Tory Meter

The ToryMeter was invented by Victoria Sutton.  An easy form that is similar to the Rictameter with a slightly different approach. Example follows.

2 syllables (R) last line

4 syllables

6 syllables

8 syllables

10 syllables

12 syllables

10 syllables

8 syllables

6 syllables

4 syllables

2 syllables (R) first line

Rhyme scheme can vary I have done multiple in different end rhymes.

But they must have a rhyme scheme...

Example Poem

Good Friends

Good friends

share anything

because their trust extends     

beyond the boundary that will  spring  

from propriety and good common sense

between casual friends. Their trust may stem from shared

experiences or things learned at expense

of innocence with feelings bared.  

If that trust should fail, how     

can they be now        

Good friends

© Lawrencealot - April 5, 2012

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In this poem I chose rhyme scheme ababcdcdeea

Trick Poetry

In First Loves, Margaret Atwood describes this "trick" poem ("I Saw a Peacock" by an anonymous British poet) as "the first poem I can remember that opened up the possibility of poetry for me." The trick is the two ways it can be understood; read a line at a time, or read from the middle of one line to the middle of the next. The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes notes that it appears in a commonplace book dated to around 1665; it seems to have been first published in the Westminster-Drollery in 1671.

I Saw a Peacock, with a fiery tail,

    I saw a Blazing Comet, drop down hail,

    I saw a Cloud, with Ivy circled round,

    I saw a sturdy Oak, creep on the ground,

    I saw a Pismire, swallow up a Whale,

    I saw a raging Sea, brim full of Ale,

    I saw a Venice Glass, full fifteen feet deep,

    I saw a well, full of men's tears that weep,

    I saw red eyes, all of a flaming fire,

    I saw a House, as big as the Moon and higher,

    I saw the Sun, even in the midst of night,

    I saw the man, that saw this wondrous sight.

Write a "trick" poem using this technique.  

Each line must be able to be read separately, as well as from the middle of one line to the middle of the next.

Note: I made a simple template simply dividing your line in two parts.

Its advantage is simply that you can see separate parts and visualize how with will combine.

Note: in this poem . . each half is a complete rhyming poem,

each line can be read either way with the lines in the other column on the same line,or on the line above or below it, with rhyme in at lease one sequence.

Tri-Fall

Tri-fall                                                                

The Tri-fall, created by Jan Turner,                                         

consists three 6-line stanzas, for a total of 18 lines.                         

Rhyme Scheme: abcabc                                        

Line-length  for each stanza is as follows: 6/3/8/6/3/8.          

Meter optional

                                                

This form requires little to no punctuation and can be written on any subject matter.     

Example Poem

  Surrender

Her passion was too much.

Now it's gone.

She condemned, deplored all abuse.

She praised the thrill of touch.

We'll bear on.

The jealous piled on, no excuse.

Her life was filled with hurt.

despite that,

or because of it, she performed

as an erotic flirt.

When at-bat

she homered passion unreformed.

Some men became aroused,

not content

to live within her fantasies,

and when requests were doused

time was spent

in fighting her apostasies.

© Lawrencealot - Aug 23, 2012    

Written about a very real AP Poet.

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Trijan Refrain

The Trijan Refrain, created by Jan Turner, consists of three 9-line stanzas, for a total of 27 lines. 

Line 1 is the same in all three stanzas, 

although a variation of the form is not to repeat the same line 

at the beginning of each stanza. 

In other words, the beginning line of each stanza can be different.

The first four syllables of line 5 in each stanza are repeated as the 

double-refrain for lines 7 and 8. The Trijan Refrain is a rhyming poem 

with a set meter and rhyme scheme as follows:

Rhyme scheme: ababccddc

 Meter: 8/6/8/6/8/8/4/4/8

source: shadowpoetry.com 

note: on the template below I have colored line 1,

Indicated that in the formal poem it should be first line of each verse.

in the poem below, I followed formal protocol for the first complete Trijan Refrain, then lapsed to the ever more poplular technique of not requiring first line stanza repetion.

Example Poem

Crop Circles

Crop Circles are works to amaze.

Sources of awe and hate!

For two score plus, a world-wide craze

to shock and aggravate.

It aggravates the farmers who

lose cash when fields are trampled through.

It aggravates.

It aggravates,

but there's not much that they can do.

Crop Circles are works to amaze

from ancient times 'til now.

A marvel upon which to gaze,

made in the night somehow.

They were simple in early days.

Mere circles. shown in diff'rent ways.

They were simple,

They were simple.

Complex now, harder to appraise.

Crop Circles are works to amaze

across our planet earth.

Hoaxers we know have made displays

Art forms of splendid girth.

Not all are false; most have proved true.

Could not be made by me or you.

Not all are false,

Not all are false.

Messages require a global view.

Crop formations they are now called.

Using geometry.

Mathematics leave us enthralled

with their complexity,

Math is the same in every land.

Greek, Chinese, Arab understand.

Math is the same.

Math is the same.

So global message must be planned.

Crop formations they are now named,

choose pre-historic sites

like Stonehenge and others so famed

to inscribe their delights.

Unsolved myst'ries believed to be

formed by some intelligentry.

Unsolved myst'ries,

Unsolved myst'ries

clues now distributed widely.

Since I began this poem to write.

This three-D box was made.

Of course it sprang up overnight.

It doesn't look homemade.

It baffles me what it might mean

laid out so nicely on the green.

It baffles me,

It baffles me.

If it's a hoax that will be seen.

The Mormons have not staked a claim,

nor have the Jews, I think.

Christians, Buddhists don't seek acclaim,

some odd cults may, don't blink.

We don't know how just over night

Huge shapes appear, proportions right.

We don't know how,

We don't know how.

Energy remains at each site.

Mayan themes have been oft addressed.

Celestial cycle lore

hints that earth shall soon be distressed

by changed magnetic core.

We can have help as ancients did,

in building the great pyramid

We can have help,

We can have help.

It could be; that would be splendid.

(c) Lawrencealot - July 6, 2012

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Trimeric

Trimeric \tri-(meh)-rik\ n: a four stanza poem in which the first stanza has four lines

and the last three stanzas have three lines each, with the first line of each repeating 

the respective line of the first stanza.  

The sequence of lines, then, is abcd, b – -, c – -, d – -.

There is no line length, meter, or rhyme requirement or prohibition.

Example Poem

Whisky Works

He zig-zagged up the steep hill

much too drunk to walk a line.

Winter weather laid down a chill

with ice on that steep incline.

Much too drunk to walk a line

he headed home, had time still.

Unless he fell he'd be fine.

Winter weather laid down a chill

as he staggered up the hill.

He'd make it;  he had the will.

With ice on that steep incline-

(he had lots of time to kill)

his anti-freeze worked just fine. 

© Lawrencealot - April 29, 2012

Trilonnet

Created by Shelley A. Cephas
A 14-line poem made up of four three-line verses and one rhyming couplet.
Meter: iambic tetrameter or iambic pentameter.
 Each 3 line verse is an unrhymed triplet, but there is rhyming between the stanzas..
2 rhyme schemes: abc abc abc abc dd  or abc cba abc cba dd

Example Poem

Little Brick Library

When I was young,  and that means wee,
My nearby library did astound.
I started stopping every day.

I'd roam the shelves from about  three
'til five o'clock or 'til I'd found
one book I could not put away.

It was wonderful they were free;
the best resource that I had found
and books had so darn much to say.

This was long 'fore girls intrigued me.
The building was a good friend found,
where I'd rather hang-out than play.

Those short years opened wide the door.
to much I still plan to explore.

(c) Lawrencealot - May 4, 2012

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Triolet

A Triolet is a poetic form consisting of only 8 lines.           

Within a Triolet, the 1st, 4th, and  7th lines          

repeat, and the 2nd and 8th lines do as well.           

The rhyme scheme is simple:  ABaAabAB, capital          

letters representing the repeated lines.    

There is no set syllable count, although the preferred one for repeating forms is the standard of eight syllables but there are many good examples around using iambic pentameter and similar meters.

Example Poem:

Pug Peed Too     (Triolet)

Into the copse we walked to take a pee.

I watched for cops, Pug just lifted his leg.

I'm glad Ms. Klag, the nag, saw him not me.

Into the copse we walked to take a pee.

I'll merely bail him out and set him free.

and remember my next Pug should be Peg.

Into the copse we walked to take a pee.

I watched for cops, Pug just lifted his leg.

(c) Lawrencealot -  June, 2012

Picture Credit:  www.pinterest.com

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Triquain

Triquain...created by Shelley Cephas,

A Triquain is a seven line poem with syllables in multiples of 3 as follows:

3, 6, 9, 12, 9, 6, 3 This form is always centered.

syllabic,3/6/9/12/9/6/3,unrhymed,Cephas,min 7L,max none

ALWAYS Centered

Example Poem:

Interim Heaven  (Triquain chain)

The puppy

brought to the hospital

where the boy was dying adopted

him on first sight.  The lad's pain was subdued by drugs.

Nothing could subdue the instant joy

filling him as he hugged

The puppy.

The cancer

would not relent, and yet

the boy's eyes were brighter than before

and he never cried another day.  The puppy

snuggled when he slept and licked his face;

played gently other times

with the boy.

When the boy

passed on while he slept, the

puppy knew and whined, parents wept.  In

tears a younger brother took the pup, who shut up

and licked away that boy's tears.  Wiping

grief away, replacing

it with love.

(c) Lawrencealot - May 7,2012

Visual Template:

Tritina

The pattern of word-repetition is as follows, where the words that end

the lines of the first tercet are represented by the numbers "1 2 3":

  1 2 3          - End words of lines in first tercet.

  3 1 2          - End words of lines in second tercet.

  2 3 1          - End words of lines in third tercet.

  (1 2 3)        - Words contained in the final line.

Your Composition.

The repetition of words in a Tritina makes this form a good match for

a story that uses common speech, for in conversation the repetition

of key words is common. The Tritina is a more "natural" form than the

Villanelle (which is comparatively artificial in repeating whole lines)

and the Sestina (which is significantly more challenging because it is

longer (39 lines) and reuses six words

in six six-line stanzas and a closing tercet).

Example Poem

Fido

I have  always liked dogs. 

Almost all dogs I like. 

And almost all like me. 

Their faithfulness moves me. 

I prefer smaller dogs 

'Cus big poop, I  don't like. 

Of course I  still do like 

gals who are nice to me. 

as long as they like dogs. 

I like dogs;  dogs like me. 

Related forms: Bina, Tritina, Quartina, Quintina, Sestina, Newman Sestina, Sidney's Double Sestina, Decrina, and Canzone.

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Triquatrain

The form name “Triquatrain” was most likely contrived by Robert L. Huntsman as found listed on shadowpoetry.com. However he most likely stole the credit by giving a name to simple didactic verse. 

This is obvious because “Jack and Jill” was written in the 1760s.

There is also reference to it in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the end of act three: “Jack shall have Jill; Nought shall go ill.”  (Just a little history there) 

It is a quatrain poem in tri-rhyme with a specific rhyming pattern (see below). 

Lines 1 and 3 have internal rhyme whereas lines 2 and 4 do not. 

Rhyme Pattern:

(a,a)

b 

(c,c)

b 

(d,d)

e 

(f,f)

e

(g,g) 

h 

(i,i)

h

Example Poem:

Fred Meets Trixie

Now Fred was nice; he worked in vice

and could not be corrupt.

Take the money, have a honey.

He made them all shut-up.

He closed down rooms that reeked of fumes,

that turned out to be meth.

He smashed their tools, then told the fools,

"Wages of sin are death." 

Prostitution?  His solution:

Arrest each whore and John.

So straight he played, that I'm afraid.

Some councilmen are gone.

Some lovely chicks had turned some dicks,

(Detectives),  I should say.

But, no cutie or real beauty

Could cause our Fred to sway.

Business was down all over town,

confession booths were slow.

The internet was busy yet

it brought no local dough.

Then just by chance one day Fred glanced

across the cafe floor.

As Trixie came (the perfect dame)

right through the joint's front door.

Passions promised in some fashion

many times thru the years,

It seems  absurd without a word

said,  she had meshed his gears!

After they talked, together walked,

She put him to the test.

"Play on my range," she said," for change

is as good as arrest."

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Trois-par-Huit

The Trois-par-Huit is a short eight line poetic form that

is striking and fun to play with. 

This form was created by Lorraine M. Kanter

and goes by a few other names as well,

the Octa tri and the Three by Eight just to name a couple. 

The structure of the Trois-par Huit is easy to compose as

it only has three stanzas of 3,3,2 or 3,2,3, lines which

can be decided on your own personal taste. 

As with many forms the Trois-par-Huit has a

syllable count, 3,6,9,12,12,9,6,3 and

a rhyming scheme of: "aab bbc cc" or if you were to choose

 the 3,2,3, line stanza it would be "aab bb ccc".

The last line of the poem should be the title of the piece

and should summarize what the poem is about. 

Example Poem:

Finish Forms

Quench my thirst.

The unknown  is the curse.

I must scour pages of AP sages

Find their every form though it may take me ages.

Then if they keep inventing… put  them in cages.

In cases where changes come in swarms

document  all the norms.

Finish forms.

© Lawrencealot - April 21, 2012

Tyburn

A six line poem consisting of 2, 2, 2, 2, 9, 9 syllables.

The first four lines rhyme and are all descriptive words.

The last two lines rhyme and incorporate

the first, second, third, and fourth lines as 2 syllables

Rhyme Scheme:  xxxxee

Example Poem:

Campus Choices

Brashest                                                        

Dullest                                                        

Dearest                                                        

Cutest                                                        

The brashest, dullest jock, slow to start

Found the dearest, cutest, girls too smart.

Vignette

Vignette is a French word meaning "little vine". 

A vignette is a short narrative sketch using evocative figurative language to convey imagery. 

Often considered poetic prose it is formatted in free verse and on vignette can include several short stanzas. 

For multiple vignettes each should be labeled by a number or letter, most commonly roman numerals.

According to Poetry Magnum Opus,

a Vignette, Old French, is a brief descriptive verse. This is a genre of verse that uses clear and detailed images to paint a picture of a moment in time.

A vignette is usually short and focused. The frame of the Vignette is at the discretion of the poet. A syllabic verse form also called a Vignette is one of the many frames a poet might choose.

Vignette Form

The Vignette is also the name of a syllabic invented verse form introduced by Fozari Rockwood found in Pathways for the Poet by Viola Berg1977.

The Vignette is:

a hexastich, an unrhymed poem in 6 lines.

syllabic, 2-4-4-6-7-3 syllables per line.

Example Poem:

Activities Director ( Vignette form )

Supine, 

reading a book. 

My yorkie drops 

his chew ball upon my 

chest, holds it with one paw; quiet

bark, "Let's go." 

Villanelle

Villanelles are required to have an intricate rhyme scheme and two lines that are refrains – like refrains in songs, they get repeated over and over.

The rhyme scheme is AbA' abA abA' abA abA' abAA, so there are only two rhymes that end all the lines.

In addition, the first line and third line, the refrains, are repeated four times each –

the first line appears at the end of stanzas 2 and 4 and as the second-to-last line in stanza 6.

The poem's third line appears again at the end of stanzas 3, 5, and 6.

So if we call the first line A and the third line A', and any line that rhymes with them a,

then the rhyme scheme is: AbA' abA abA' abA abA' abAA'

Example Poem:

Sensuality's Source

Arousal flows from love's thought and intent.

Thus age is harmless to this wife of mine.

A tease fulfilled, assures a mates ascent.

Desire for one another will invent

Innumerable paths leading to cloud nine.

Arousal flows from love's thought and intent.

Performance, age related, has been bent

by years;  her voice and touch revokes decline.

A tease fulfilled,  assures a mates ascent.

A failure now and then she'll not  resent

If he in other ways her wants enshrine.

Arousal flows from love's thought and intent.

Endearments overshadow the event

and fill two hearts most willing to entwine.

A tease fulfilled, assures a mates ascent.

Today's youth may not know how much is meant

by such commitment.  Love makes all things fine.

Arousal flows from love's thought and intent.

A tease fulfilled, assures a mates ascent.

© Lawrencealot - March, 2012

Visual Template:

Whyquain

A form invented on AllPoetry.com by Gloria Kim, aka Porphery. 

It is a single verse of five iambic tetrameter lines in monorhyme

which answers some asked or un-asked question.

Example Poem:

Why Do Cats Purr

While dogs can bark and growl and grrrr

and guard, and stealthy thieves deter,

which earned their place with men for sure,

The cats had only pretty fur,

so asked if God would add a purr.

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Wreath

A Wreath Poem is:

 Any poem which is constructed with or without  rhyme or fixed meter in which every line in to poem is linked to the line preceding it a word or by derivation of  a word  in the preceding line or by a homonym of that word,  or apparently by a derivative of a false rhyme of that word.

They are fun to read, AND write.

Example Poem:

Glued Wreath

I started this poem no topic defined.

Definitely sure something would occur.

Would you believe it? Still I cannot find

a foundation for words which I prefer.

The witch of sticky mucilage has stuck

My muse at large with two wheels off the track.

The traction needed now may call for luck.

Lucky I have been, I just came unstuck.

© Lawrencealot - May 2, 2012

YaDu

S.E.Asia. (Burma)

Ya Du

The yadu is a Burmese climbing-rhyme verse. Each of the stanzas —up to three in all— has 5 lines. The first four lines have 4 syllables each, and the last one can have 5, 7, 9, or 11 syllables. The last two lines rhyme in the usual way. The climbing rhymes occur in syllables four, three, and two of both the first three lines and the last three lines of a stanza. There should be a reference to the seasons since the word yadu means "the seasons.

As the Than Bauk is to the Haiku, then the Ya Du is to the Tanka 

and consists of four syllable lines and a fifth one that can 

comprise of 5, 7, 9,or 11 syllables. 

The staircase rule applies to the four lines, 

and the last syllable of the fourth and fifth 

line must rhyme, giving a pattern of:

O. O. O. a.

O. O. a. O

O. a. O. b

O. O. b. c.

O. O. O. O. O. O. O. O. c.

Example Poem

Blue sky’s curved moon

appeared at noon, as

gray loon’s song note

surged afloat clouds --

bird’s songs circled dreams, quietly abound.

We watched it stay

on its way, silk

breaths swayed tree leaves;

freshly weaved thoughts

seized summer notions the afternoon moon brought.

l

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