Meisenheimer's Sestet

This form was created by Glenn Meisenheimer, aka gmcookie on Allpoetry.

It is stanzaic consisting of two or more stanzas.

It is syllabic, each stanza being a sestet of 11/8/11/11/11/8 syllables.

It is metrical, with the long lines consisting of three anapestic feet and an iamb, and each short line consisting of two anapestic feet and an iamb.

Rhyme pattern:  xabbba

My Example

April 7th Phone Call     (Meisenheimer's Sestet)

And what was the promise that went unfulfilled,

and why did it happen like that?

You promised to cherish, to love and obey

I promised the same yet you left me one day

and none of my pleas could persuade you to stay

so home with my two boys I sat.

But one time you tried to rejoin me and them;

by then I was slightly involved.

I'd promised another to be her escort

one day to a wedding as symbol of sorts.

I'd told you I'd promised and could not abort-

one day! then the problem'd be solved.

One day was too much for your too needy heart

I think you’d expected I'd stay

and forget a promise for now things were changed.

I couldn't and wouldn't get things rearranged

so after a month we were newly estranged.

You took our girls; you went away.

And what was the promise that went unfulfilled,

that caused you to call me last night?

You're dying and know it and facing the end,

have mem'ries to reckon with, fences to mend.

You know I still love you and think you my friend.

I wish that could make it alright.

© Lawrencealot - April 8, 2014

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Sheshire

Sheshire

Type:	Structure, Metrical Requirement, Rhyme Scheme Requirement, Isosyllabic, Pivot Requirement
Description:	A poem based on six-line verses with a closing couplet. Here are Chuck’s rules: The Sheshire is comprised of three stanzas of 6 lines with a rhyme scheme of either ABABAB or ABCABC. Completed by a rhymed couplet. Each line has the same number of syllables. The one exception to this is the last line, which may have up to six additional syllables. The additional syllables must a phrase that is set aside (by parenthesis or dashes, for example). If this aside is removed, the correct syllable count would be there and the line would remain a reasonable sentence. Each stanza should have a shift in tone. The ending couplet should leave the reader (or at least the poet) with a grin. It can be a darkly ironic grin, but a grin, nonetheless. The derivation is from the Hebrew words shesh and shir or shira meaning six poem.
Attributed to:	Charles David Lipsig
Origin:	American (Jewish)
Schematic:	Rhyme: ababab or abcabc Total schema: ababab cdcdcd efefef gg or abcabc defdef ghighi jj
Rhythm/Stanza Length:	6
Line/Poem Length:	20
Examples:	Cheshire Pesach, 2004
Status:	Incomplete
See Also:	Sestet

Pasted from <http://www.poetrybase.info/forms/002/253.shtml>

My thanks to Charles L. Weatherford for the wonderful resource quoted. 

• The Sheshire is an invented verse form by Jewish-American poet Charles David Lipsig found at Poetry BaseThe name comes from Hebrew six=shesh and poem=shir.
  
  The Sheshire is:
• a poem of 20 lines made up of 3 sixains followed by a couplet.
• isosyllabic except the last line which includes the the # of syllables as the previous lines plus a finishing phrase separated from the base line by caesura.
• rhymed, rhyme scheme ababab cdcdcd efefef gg or abcabc defdef ghighi jj.
• composed with a pivot or change of tone from stanza to stanza and ends with a note of irony.

Pasted from <http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1197#sheshire>

 My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the wonderful resource quoted. 

Example Poem

Shovel Snow     (Sheshire)

When I was only nine or ten

and winter's chilly nights dumped snow,

I loved to help my daddy then

We'd bundle up, he'd say, "Let's go!"

Together, we two working men

would scrape and push and scoop and throw.

Into my teens I found it paid

to take my shovel- make the rounds

to work for those who were dismayed

how quickly that white stuff abounds.

While others in their warm homes stayed

I worked with scraping, grunting sounds.

I had no sons to share the task.

Our drive was shaded by our house;

"Please clean the walk," my wife would ask.

Of course one ought to please one's spouse

so covered up, and with ski-mask

I worked. It did no good to grouse.

Retired and lazy now I nap

or read or watch my football game.  (Let teens now do that crap!)

© Lawrencealot - February 2, 2014

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Sicilian Sestet

Sicilian Sestet

Possessing similar origins, as the Italian Sestet, 

the Sicilian sestet had no set meter, but the 

anglicised version uses Iambic tetrameter or pentameter.

The rhyme pattern is as follows; ababab

Example Poem

Write a Sicilian Sestet

Sicilian sestets have most simple rhyme. 

The metric foot can be both four and five,

(but not at once), just one poem at a time. 

Here pentameter iambs are alive. 

Don't strain yourself in finding rhyme like I'm. 

Just think ahead and then you can survive. 

© Lawrencealot - July 25, 2012

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Shadorma

I'm not willing to call this a Spanish form, even though it could be;  it was more likely invented by a disenchanted poet tired of all of the differing and conflicting versions of Haiku popping up.  In the next three lines I'll list everything we KNOW about the form, then some of the sources you might find interesting, including a real beautiful work by Amera.

It is stanzaic, consisting of one or more sestets

It is syllabic 3/5/3/3/7/5

Rhyme and meter are optional

The Shadorma is a Spanish poetic form made up of a stanza of six lines

(sestet)  with no set rhyme scheme.

 It is a syllabic poem with a meter of 3/5/3/3/7/5.

It can have many stanzas, as long as each follows the meter. 

Little is known about this poetic style's origins and history 

but it is used by many modern poets today. 

This variation of the haiku, which is evident by its syllable pattern, 

can be seen in use in many writing venues.

The Shadorma is a poetic form consisting of a six-line stanza (or sestet). The form is alleged to have originated in Spain. Each stanza has a syllable count of three syllables in the first line, five syllables in the second line, three syllables in the third and fourth lines, seven syllables in the fifth line, and five syllables in the sixth line (3/5/3/3/7/5) for a total of 26 syllables. A poem may consist of one stanza, or an unlimited number of stanzas (a series of shadormas).

It has been suggested[by whom?] that the shadorma is not a historical poetic form as it is alleged to be by those who have recently revived and popularized it. There is no evidence of extant early Spanish poetry using this form. Further, the word shadorma does not appear in Spanish-language dictionaries, and no examples of the early usage of the form appear in poetry textbooks or anthologies. Further, there is no literary criticism regarding its history in Spanish literature. Considering this, the alleged history of the shadorma may be modern hoax or the poetic equivalent of an urban legend. However, the shadorma has been used by many modern writers[citation needed] and is a popular writing exercise in creative writing programs and workshops.

Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadorma>

The Shadorma Joke

November 2, 2012 by Sabio Lantz

The Shadorma Joke

Shadorma!

But who’da known it.

Started as

a small lie.

Now has widely multiplied.

Myth Poetica!

Background:  Posted for: Poets United, my “poem” above, is a “Shadorma”.   The “Shadorma” is purported to be a haiku-like Spanish poetic form with one or more stanza of six lines (sestet) with 3/5/3/3/7/5 syllable lines respectively and no set rhyme scheme.

But here is the point of my poem: I can’t find any evidence for the history of this “form”. Did someone make it up?  Is it just an internet-myth and not a historical fact?  Poetry sites that I have found, just echo each other saying “Little is known about this poetic style’s origins and history but it is used by many modern poets today.”

Pasted from <http://yuanfields.wordpress.com/2012/11/02/the-shadorma-joke/>

Make Me

Close the door

And turn off the light

Come adore

Mi amore

In fantasy and delight

Come my love, explore

For so long

I’ve waited for you

Come along

We belong

Entwined in a love for two

Come... and make me strong

Close the door

And lie here with me

Make me soar

Fill my core

Come take me to ecstasy

Make me want you more

Pasted from <http://allpoetry.com/poem/5092089-Make-Me-by-Amera-adult>

Example Poem

He Did It!

Shadorma

is a recent work

invented

if you will

by a bored U.S. mail clerk

who held verse in scorn.

Haiku, hell!

They're Japan's, and short.

They can't rhyme-

that's a crime;

let this form be my retort.

This is English, sport.

Without rhyme

first, and then I tried

and here I'm

satisfied

with plain alternating rhyme.

I'll change every time.

Interlaced

when it's not end-placed

Like this you

Kiss the line

below- oft called internal,

but that's wrong you know.

Shadorma

sounded Spanish though

Korean

it is not.

I'm content to let it go

The form's pretty hot.

© Lawrencealot - December 9, 2013

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Tableau

• The Tableau is an invented stanzaic form that paints a single image in keeping with the name of the form, tableau meaning picture. Created byEmily Romano who suggests the word "tableau" be included in the title. The Tableau is:
• stanzaic, written in any number of sixains.
• isosyllabic, 5 syllable lines.
• rhyme at the discretion of the poet.
• written describing a single image.
• written with a title that includes the word "tableau".


Pasted from <http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?/topic/1195-found-at-shadow-poetry/>
With thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the wonderful PMO resource.
I chande syllabic above to 
• isosyllabic, 5 syllable lines indicating all lines are the same length.




The Tableau, a poetry form created by Emily Romano in October of 2008, consists of one or more verses, each having six lines. Each line should have five beats (syllables). There is no set rhyme scheme, although rhyme may be present. The title should contain the word tableau.
Write one stanza only.


Since the dictionary states the word tableau means picture or representation, the poem should reflect this. A picture should come to mind as the poem is read.


example:


Graveside Tableau


Sunlight cannot warm
The corpse of the bairn
Who drowned in the loch; 
Stoic the father,
Silent the mother,
While a spinster weeps


Copyright © 2008 Emily Romano


Pasted from <http://beta.allpoetry.com/contest/2613897-Poetic_Bandits_-_Write_a_Tableau_-noguest>


My Example Poem


The Sting Tableau


Her felicity
and non-verbal cues
were evocative;
when his cash came out
then so did her badge.


© Lawrencealot - August 21, 2013

Stave Stanza

A poem which is:

Stanzaic:    Having three or more sestet verses.

Isosyllabic:  Line length not specified but all of same length.

Metrical:      Usually iambic tetrameter.

Repetitive:   Having either one or two refrain repeated throughout.

Rhymed:      Scheme aabbcC ddeecC ffggcC...etc, or

                                 AabbaA AaccaA AaddaA..etc.

Other Sources:

Stave

Type:	Structure, Metrical Requirement, Repetitive Requirement, Rhyme Scheme Requirement, Isosyllabic, Stanzaic
Description:	A short-lined (usually tetrameter or less) drinking song stanza form. A stricter definition has the stave as a six-line stanza of uniform line length composed of rhymed couplets with a refrain: aabbcC ddeecC ffggcC, etc. The strictest form has the refrain as both first and last line of the sestet, giving: AabbaA AaccaA AaddaA, etc.
Schematic:	aabbcC ddeecC ffggcC, etc. or AabbaA AaccaA AaddaA, etc. Where C or A are refrains repeated throughout.

Pasted from <http://www.poetrybase.info/forms/002/298.shtml>

Thanks to Bob Newman, his is a wonderful resource.

Stave Stanza

Type: Stanzaic; rhyme; repetition; isosyllabic.

Description: A variation on using couplets to construct a sestet. The form consists of a refrain line which is the last line of each stanza, therefore the last couplet of each stanza also rhymes. Lines should be isosyllabic*.

Schematic: aabbcC ddeecC ffggcC etc

Stanza Length: 6 lines

Poem Length: 18 + lines

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

POSTED BY CERIDWEN AT TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2009  

LABELS: ISOSYLLABIC, POETIC FORMS: S, REPETITION,RHYME, STANZAIC, STAVE STANZA

Pasted from <http://paintingpoetrypoeticforms.blogspot.com/2009/03/stave-stanza.html>

 Thanks to Jem Farmer.

 My Example Poem

Kandinsky Clothes       (Stave Stanza)

"I want to stroll and get some sun.

You're artistic, aren't you, my hon?

I haven't got a thing to wear.

You'll paint me something if you care."

Sure, I can do that heaven knows

you look just fine in painted clothes.

With sun-screen added to my oils,

I began my most earnest toils,

My mind had wander when you moaned,

thank Gawd your mother telephoned.

That kept the other subject closed.

you look just fine in painted clothes.

Most folks took little heed at all

as we both strolled across the mall.

One connoisseur observing it

exclaimed out loud, "That's one fine fit.

It's all just as I had supposed

you look just fine in painted clothes.

© Lawrencealot - July 15, 2013

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Sestalena

9:56 AM

Form: Sestalena

Invented by: Caroline Ann Gordon on Allpoetry

syllabic  6/8/8/6/8/6

rhyme    a  b b a  b a

Length 6 lines

a Lines Iambic Trimeter

b Lines Iambic Tetrameter 

Pasted from <http://allpoetry.com/list/541485-Sestalena>

Example Poem

Apprenticeship     (Sestalena)

I found that gasoline

is not accelerant preferred

for burning work-site junk.  A nerd,

they let me learn just fine,

The boom! The bounce! I looked absurd.

The blast turned out benign.

Construction guys have fun

in teaching newbies with a sting.

First wheelbarrow I tried to bring

across a plank built run

On my first turn, I dumped the thing.

Applause by everyone.

The egg noodles were free

but changed the texture quite a bit

of my jam sandwich- a new hit.

My colleagues laughed with glee.

The jokes on me just never quit.

Yet, all were good for me.

The AM radio

that day in nineteen sixty-three,

announced the death of Kennedy

so that is how I know

when noodle sandwich jubilee

became a subdued show.

But thanking good old Zeus,

I transitioned from labor skills

to other ways to pay my bills.

So I have no excuse

my poems don't provide more thrills,

I'm just a bit obtuse.

  © Lawrencealot - January 10, 2013

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Memento

Themed:          about a holiday or anniversary.

Stanzaic:          sestet consisting of two tercets

Syllabic:            8/6/2/8/6/2

Rhymed:           abcabc

Source quoted:

Memento, created by Emily Romano is a poem about a holiday or an anniversary, consisting of two stanzas as follows: the syllable count should be 8 beats for line one; 6 beats for line two; and two beats for line three. This is repeated twice for each stanza. The rhyme scheme is: a/b/c/a/b/c for each of the two stanzas.

Example #1:

Sky Flowers

Circumference unlimited

As flowers in the sky

Expand;

We stand in awe, inhibited,

As bright explosives fly

From land.

July wears flowers in the sky

Spreading above the town

In flight;

We stand in awe, ready to cry

Aloud as they resound

This night.

Copyright © 2007 Emily Romano

http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/memento.html

My Example Attempt

This Night     (Memento)

The faces of the children glow

expecting old Saint Nick

this night,

with wonder only children know

and hoping to sleep quick

tonight.

© Lawrencealot -December 4,2013

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A L'Arora

The A L'Arora, a form created by Laura Lamarca, consists of 8-lined stanzas. The rhyme scheme for this form is a, b, c, d, e, f, g, f with no syllable count per line. The minimum length for the poem is 4 stanzas with no maximum length stipulation. The A L'Arora is named after Laura Lamarca as "La" is her signature. "Aurora" is Italian and means "dawn" - "Arora" is derived from this. This form is dedicated to Chad Edwards.

Rhyme Scheme Re-Stated: xxxxxa xa, where "x" = no rhyme

Example:

To Eternity

She had harboured her conscience
as saddened seas set sail
and a hail of happiness
harpooned her harmed heart;
yet the start of her story
cast its line long ago...

when blame built a boat
to float to and fro.

She had waded through waters
towards distant dreams,
as sky's streams shone strong
for promise to grow,
and tide told of legends,
of pirates and gold...

of adventures and romance
and treasures to behold.

Soft breeze blew her homewards
towards challenge and smile,
over miles of surrender--
befriending love's sighs.
Undercurrents urged notions
to traverse oceans...and land

as anchors raised rainbows
and sorrows turned to sand.

She harnessed the beauty
that greeted her ashore,
as core swelled with longing
to sing songs...and survive.
And she lived with pride's palms
for forever and a day...

past's anchor has long rusted--
eroded echoes...stripped away.

Copyright © 2009 Laura Lamarca

Pasted from <http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/alarora.html> 

My Example Poem

Simple, Not Simplistic    (A L'Arora)

My mentor mentioned making my attempts

at penning poetry as speaking to a friend.

The grandiose perhaps will awe a few,

The academics, whose investment

in obcsure even

may seem propitious.

The common man will find

pretention not auspicious.

Your poems should be fun or run with one

to ideas delible in reader's mind

making them now indelible in his own

Arcadia.

Eschew condemnations, and benisons

but be exponent of provoking thought.

Let poetry maraud through newest  notions

and through concepts the Ancients may be taught.

Ignorance is pandemic

and helped along

by dogma,

the quintessential foe of reason.

If agencies are instru mental

in dumbing people down. . .

We poets and the world-wide net

is where new hope is found.

Confounding folks

won't do the trick

Didactic rants

shall also fail,

but creative and probing poems

when free of condescension,

may lead the Exodus from apathy

and get the world's attention.

(c) Lawrencealot - Nov 2013

I visual template is neither possible nor required.

Byron's Sestet

This form was brought to our attention by Streambed of Allpoety

with this comment introducing a contest:

I don't know what Byron would have called this form, but I think of it as "Ruffled Couplets" because it's pretty much couplets shaken up by an unexpected line. It's so easy to use. It's based on Byron's one stanza poem "Remembrance." The meter in the original poem wigged me out a little, and I had to step back and just think of typical 8 syllable lines before I could use it. I'll post the original here, but if you find the meter frustrating to work around I'm also posting a link to mine below which uses a typical meter.

Remembrance by Lord Byron

’Tis done!—I saw it in my dreams;

No more with Hope the future beams;

My days of happiness are few:

Chill’d by misfortune’s wintry blast,

My dawn of life is overcast;

Love Hope, and Joy, alike adieu!

Would I could add Remembrance too!

I have created a visual template of this poem below,

indicating a sestet of  iambic tetrameter

with rhyme pattern aabccbb.

I chose to name this form Byron's Septet for easy  identification

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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."

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Compression

This form is a Compression invented by Sector-Hunter

The first line is in a syllable count of 4
The next line is in a count of 5
The next is in a count of 6 and has to rhyme with the first line
Line four is in a count of 6
Line five is in a count of 5
The last line of the poem is in a count of four
and has to rhyme with the third line and first line in the poem.

Restated:
A syllabic sestet with syllables 4/5/6/6/5/4
Rhyme pattern axaxxa


Example Poem

Compression Form Example

The time is now
Compression tightens,
frightens, and this is how.
Sector-Hunter designed
this form.  Make it work.
Well, Holy cow!

 © July 12, 2012


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Harrisham Rhyme

This form consists of a six-line rhyming stanza.
In this form, the last letter of the first word of each line
is the first letter of the first word of next line.
Rhyming scheme : ababab.
There is no restriction on the starting letter of the first line.
No restriction upon line length or meter.
Invented by:  Harrisham Minhas

Example Poem

Stuck?              (Harrisham Rhyme)

Deoppilate exsuflicate concerns.

Enter some eximous and friendly verse 

removing problem words that meter spurns.

Get stuck during day?  Then try the reverse. 

Try to dinurate 'til the muse returns.

Yet a geck? Oh what the heck?  I've done worse.

 © Lawrencealot - March 2, 2013


*Deopillate - remove an obstruction
*Exsuflicate - "something which is silly or trifling"
*Eximous "choice or excellent"
* Dinurate - sleep during the day
* Geck - 2. An object of scorn; a dupe; a gull


Visual Template

Imaginaerium

Invented by  Caroline Ann Gordon      
To pen this form, you must use the following:        
 * Rhyme done in:        
  abcaba deed ff        
* 12 syllables per line        
* Written as follows: Sestet/ Quatrain/Couplet        
* Sestet is written followed by your Quatrain, this stanza is begun with a Volta.          
* A Volta, which in Italian means "turn".          
The turn of thought is one in a Sonnet that is often indicated by such words as: "But", "and", and "yet."          
This form is Copyrighted © 2012 Caroline Ann Gordon.        
If you pen in this form, please mention where you learned the style from.          


Example Poem

Deferred Treasure

I wandered through the deserts high and slept in caves
while searching for the Montezuma's gold that lies
in Utah hills. The Aztec fortune deemed so great
that it cannot be computed. Brought here by slaves
or Montezuma's minions, several tons of prize.
Only one man survived the rest were put in graves.
       
Yet, years of toil and searching yielded only grief.
The map the old guy claimed good but not exact
Has led me here and many possibles I've tracked.
I miss my love, I'm through with greed. Time's been a thief.
       
I'm still an able man, I'll work.  The tide has turned.
My treasure is the girl who waits.  That I have learned.

© Lawrencealot - April 7, 2012



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Italian Sestet

Italian Sestet

The original version of the Italian Sestet had no set meter, 

but after it was introduced into England by Spenser, 

eventually the poets there began to use iambic tetrameter 

or pentameter. The rhyme pattern example is as follows (Using iambic tetrameter)

x x x x x x x a

x x x x x x x b

x x x x x x x c

x x x x x x x a

x x x x x x x b

x x x x x x x c

Pasted from <http://thepoetsgarret.com/2010Challenge/form11.html> 

Example Poem

Let's Write an Italian Sestet

An Italian Sestet we're to write. 

da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM. 

Use Tetrameter- (four fine feet). 

Delay the rhyme that makes it right. 

There're only two more rhymes to come 

then we are done.  Now ain't that sweet? 

© Lawrencealot - July 25, 2012

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