Poetic Form 93: Ode

 Ode to Langston Hughes

I wonder if heaven is a big sea for you

 The waves crashing in a bebop rhythm

That eases your heart of the weary blues

    that filled your words

    that spoke to me

    as a twelve year old wandering through days

        climbing a darkened staircase

        humming that life was fine

You taught me that homework could be social commentary

You told me to hold fast

    to my dreams

I found my place in your America

  as I wrote my view of the streets

    in my own rhythm

    in my own meter

    in my own voice

Your jazz played a soundtrack for my muse

And I hope you smiled

    as I taught your words 

    to my own students

    trying my best to be silent 

        as you sang from the page

        taking them to Harlem

            as they sat in the middle of America

Your verses

    so much sharper

        than any photo or story

For Christmas 

they gave me a collection of your poetry

    I never told them that I already owned it

        both copies sit on my bookshelf

        edges tattered like a song

                that echos on Lenox Avenue

I hope you are happy now

I hope you are satisfied...

Poetic Form #93: Ode

An ode is a poetic form meant to celebrate a person, nature, or abstract ideas.

There are three types of odes.

A Horation ode has a structure of one stanza pattern that repeats throughout 

the poem--usually 2 or 4 lines in length.

A Pindaric ode has a pattern of three stanzas called triads. This type of ode 

can be composed of several triads, but the first (the strophe) and the second 

(antistrophe) should be identical metrically with the third (epode) with its own 

metrical path.

An irregular ode does not have any formalities, instead it focuses on the 

praising aspect of the ode.