 2025
  • Braving the Poem: Interview with Catherine Abbey Hodges - March 24, 2025

Filed Under: Blog, Ghazal Poems, Grief Poems, love poems, love poetry, Poems, poetry, poetry prompt, Themed Writing Projects

Try Every Day Poems...

Comments

  1. Megan Willome says

    October 28, 2013 at 9:49 am

    You did it, Monica! You found your way in. I just love what you did with this!

    Reply
    • Monica Sharman says

      October 28, 2013 at 11:01 am

      Thanks, Megan! I had some trouble with the part about each stanza being stand-alone. But trying any new poetry form is always a fun challenge.

      Reply
  2. Monica Sharman says

    October 28, 2013 at 11:02 am

    Thank you for featuring my ghazal, but thank you even more for giving the “childhood loss” prompt!

    Reply
    • L.L. Barkat says

      October 28, 2013 at 11:08 am

      You’re very welcome, Monica 🙂 It seemed to converge nicely with your current experiences. And? You have a talent for song-like forms!

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Cat Poetry: The Cat's Meow Playlist & Prompt | says:
    March 1, 2014 at 9:00 pm

    […] to our participants in last week’s poetry prompt. Here’s a recent ghazal we enjoyed from […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Take How to Read a Poem

Get the Introduction, the Billy Collins poem, and Chapter 1

get the sample now

Welcome to Tweetspeak

New to Tweetspeak Poetry? Start here, in The Mischief Café. You're a regular? Check out our May Menu

Patron Love

❤️

Welcome a little patron love, when you help keep the world poetic.

The Graphic Novel

"Stunning, heartbreaking, and relevant illustrations"

Callie Feyen, teacher

read a summary of The Yellow Wallpaper

meet The Yellow Wallpaper characters

How to Write Poetry

Your Comments

  • Glynn on World War II Had Its Poets, Too
  • Sandra Fox Murphy on World War II Had Its Poets, Too
  • Glynn on Poets and Poems: Kelly Belmonte and “The Mother of All Words”
  • Bethany R. on Poets and Poems: Kelly Belmonte and “The Mother of All Words”

Featured In

We're happy to have been featured in...

The Huffington Post

The Paris Review

The New York Observer

Tumblr Book News

Stay in Touch With Us

Categories

Learn to Write Form Poems

How to Write an Acrostic

How to Write a Ballad

How to Write a Catalog Poem

How to Write a Ghazal

How to Write a Haiku

How to Write an Ode

How to Write a Pantoum

How to Write a Rondeau

How to Write a Sestina

How to Write a Sonnet

How to Write a Villanelle

5 FREE POETRY PROMPTS

Get 5 FREE inbox poetry prompts from the popular book How to Write a Poem

Shakespeare Resources

Poetry Classroom: Sonnet 18

Common Core Picture Poems: Sonnet 73

Sonnet 104 Annotated

Sonnet 116 Annotated

Character Analysis: Romeo and Juliet

Character Analysis: Was Hamlet Sane or Insane?

Why Does Hamlet Wait to Kill the King?

10 Fun Shakespeare Resources

About Shakespeare: Poet and Playwright

Top 10 Shakespeare Sonnets

See all 154 Shakespeare sonnets in our Shakespeare Library!

Explore Work From Black Poets

About Us

  • • A Blessing for Writers
  • • Our Story
  • • Meet Our Team
  • • Literary Citizenship
  • • Poet Laura
  • • Poetry for Life: The 5 Vital Approaches
  • • T. S. Poetry Press – All Books
  • • Contact Us

Write With Us

  • • 5 FREE Poetry Prompts-Inbox Delivery
  • • 30 Days to Richer Writing Workshop
  • • Poetry Prompts
  • • Submissions
  • • The Write to Poetry

Read With Us

  • • All Our Books
  • • Book Club
  • • Every Day Poems—Subscribe! ✨
  • • Literacy Extras
  • • Poems to Listen By: Audio Series
  • • Poet-a-Day
  • • Poets and Poems
  • • 50 States Projects
  • • Charlotte Perkins Gilman Poems Library
  • • Edgar Allan Poe Poems Arts & Experience Library
  • • William Blake Poems Arts & Experience Library
  • • William Shakespeare Sonnet Library

Celebrate With Us

  • • Poem on Your Pillow Day
  • • Poetic Earth Month
  • • Poet in a Cupcake Day
  • • Poetry at Work Day
  • • Random Acts of Poetry Day
  • • Take Your Poet to School Week
  • • Take Your Poet to Work Day

Gift Ideas

  • • Every Day Poems
  • • Our Shop
  • • Everybody Loves a Book!

Connect

  • • Donate
  • • Blog Buttons
  • • By Heart
  • • Shop for Tweetspeak Fun Stuff

Copyright © 2025 Tweetspeak Poetry · FAQ, Disclosure & Privacy Policy