Loose Sapphic

There are variations of the Sapphic Stanza and I have chosen the Loose Sapphic form created by Marie Marshall. The form is composed over four lines, the first three being hendecasyllabic and the fourth being pentasyllabic.

The focus is on syllabic meter rather than accentual giving the poet more room to explore poetical device and grammatical schema within the verse structure. From the creator's own examples I have found the poems to be more vibrant and dramatic than their strictly metric counterparts.

Using 'X' to represent each syllable the schema of the Loose Sapphic form can be shown as thus:


X X X X X X X X X X X
X X X X X X X X X X X
X X X X X X X X X X X
X X X X X

Example Poem

Lady Bird Adrift

My intent to fly by-and-by was boosted.

I'm content to flutter by the butterfly

effect.  Some butterfly in Balboa flapped

boldly days ago.

A seagull here an eagle there added puffs

against the calm.  A heated hillside thermal

energy aggregated puff-puff forces-

calm contingencies.

I'll leave Louise and Lester nibbling aphid

nosh, and catch this seed in transit through garden's

wide expanse.  I may deplane any time or

merely take a chance.

I'm smarter than your average bug because a

beetle, not a bug be I.  This subterfuge

could save my life-- wasps find me tasty and look

to see just me fly. 

© Lawrencealot - June 26, 2012