Category Archives: character

Ravenfly

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This is a form created by Amanda J. Norton, writing on Allpoetry as DarkButterfly.
 
It consists of two quatrains and a couplet
with syllables of 8/7/8/7/10/10
rhyming abab cdcd ee
There are no metric requirements.
Example Poem
May I Sit Here   (Ravenfly)
Penelope prevaricates
She’s done it throughout her life.
The truth she just approximates.
Glad she’s someone else’s wife.
She runs down gals she doesn’t know.
Bill,  when choosing where he sits
avoids her;  I would never though,
I appreciate her tits.
Besides by sitting there when ‘ere I can.
She has to slime and smear some other man.
© Lawrencealot – July 11, 2013
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Rannaigheacht mhor

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Rannaigheacht mhor (ron-á-yach voor, the ‘great versification’) is an ancient Irish quatrain using 7-syllable lines with 1-syllable end-words rimed abab—a-rime can be assonance, but b-rime must be rime, here meaning perfect ‘correspondence’ or Comharda, in which consonants of the same class (p-t-k, m-n-ng etc.) are interchangeable—plus alliteration in every line—preferably between end-word and preceding stressed word (always thus in each quatrain’s closing couplet)—with at least two cross-rimes per couplet (assonance okay in leading couplets), one being L3’s end-word rimed within L4.  Being Irish, it requires the dunedh(first word, phrase, or line repeated in closing).  Each quatrain, as well as each leading couplet, must be able to stand on its own.
Modern specs for this form are given here:
Great Versifiers
Men sometimes are dreamers, lost,
lust-driven schemers who, when
hunting, deceive.  With trust  tossed
at great cost; none believe men.
(c) Lawrencealot – May 16, 2012
No template can be more than a rough guide, but here one is:
Note here, I failed to use proscribed alliteration in the final line! Damn.
And upon sober review I find that this fails also, in that the first
couplet cannot stand alone.  Someone competent, please provide me with a perfect example.  I shall replace this.

Michelle's Quatrain Wrap

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This form was created by  Michelle DeLoatch-Barbosa , aka Michelle723 of Allpoety.

 

It consists of four or more quatrains
the first three lines being written in iambic tetrameter
and the last line being written in iambic trimeter.
Of course poets so inclined may substitute trochaic meter.

Rhyme Scheme: aaab cccb dddb … aaab
Example Poem


Tombstone Movie (Michelle’s Quatrain Wrap)

The outlaws had a power base,
controlled the town and usually chased
the law-abiding from the place
and sent them further west.
When Wyatt Earp rode into town
it was to put his own roots down
he’d served as lawman and had found
large measures of success.
He’d brought his wife and brothers too,
all prepared to try something new.
He thought his fighting days were through
He wanted now to rest.
Ike Clanton and an outlaw gang
controlled the town with strum und drang;
the sheriff there weren’t worth a dang.
Here outlaws coalesced.
A marshal’s killed and terror reigns
and brother Virgil takes the reins
then outlaw enmity begins
with their law self-professed.
Doc Holiday is Wyatt’s friend
and to his efforts Doc did lend
his pistol power to defend
a friend he called his best.
When Wyatt met his Josephine
a love at mutual first sight’s seen
she leaves before the showdown scene
and moves to the far west.
An ambush kills or maims his kin
then Wyatt dons a badge again
and vows the outlaws now can’t win,
their deaths pre-empt arrest.
When Holiday beats Ringo Starr
who could have beaten Earp by far
the outlaws are without a star,
their power dispossessed.
Doc gives Wyatt some sound advice:
before with boots off Doc then dies
most entertained by that surprise-
his final thought expressed.
When Wyatt found her, pled his case,
she accepted and they embraced
with love that never was erased,
as Holiday assessed.
© Lawrencealot – September 2, 2013
A/N
Following its cinematic release in 1993, Tombstone was named “One of the 5 greatest Westerns ever made” by True West Magazine.
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Gregory's Refrain – (Gregi)

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This is a poetry form invented in 2008 by Gregory James, writing on Allpoetry.com as Psydewaystears
The poem is Stanzaic, consisting of three or more octets.
Syllable: 8/7/8/7/7/7/7/7
Rhyme: ababxcxc
Refrain: Lines  5 through 7, first four syllables
The Refrain is required for the majority of the stanzas.
Meter:  long lines generally: Anapest,Iamb,Anapest  (da da DUM da DUM da da DUM)
                             Other lines: Anapest,Iamb,Iamb         (da da DUM da DUM da DUM)
Note: These specifications were derived and interpreted by myself, and the meter particularly is not hard and fast, but serves only as the normal guideline.
Example Poem
When the task you have before you
seems too large for just one man
just remember there’s one more view
to describe your total plan.
Do a little bit right now
Do a little more today
Save a little for tomorrow
it’s more doable that way.
When your tea’s much too hot to drink
you don’t throw it all away,
you just wait a while I would think.
come back later, it’s okay.
While you’re waiting check your mail,
While you’re waiting make a call,
While you’re waiting tidy up.
Oh, that tea– you’ve drunk it all.
When the trellis stands starkly bare
though it wants to be embraced
it just waits, and does not despair.
and soon vines will kiss its face.
The vine pushes through the earth.
The vine pushes up the wall,
The vine pushes every day,
up the trellis proud and tall.
While the Mona Lisa looks fit,
I hear Leonardo deigned
it unfinished, he never quit
in the doing much was gained.
Just do part of what you figure
is the task ahead of you
even though you never finish
when you’re done the job is through.
© Lawrencealot – August 28, 2013
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Arkquain

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Arkquain
Friday, March 29, 2013
9:15 AM
It was invented by Madison Shaw, aka Arkbear on Allpoetry.
12 lines with ( 1 ) break between
each stanza, a total of ( 2 ) breaks,
and a total of ( 3 ) stanzas.
The two ( 7 ) syllable lines, must use *end* Rhyme.
Syllable count is:
1-2-3-4
break
5-7-7-5
break
4-3-2-1
*
Hate
present
each day is
so slow to kill.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Dying piece by piece,
an inner self, outer shell,
crumbled as this lady fell
– bitter and broken.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
My soul wishes
nevermore
to feel
hate
*
Rhyme pattern: xxxxxaaxxxxx
Syllabic 1/2/3/4/5/7/7/5/4/3/2/1
It must be centered.Example Poem
Trust
**
trust
cannot
be earned
by accident.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
it takes an event
to create.  A man must know
words  spoken by you are so.
Promise means intent.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
If kept when not
convenient
you earn
trust.
**
© Lawrencealot – May 26, 2012

Fibonacci Spiral

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A New Mathematical Form, by Georgia Luna Smith Faust

http://poetry.about.com/od/poeticforms/a/fibonaccipoems.htm
 

A syllabic form based on the first 7 numbers of the fibonacci sequence* 1/1/2/3/5/8/13.

 

2 stanzas: 1st stanza 13 lines,  2nd stanza 12 lines.

25 lines altogether (no gap between stanzas.)

13 lines in the first stanza, then you use the last line of your first stanza 

as the first line  of your second stanza and repeat the syllable count below 

to form the spiral. if this confuses you just look below.

 

your syllable counts must be as follows:

stanza 1

1st line – 1 syllable

2nd line – 1 syllable

3rd  line – 2 syllables

4th line  -3 syllables

5th line   -5 syllables

6th line   -8 syllables

7th line  -13 syllables

8th line  -8 syllables

9th line  -5 syllables

10th line – 3 syllables

11th line – 2 syllables

12th line – 1 syllable (word must be at least 4 letters)

13th line – 1 syllable

 

stanza 2

14th line  -1 syllables

15th line   -2 syllables

16th line   -3 syllables

17th line  -5 syllables

18th line  -8 syllables

19th line  -13 syllables

20th line  -8 syllables

21st line   -5 syllables

22nd line  – 3 syllables

23rd line  – 2 syllables

24th line  – 1 syllable

25th line  – 1 syllable

 

Poem should be Centered. 1/1/2/3/5/8/13/8/5/3/2/1/1 1/2/3/5/8/13/8/5/3/2/1/1

*Fibonacci sequence
The sequence of numbers, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, … ,
in which each successive number is equal to the sum of the two preceding numbers.

 

Related Poetry Forms: Fib Diamond, Fib Series, Fibonacci Spiral, Fiboquatro, Haven Fire

 

 

 

Example Poem

 

Keep Your Promise

 

How

do

I now

convince you

that I keep my vow?

Sometimes it’s hard to carry through

when the world is filled with women and God did endow

me with this notion that I view

incomplete, somehow

lines that don’t

be now

true?

Yet…

Yet…

this time

we have met

with success and I’m

I’m confident you’ll not regret

the fact that the world is filled with men who do sometime

agree that it’s ok to sweat

the details and rhyme

when you bet

you could

this

 time.

 

 

© Lawrencealot – April 16, 2013

 

(Rhyming not addressed, so I tried it.)

 

Tri-Fall

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Tri-fall                                                                
The Tri-fall, created by Jan Turner,                                         
consists three 6-line stanzas, for a total of 18 lines.                         
 
Rhyme Scheme: abcabc                                        
Line-length  for each stanza is as follows: 6/3/8/6/3/8.          
Meter optional
                                                
This form requires little to no punctuation and can be written on any subject matter.     
 
Example Poem
 
  Surrender
 
Her passion was too much.
Now it’s gone.
She condemned, deplored all abuse.
She praised the thrill of touch.
We’ll bear on.
The jealous piled on, no excuse.
 
Her life was filled with hurt.
despite that,
or because of it, she performed
as an erotic flirt.
When at-bat
she homered passion unreformed.
 
Some men became aroused,
not content
to live within her fantasies,
and when requests were doused
time was spent
in fighting her apostasies.
 
 
 
© Lawrencealot – Aug 23, 2012    
Written about a very real AP Poet.
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