Informal name created by Mary Boren Sullivan, aka Meter_Maid on Allpoetry.com.
Am adding it so others can have a go at a delightful metric experience.
OK, that’s not the official name for it, but this particular rhyme scheme & metrical pattern echoes of thundering hooves, which makes me think of Banjo Paterson. If you’re stuck in iambic mode, it’s a good way to break free.
The form lends itself to light verse, but is versatile enough to support serious topics as well. The meter is anapestic, as follows, presented in six-line stanzas with a rhyme scheme of aabccb.
ta da DUM / ta da DUM / da
ta DUM / ta da DUM / da
ta DUM / ta da DUM / ta da DUM
If it feels more natural, you can substitute with an iamb for the first foot and/or move the feminine trailing syllables into the next line, like so …
ta DUM / ta da DUM
ta da DUM / ta da DUM
ta da DUM / ta da DUM / ta da DUM
Example Poem
Unfriended
My words are exacting
yours simply distracting
You argue in circles, at best.
You think that deceiving
just ‘cus you’re believing
Is okay, your thinking is blessed.
Now, when you disparage
an old friend’s new marriage
or put down another’s good work
or put on two faces
when speaking of races,
you’re behavior drives me berserk.
I’m mostly quite friendly,
but if in the end we
diverge so in our views, my friend,
though I’ll still be mellow
and a jolly fellow,
I reckon our friendship will end.
© Lawrencealot – April, 2012
My words are exacting
yours simply distracting
You argue in circles, at best.
You think that deceiving
just ‘cus you’re believing
Is okay, your thinking is blessed.
Now, when you disparage
an old friend’s new marriage
or put down another’s good work
or put on two faces
when speaking of races,
you’re behavior drives me berserk.
I’m mostly quite friendly,
but if in the end we
diverge so in our views, my friend,
though I’ll still be mellow
and a jolly fellow,
I reckon our friendship will end.
© Lawrencealot – April, 2012
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