The Search in the Cemetery

Sunday Swirl, Wordle #767
wild, cross, left, staff, last, split, burial, grind, space, land room, hood.

New Invented Form by Kaci Rigney.
Kace of Blank Verse Pararhymes
Using Blank Verse (a non-rhyming poem effectively used by Wm. Shakespeare employing iambic pentameter), and pararhyme – words that begin and end with the same sound but have different vowel sounds. E.g. Find/found, staff/stiff, etc.

The Search in the Cemetery

Detective Dean scanned the burial scene;
Surveying the site, he searched for a sign.
He’d checked the casket before the crowd came.
Recording the search with his body-cam.
He’d lifted the lining, then locked the seal.
He’d watched all the digging and checked the soil.
The tractor rumbled, its gears seemed to grind.
A fresh pile of earth covered the ground.

The crowd dispersed, ‘til Lil, the wife, was left;
The limo waited to give her a lift.
Then Lil signaled the cemetery staff,
Who guided her away from John, the stiff.
Her fragrance lingered—lavender and spice—
Beneath the canopy; an enclosed space.
Detective Dean pulled out a crumpled list.
He mentally checked off each name at last.

The men watched Lil leave. Their clear comments, crass.
Dean shook his head, his eyes spying a cross.
Behind it, the angelic warriors wield
Those flaming swords depicting duels wild.
The wall of the chapel, the plot of land,
The strangest spot to bury Lance Lund.
Dean read the tombstones—a riddle, a rhyme—
Then walked in the chapel, wandered the room.

Dean’s sniffer sniffed the foul man in the dark.
Then Dean saw the glint—the glint of a dirk.
A figure charged him; a man in a hood.
Dean reached for his piece and aimed at his head.
The hood kept coming, so Dean aimed low. Splat!
He thought he would puke and wanted to split.
The men came running and saw the body.
So Dean told them, “Get rid of this baddy!”

An officer said that he knew the dude.
The Ringmaster’s cuffed. Yep. The dude’s not dead.
They marked the mastermind, that foolish fiend.
I tell you, it’s true! Believe me, old friend.
Back to the story, Dean laid down the law.
“Turn up the lights, men!” For they were down low.
And Dean told the men, “The gold we must find!”
But I tell you, friend, the treasure’s been found.

Kaci Rigney Copyright 2026