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Deuces Sonnet

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This is an invented sonnet form created by Mary Lou Healy writing on Allpoetry.com as Mlou.

Stanzaic: The sonnet consists of three quatrains and a closing couplet.
Meter: Iambic Pentameter
Volta: Occuring at L9 or L13, (both rhyme pattern changes)
Rhyme: abba abba baab aa

We considered several names for this sonnet form, and all came up being in some way collectively unsatisfying. Only in my solitude, while attempting to compose my first, did I come up with the name “Deuces”. It’s double meaning as an exclamation of confusion and the number two seems to fit.

Nightfall…A Sonnet by MLou

There is a moment just as daylight fades
when reverent hush covers like a shawl
the tired day, and glints of nature’s shades
are dimmed in waning light of evening’s fall.

Birds who filled the day with bright cascades 
of warbled notes…such beauty in each call
we pause to listen, raptured in their thrall…
in sudden silence, cease their serenades.

A landscape bright in summer’s careless sprawl
of hills and valleys, lakes and forest glades
that were spread out in color-rich brocades,
now muted lies ‘neath night’s dark parasol.

The cloak of sleep creeps down the palisades,
and midnight creatures start their masquerades.

My example

Quantum Cat (Mlou Deuces Sonnet)

Quantum Cat

My cat, a quantum powered feline friend,
is like that Cheshire cat of storied fame.
He disappears, or not to whence he came
With timing upon which I can’t depend.

When reading over something I have penned
he’ll either purr, or mumble “That’s a shame.”
No more than that; no fault he’ll ever name.
But for that night, my writing’s at an end.

Good verse, or poor, he’ll sparkle just the same
and oft times though my knobby legs he’ll wend
while hoping that my verse I might amend.
I shall of course, I want to keep him tame.

That cat’s a she, not he… I now contend
for only they so need a man to mend.

© Lawrencealot – March 16, 2015

 

 

Image credit” Bing Images, all rights belong to creator.

 

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Deuces Sonnet

Ivorian Sonnet

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Ivorian Sonnet

This sonnet is the brainchild of the late Ivor Hogg, and at first site just a simple progression of stanzas.

A couplet a. a… a triplet b. c. b… and a quatrain d. e. d. e.

The quintain is the key that links this stanza back to the RHYME of the previous stanzas and the rhyme pattern can be in any order giving it 120 variations. 

Ivorian Sonnet Quintain Variations 1 – 24

a.b.c.d.e.

a.b.c.e.d.

a.b.d.c.e.

a.b.d.e.c.

a.b.e.c.d.

a.b.e.d.c.

a.c.b.d.e.

a.c.b.e.d.

a.c.d.b.e.

a.c.d.e.b.

a.c.e.b.d.

a.c.e.d.b.

a.d.b.c.e.

a.d.b.e.c.

a.d.c.b.e.

a.d.c.e.b.

a.d.e.b.c.

a.d.e.c.b.

a.e.b.c.d.

a.e.b.d.c.

a.e.c.b.d.

a.e.c.d.b.

a.e.d.b.c.

a.e.d.c.b.

Ivorian Sonnet Quintain Variations 25 – 48

b.a.c.d.e.

b.a.c.e.d.

b.a.d.c.e.

b.a.d.e.c.

b.a.e.c.d.

b.a.e.d.c.

b.c.a.d.e.

b.c.a.e.d.

b.c.d.a.e.

b.c.d.e.a.

b.c.e.a.d.

b.c.e.d.a.

b.d.a.c.e.

b.d.a.e.c.

b.d.c.e.a.

b.d.c.a.e.

b.d.e.a.c.

b.d.e.c.a.

b.e.a.c.d.

b.e.a.d.c.

b.e.c.a.d.

b.e.c.d.a.

b.e.d.a.c.

b.e.d.c.a.

Ivorian Sonnet Quintain Variations 48 – 72

c.a.b.d.e.

c.a.b.e.d.

c.a.d.b.e.

c.a.d.e.b.

c.a.e.b.d.

c.a.e.d.b.

c.b.a.d.e.

c.b.a.e.d.

c.b.d.a.e.

c.b.d.e.a.

c.b.e.a.d.

c.d.e.d.a.

c.d.a.b.e.

c.d.a.e.b.

c.d.b.a.e.

c.d.b.e.a.

c.d.e.a.b.

c.d.e.b.a.

c.e.a.b.d.

c.e.a.d.b.

c.e.b.a.d.

c.e.b.d.a.

c.e.d.a.b.

c.e.d.b.a.

Ivorian Sonnet Quintain Variations 73 – 96

d.a.b.c.e.

d.a.b.e.c.

d.a.c.b.e.

d.a.c.e.b.

d.a.e.b.c.

d.a.e.c.b.

d.b.a.c.e.

d.b.a.e.c.

d.b.c.a.e.

d.b.c.e.a.

d.b.e.a.c.

d.b.e.c.a.

d.c.a.b.e.

d.c.a.e.b.

d.c.b.a.e.

d.c.b.e.a.

d.c.e.a.b.

d.c.e.b.a.

d.e.a.b.c.

d.e.a.c.b.

d.e.b.a.c.

d.e.b.c.a.

d.e.c.a.b.

d.e.c.b.a

Ivorian Sonnet Quintain Variations 97 – 120

e.a.b.c.d.

e.a.b.d.c.

e.a.c.b.d.

e.a.c.d.b.

e.a.d.b.c.

e.a.d.c.b.

e.b.a.c.d.

e.b.a.d.c.

e.b.c.a.d.

a.b.c.d.a.

e.b.d.a.c.

e.b.d.c.a.

e.c.a.b.d.

e.c.a.d.b.

e.c.b.a.d.

e.c.b.d.a.

e.c.d.a.b.

e.c.d.b.a.

e.d.a.b.c.

e.d.a.c.b.

e.d.b.a.c.

e.d.b.c.a.

e.d.c.a.b.

e.d.c.b.a.

Sonnet’s Journey – Ivorian Sonnet XXXV

My pen that writes the words of many things 

Yet everything stops to hear the love that sings 

No matter where a poet sits each night 

her thoughts return to stay beside you dear 

A sonnet’s journey is to touch love’s light 

A missive signed and sealed by poets’s lips 

that form a kiss to gently ease the ache 

our senses wound in cherished reels and strips 

and there in words we speak the love we make 

Each night as love letters begin their flight 

I lose the dreaded sense of loss and fear 

that often lead my tender heart to break 

Each soothing word of ink so softly springs 

To resonate again upon your lips.

Jem Farmer

Pasted from http://thepoetsgarret.com/2013Challenge/form08.html

http://www.thepoetsgarret.com/

My thanks to Jem Farmer of thepoetsgarret.

My example

Discharged (Ivorian Sonnet)

He seemed an old man children might demean.
He wore a shaggy coat, but it was clean.
The wars he fought in made fortunes for some,
and analysts think little else was good.
It savaged his soul and left him a bum.
He returned to be spit upon, and worse.
He’d picked up habits which had helped him cope
but now it plagued him with a social curse
and mockery deprived this man of hope.
A brother soldier helped him get off dope
and now he hopes his fortunes to reverse,
he’d consul other veterans if he could
He’s overcome the thought that he’s just scum
He wears a shabby coat, but now it’s clean.

© Lawrencealot – March 11, 2015

Visual Template for Ivorian Sonnet type 120

Ivorian Sonnet

Double Trouble Sonnet

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Double-Trouble Sonnet: 14 lines of rhymed couplets. The beginning and end of
the lines rhyme. Rhyme Scheme:
1
st stanza a-b, a-b, c-d, c-d
2
nd stanza e-f e-f g-h g-h
3
rd stanza i-j i-j k-l k-l
4
th stanza m-n m-n

Double-Trouble Sonnet

Grandparents’ Dilemma

Waiting to see what grandchildren choose
sating their dreams, wanting not to lose
watching their decisions, seeing their choices
catching the desires in their voices
Grandpa listens and engages in play
Grandma hears and considers a way
wondering what we will be asked to do
pondering how to help them through
When do you advise or intervene?
Then are you the selected go-between?
How do grandparents perform their role?
Now we think– console or patrol?
What do we do when we get involved?
But to dig in and work until problem solved.

http://www.rainbowcommunications.org/velvet/forms/
My Thanks to Linda Varsell Smith for her contributions above.

 

While Linda (the creator of this form) rhymed the first syllable of every line,
I believe also rhyming the first foot, is consistent with her idea.
By doing so one is able to use iambic pentameter without any foot substitution as I have in my example below.

My example

Mice in the Walls (Double Trouble Sonnet)

The phones quit till my father made a splice.
“Who owns this house,” he yelled, “It’s not the mice.”
Our house was warmer than it was outside
One mouse chewed through the wall and came inside!
That boon was advertised to large and small,
and soon our walls could never hold them all.
Dad patched the holes he found with Brillo pad
o’re thatched with poisoned plaster – cus he’s mad.
He slapped a trap in every room and hall
The  traps all snapped but never caught them all.
We live trapped bunches of them every night,
when five to ten took after scents delight.
At last the only mice that were not gone
were mashed beneath the chair mat we’d rolled on.

© Lawrencealot – March 9, 2015

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Double Trouble Sonnet

 

Illini Sonnet

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Two invented sonnet forms were found in Pathways for a Poet by Viola Berg 1977. This book was written for teachers with contributions by teachers. The various forms were offered as learning exercises.
• The Illini Sonnet uses iambic tetrameter as well as pentameter to complete the quatorzain. Inventd by Nel Modglin who probably is connected to the University of Illinois in some way since “Illini” is the nickname connected to the school. 

The Illini Sonnet is:
○ a quatorzain.
○ metered, iambic – L1,L4,L5,L8,L9 and L12 are tetrameter and L2,L3,L6,L7,L10,L11,L13 and L14 are pentameter.
○ rhymed, abcabcdbcdecee.
.

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1849#lu
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example
Enlightenment (IlliniSonnet)

The seeking of enlightenment
becomes a goal, and life-long trip for some.
For others, it’s a state that they enjoy.
But friends, it’s an entitlement
which if it’s left alone will come.
To chart a trip, we’ve tools we can employ;
we can always take a great circle route
or with a map perhaps a rhomb,
(both take an effort to deploy.)
To succeed, one must surely be astute.
If anywhere you’re going is okay
and you’re just happy spreading joy –
you don’t demand that all things work your way
you’ll find that even work is only play.

© Lawrencealot – March 8, 2015

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Illini Sonnet

Busta Sonnetto

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All Thru The Night (Busta Sonnetto)

All thru the night she can hear beat of her heart

No one to share with what she can yet just feel

In the middle of the night you can hear her cry

His betrayal hurts her like daggers of steel

Probing her his love wasn’t true from the start.

In the silent of night she feels round the cold

Like mad driven horses her thoughts can’t seem stop

Some dreams reduced to ashes now dead on floor.

She’s now aware that his love was false a flop.

The coldness of his heart only makes hers scowl.

She covered in blood love at her feet lays dead

All thru the night she tastes love’s bitter sting

Her pain flows but her cry hides within her sigh.

Pushing her nightmare away she leaves her bed.

April,22,2014

Pasted from http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/all-thru-the-night-busta-sonnetto/

This form is based on the Envelope Quintet, and comprises of two quintets and one quatrain in any order. Three versions come to mind with perhaps the inclusion of a repeat line or lines, that I’m sure any innovative poet can have a lot of fun with. Shown below is the first idea the Teagan De Danaan played around with.

 

All Things Must End

 

How lonely is the night, without a companion 

She shares her life with the day, now asleep 

Yet whilst she sleeps, he opens half a world 

And during her vigil has been unable to peep, 

Covered with a blanket, and a different opinion. 

With the first sign of day you hear welcome calls 

And all forms of life burst forth with joyous sound 

That night has done her best to see unfurled. 

So some politics would claim the same around 

That only day should grace their hallowed walls. 

I wonder how long they would last without a night 

And the pleasure that a short hibernation creates; 

Lying in bed asleep sharing your time as mates 

A comfortable partner, sharing beliefs and rights?

Teagan De Danaan

 

Note: Although this example is shown as two quintets and a quatrain, because it is a SONNET it should be presented as a 14 line Stanza!

 

Pasted from http://thepoetsgarret.com/2013Challenge/form21.html

Unsated cravings trail over my skin

Demanding senses to embrace the fire

No words of love are left on my pillow

When no time is left to simply admire

The tendrils of wanting that tease within

Each eager touch a temptation of fate

As kisses melt like honey in the heat

In trashy cheap hotel rooms slicked in dust

Tasting musky sweat is nevermore sweet

When the heart is left out of a date

And as the sunlit drapes softly billow

The cash is given for cracks of willow

And welted skin a symbol of trust

As once again I give in to my lust

Pasted from http://tirnanogthelandoftheeverliving.yuku.com/topic/33978/Melting-Honey-Busta-Sonetto-and-Seven-Sins-Mildly-Erotic#.VLhUiEfF9qU

 

Cruel Mother.—-  Busta Sonetto.

A baby screams within a mothers gloom  

When all she asks was moments to cease   

Why oh why does this depression exist  

When a child torment shall only increase  

Screams shall echo within a silent room   

But manic depression shall often follow  

No matter who or what is likely to blame  

Cursed words that unwind within a twist  

Turns the hearts of innocence to shame 

A brutal remark is a hard act to swallow  

When a babies livelihood is soon at stake 

Shall an innocent bystander turn her eyes 

What may happen next I can only surmise 

The threats of a mother shall be of fake.

Pasted from http://tirnanogthelandoftheeverliving.yuku.com/topic/33795#.VLhU8EfF9qU

Terry Clitheroe

 

All Hallows….Busta Sonetto

In the still of the night as I wander dark halls 

I still sense a movement in time with mine. 

I stop and listen curious about what it could be 

But all seems still here everything feels fine 

As I pass darkness’ hidden pictures on the walls. 

But as much as I stop and listen it evades me 

No Earthly form could be here this special night 

No spirit either for they to have been distracted 

And all forms but me have taken a special flight 

Then I hear a noise, curious, what can it be 

Then I smell it near, to me it’s been attracted 

Now I see it moving, a shadow on the wall 

Moving closer, I see a sight that would appall 

My heart stops, from life I’ve been subtracted

Pasted from http://thepoetsgarret.com/2013Challenge/form21.html#me
My thanks to thepoetsgarret for their on-going work.

Busta Sonnetta specifications re-stated.
The defining feature of this sonnet is the fact that it consists of two quintets and one quatrain in any order.
It should be framed as a quatorzain.
It is generally written in iambic pentameter, but not mandated.
It is generally written with envelope rhyme within each stanza.
Refrain lines are permitted.

My example

Not seeing any poets take the option of putting the quatrain between the two quintains, I decided to do so. Conventionally the volta of a poem, occurs when the rhyme pattern changes. That gave me the option of making the “turn” occur at either L5 or L10.

My Special Dime (Busta Sonnetto)

I always had an extra dime with me,
It was a dime my mother called my spare.
Not ever did I spend that special dime.
Mom sewed it in my coat and showed me where.
Then big kids couldn’t take that coin you see.
I knew I could call home at anytime
if mis-adventure ever came my way.
That hidden coin made everything okay,
That’s comfort to a youth that’s quite sublime.
Today the cell-phone, acts as folk’s life-line,
and nowhere will a phone booth now be found
but there were plenty of them in my day
except where I went playing with my hound
and mother knew that he could watch me fine.

© Lawrencealot – March 7, 2015

Visual Template
(Showing just a few of the hundreds of possible rhyme patterns.)

Busta Sonnetto

Beginning of the Line Rhymed Sonnet

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Beginning of the Line Rhymed Sonnet: Write a 14 line sonnet.
Syllable count: ten per line or iambic pentameter.
Rhyme Scheme: a-a-b-b c-c-d-d e-e-f-f g-g.
First words in the line rhyme, not the end rhyme word

Beginning of the Line Rhymed Sonnet

Child Brides

Legal marriage laws overlooked. Some weddings
illegal, hidden because brides too young.
Some girls do not know what is happening.
numb to traditions taking away choice.
If un-bribable police do stop it,
stiff criminal arrests, family shame.
Secret weddings alter the girls’ futures.
Regret lingers in their burgeoning hearts.
Child marriage spans religion, language, caste.
Wild business transactions sell young girls.
Rape them first, settle debts, parents decide.
Escape from forced marriage! Let the girls grow!
Try to prevent child marriage. Some people
pry free rigid societies’ traditions.

 

http://www.rainbowcommunications.org/velvet/forms/
My Thanks to Linda Varsell Smith for her contributions above.

My Example

Exhibition of Speed (Beginning of the Line Rhymed Sonnet)

I could have told you, had you only asked;
I would have mentioned carelessness would cost.
The pole was bent, the fence knocked down and yes,
the whole thing’s called an accident. Alas.
Not meaning to, (an absence of intent)
s’demeaning what that word should specify.
A feckless act defines an incident
A reckless deed ought be called only that.
He strove to prove his muscle car was hot;
and drove in loops when his control was faint.
He sped because the thrill excited him;
he fled be cause he feared a trip to jail.
When caught he’ll have to pay for what’s destroyed.
He ought to cheer! No people died tonight.

© Lawrecealot – March 4, 2015

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Beginning of the Line Rymed Sonnet

Capped Sonnet

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A Capped Sonnet is a Blank Verse Sonnet
• metric, written iambic pentameter. In English most sonnets are written in iambic pentameter but there are some that occasionally stray from the norm. To metrically stray is not an option with the Blank Verse Sonnet.
• unrhymed.
• a quatorzain with no stanza breaks.
• composed with a pivot or turn which logically arrives in the 2nd half of the sonnet.
which is then ended with a rhymed couplet.

My example

Issue (Capped Sonnet)

Though you seduced an innocent, my dear,
most willingly I did comply that night.
‘Twas out of fear, there was no raging lust;
I knew within my heart you would not wait
and so I staked my claim before I left
to fight and maybe die among my mates.
I married you before we went to war.
Once branded, I imagined you’d not roam.
But founded fears cannot be wished away;
the tides and winds of fate won’t be denied.
Predispositions frequently control.
No man you chose could ever quite decline.
     Our marriage did not last; our children grew.
     They are the precious gift that came from you.

© Lawrencealot – December 5, 2014

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Capped Sonnet

Sonnet Reversed

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Sonnet Reversed
Is named after the poem written by, Rupert Brooke.
It is composed of a couplet and three quatrains

The rhyme scheme is: aa bcbddedefgfg

My Example

Hollow Phrase (Sonnet Reversed)

Her boat capsized, with her aboard alone.
Her life! Why God? I’d rather lost my own.

“She’s in a better place,” the pious say.
The role of faith is to confer relief
and answer puzzles posed from day to day.
Yet her own god was like a sneaky thief.
The day He took her was a pleasant one,
the sea was still, the breeze was soft and sweet.
She was out sailing, simply having fun
thus making God’s own mockery complete.
That day there was no pending sense of doom,
no thunder crashing ’round the peaks above
no pounding surf’s relentless hiss and boom;
the day was tranquil when He took my love.

© Lawrencealot – October 15, 2014

 

Kilmer’s Sonnet

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Two quatrains plus two tercets
Rhyme scheme: abba baab cdc dcd
Volta at or following line 9

The Kilmer Sonnet was patterned after the following poem.

“Alarm Clocks” ~~ Joyce Kilmer
When Dawn strides out to wake a dewy farm
Across green fields and yellow hills of hay
The little twittering birds laugh in his way
And poise triumphant on his shining arm.
He bears a sword of flame but not to harm
The wakened life that feels his quickening sway
And barnyard voices shrilling “It is day!”
Take by his grace a new and alien charm.

But in the city, like a wounded thing
That limps to cover from the angry chase,
He steals down streets where sickly arc-lights sing,
And wanly mock his young and shameful face;
And tiny gongs with cruel fervor ring
In many a high and dreary sleeping place.
Originally I attributed this form to Jose Rizal M. Reyes of the Philippines, as the Morya’s Double Lock.

I found out in October 2014, that Joyce Kilmer beat him to it.

My example

Morning’s Gift (Kilmer’s Sonnet)

I catch a fleeting glimpse- a waking dream
of sirens frolicking to start their day.
They’re full of joy, it seems that they’re at play;
I want to join them in the nearby stream.

I often wave with hopes that one will stay
but they all vanish in the rising steam.
They are but a mirage, so it would seem,
but still I’m buoyed by morning’s brief ballet.

I don’t despair their passing from my sight
the morn is brighter, sound now come awake;
as critter scamper, pretty birds take flight.

If fantasy, or optical mistake
it none-the-less says things have started right.
and for a dreamer, that’s a decent break.

© Lawrencealot – November 14, 2013

Visual Template

 

Welcome

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Everysonnet is a site created to fill a need in the poet community. 
It lists at one internet address Every major sonnet form known* to exist in the English speaking world, along with example poems, and in many cases, helpful visual templates.  *Known to me, and known to be named.
 
It exists as a blog which differs from a ‘regular’ web site and takes some getting used to – I am still in the process of learning.  I’ll list here the things you most need to know to use this site.
1.It automatically puts the last post as the first thing you see, so I will always try to make this info, the last posted.
2.Perhaps the most useful tool for most is the list of all  Sonnet Forms.  Get there by clicking on the “Sonnet Forms” tab,
which is to the right of the “Home” tab.