We have moved!

This blog is no longer actively updated. You can now find us at http://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Oxylet

Invented by Bhaskar Datta  writing on Allpoetry.com.

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.        
        
Make writing a Triolet more challenging!         
Make each line 8 syllables in length (4 metrical feet),         
written in iambic tetrameter (the more common way),         
or try it in pentameter (English version)


NOW that you have done that, add an oxymoron to each line and you have an OXYLET

Example Poem

Left Ain't Right

Now we will try to right a wrong 
for we don't find the left is right. 
We are aroused, but passive throng. 
Now we will try to right a wrong 
We'll loudly sing our quiet song 
and wage this year our peaceful fight. 
Now we will try to right a wrong 
for we don't find the left is right. 


Visual Template


Monday, July 8, 2013

Mirror Sestet

The Mirror Sestet, created by Shelley A. Cephas, is a poem that can be 
written in one or more stanzas of 6 lines each. The specific guidelines for 
this form are as follows:

The first word of line 1 rhymes with the last word of line 1.
The first word of line 2 is the last word of line 1 and the
last word of line 2 is the 1st word of line 1.

The first word of line 3 rhymes with the last word of line 3.
The first word of line 4 is the last word of line 3 and the
last word of line 4 is the 1st word of line 3.

The first word of line 5 rhymes with the last word of line 5.
The first word of line 6 is the last word of line 5 and the 
last word of line 6 is the 1st word of line 5.

The Mirror Sestet can also be written in non-rhyme.
All rules must be followed except there is no 1st and last word rhyming.



Example Poem

It Worked

"Turds like him can speak in fancy words.
Words that  promise much. Those phony turds.
Great gods I fell for it."  Here I wait,
Wait for Merlin to do something great.
"Smile for then he'll make it worth your while.
While there, he'll match figure to your smile."

Visual Template


Mirror Oddquain

Oddquain: Created by Glenda L. Hand.
Usually unrhymed.    
17 syllables in five lines. Syllable Count: 1-3-5-7-1

Oddquain sequences:   poems made up of Oddquain stanzas.

Crown Oddquains: a five stanza Oddquain sequence

Reverse Oddquains: Reverse syllable patter 1-7-5-3-1

Mirror Oddquains: two stanzas: 1-3-5-7-1     1-7-5-3-1

Oddquain Butterflies: a merged mirror pattern.
  
Two Oddquains merge but use only one 
of the 1 syllables in the joining. 
1-3-5-7-1-7-5-3-1


Example Poem:

Morning Ritual

I
pour a cup
black steaming coffee
sugar provides food value
Ahhh!

Jam
and butter fill the English
muffin crevices
then my mouth,
yum.


© Lawrencealot - April 9, 2012

Minute

he Minute Poem is rhyming verse form consisting of 12 lines of 60 syllables written in strict
iambic meter.  The poem is formatted into 3 stanzas of 8,4,4,4;  8,4,4,4;  8,4,4,4 syllables. 
The rhyme scheme is as follows: aabb, ccdd, eeff

The Minute Poem is a 60 syllable verse form, one syllable for each second in a minute. The theme should be an event that is over and done completely, as in a minute. Since the dominant line is short the effect is likely humorous, whimsical or semi-serious. It was created by Verna Lee Hinegardner, once poet laureate of Arkansas.



Example Poem

Wrong Room

My thought,  my dear,  was that tonight
I'd do it right.
No more wham bam,
Then kiss and scram.

I slid real close, and  loved the fit,
hand on your tit.
It was a dream
until the scream.

Your mom  fled from the rented room.
Impending doom.
I'd be in it
In a minute.

(c) Lawrencealot - February 9, 2012


Visual Template


Melodic

    This is a form invented by a poet who writes as  chasingtheday on Allpoetry.com
    It is 15 syllables per line and at the beginning of every new line                        
    you rhyme with the last word of the previous line.                                        
    The first verse is 7 lines,                        
    the second verse is 6 lines                        
    and third verse is 5 lines.                        
                             
    The rhyme for the whole poem is end line rhyme -                        
    Rhyme may be perfect rhyme, slant rhyme, or assonance rhyme, or sight rhyme                         
    abcabcc                        
    defdef                        
    ghigg                        
                             
    Each new line beginning must be the same rhyme as the                
    end line rhyme of the line before it. 
    The following template may help.  Interpret the rhyme column (a)b as meaning the
    first word uses the a-rhyme, the end-word uses the b-rhyme.

    Example Poem

    Calls for Careful Constant Cogitation   (Melodic)

    This form requires lines fifteen syllables long, an internal
    Infernal rhyme that's tough, because adjoining words must rhyme, hence
    sense must accrue quickly to pairs that seem spaced so far apart.
    Start with a new sentence when you need a break,  an external
    nocturnal stimulant, like caffeine or nicotine dispensed
    condensed into a pot or a pack may elevate your heart
    chart and move your muse.  Or kill you like sex, food, or exercise.

    Surprise surreptitiously surfaces when stringing sev'ral
    caesural sounds sequentially but may lend a lift and lilt.
    Tilt your lance and charge capriciously calling for less control.
    Enroll enchanting images of white winged fairies with all
    enthralled by fluttering and dancing as if on flower quilt.
    Stilt your language if antiquities you're planning to enroll.

    Droll wit can be levered when you have so many words, but wit 
    lit out from me this week.  I hoped muse and I could together
    gather something credible, (not aiming for incredible)--
    bull can only be shoveled just so deep.  But muse chose to sit
    it out, and left me all alone.  Thus this time will be no hit.


    Visual Template 



Sunday, July 7, 2013

McWhirtle

McWhirtle is a light verse form similar to a double dactyl, invented in 1989 by American poet Bruce Newling. McWhirtles share essentially the same form as double dactyls, but without the strict requirements, making them easier to write. Specifically:
  • McWhirtles do not require a nonsense phrase (e.g., "Higgledy piggledy") on the first line.
  • There is no requirement for a double-dactylic word in the second stanza.
  • There is an extra unstressed syllable added to the beginning of the first line of each stanza.
  • Although the meter is the same as in a double-dactyl, syllables may move from the end of one line to the beginning of the next for readability.
The looser form allows poets additional freedom to include additional rhymes and other stylistic devices.
The form is named after the fictional protagonist in an early example by Newling, included with his original written description of the form, dated August 12, 1989; but his first McWhirtle, in which his friend "Skip" Ungar is the protagonist and which also appeared with his original description, was:
The Piano Player
I read in the papers
That Harry F. Ungar
Performs in a night spot
Near soigne Scotch Plains,
Caressing the keyboard
While affluent yuppies
Are eating and drinking
Their capital gains.
The first published description of the McWhirtle, with examples, was in E.O. Parrott, ed., How to Be Well-Versed in Poetry, London: Viking, 1990, pp. 197-200; and the verse form was also described in Anne H. Soukhanov, Word Watch - The Stories Behind the Words of Our Lives, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1995, pp. 388-89.
An example by American poet Kenn Nesbitt:
Fernando the Fearless
We're truly in awe of
Fernando the Fearless
who needed no net
for the flying trapeze.
Alas, what a shame
it's surprisingly difficult
catching a bar
in the midst of a sneeze.




Visual Template:

Note: only the 4th and 8th line rhyme are required.



Lune

The lune is also known as the American Haiku. It was first created by the poet Robert Kelly (truly a great poet) and was a result of Kelly’s frustration with English haiku. After much experimentation, he settled on a 13-syllable, self-contained poem that has 5 syllables in the first line, 3 syllables in the second line and 5 syllable in the final line.

There is a variant lune created by poet Jack Collom. His form is also a self-contained tercet, but his poem is word-based (not syllable-based) and has the structure of 3 words in the first line, 5 words in the second line and 3 words in the final line.
As with Kelly’s lune, there are no other rules.

Thanks to Robert  Lee Brewer



Recap:  Kelly Lune, Syllables: 5-3-5
         Collom Lune,   Words:  3-5-3
         Any topic, meter, rhyme, metaphor allowed.

Whereas Haiku is a Japanese word the the plural is still Haiku,
If you write more than one Lune, they are Lunes.
      

Related Forms: Alphabet Haiku,  Crystalline,  Haibun,  Haiga,  Haiku Haikuette,  KimoLune, PixikuRhaikuSijoUkiahZip


Examples

How to Write a  Collom Lune

Lune authorship permits
words, not syllables be counted
three, five, three.

Rhyming Kelly Lune

Rhyming a a a
all the way
becomes quite okay.


© Lawrencealot