Category Archives: Christmas

Joybell

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The Joybell is another shape poem from Pathways.

When centered on the page it should form the outline of a bell. 

The Joybell is:
a hexastich, a poem in 6 lines.
syllabic, 1-2-2-2-4-4 syllables per line.
unrhymed.

Many Thanks to Christina R Jussaume for her work on the Poetry Styles site.

My Example
Christmas Spirit (Joybell)

As
many
helpers
decrease
the load for each,
share your efforts.

© Lawrencealot – December 16, 2014

Gzha

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The Gzha is Tibetan folk poetry, a dance song.

The Gzha is:
• syllabic, written in 6 syllable lines, usually trochaic. The form ends with a spondee SS.
• written in 4 lines.
• unrhymed but parallelism is expected. The poem often employs internal consonance and assonance.

Super Sunday by Judi Van Gorder

Wearing pads and helmets
players fight for pig skin
ball. The Super Bowl is 
football’s final Big Game.

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=641
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.
Parallelism:
Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.
Also called parallel structure.
By convention, items in a series appear in parallel grammatical form:
a noun is listed with other nouns, an -ing form with other -ing forms, and so on.

My example

Seasonal Procrastination (Gzha)

Driving, walking, riding,
anxious always knowing
Christmas time is coming
I can’t wait, I must shop.
Next year I’ll do better
(promised that last Christmas.)
Seems the theme’s repeated
nearly every damn year.

© Lawrencealot – December 15, 2014

Visual template

Gzha

Double Ballad Stanza

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Double Ballad Stanza is a verse form which basically doubles the ballad stanza. However, unlike the ballad it need not tell a story. It can simply be an observation. 

The Double Ballad Stanza is:
• An octastich made up of 2 quatrains.
• metric, accentual, (The ballad utilizes an accentual line and the stress is what counts not the meter, alternating 4 stress, 3 stress.)
• rhymed,rhyme scheme of xa(b-b)axcxc (x being unrhymed) with an internal rhyme in the 3rd and expletive line.

Tell All the Truth but Tell it Slant by Emily Dickinson 1872

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant— 
Success in Circuit lies 
Too bright for our infirm Delight 
The Truth’s superb surprise 
As Lightning to the Children eased 
With explanation kind 
The Truth must dazzle gradually 
Or every man be blind-

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1887
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example

A Park-Like Street

A Park-Like Street (Double Ballad Stanza)

When closed to buses, truck and cars
sometimes our city streets
are quite festive and bathed in light
for folk out buying treats.
Each footfall is a dampened tread
that falls on powdered snow.
The quiet bades a friendliness
that sets mens’ hearts aglow.

© Lawrencealot – December 3, 2014

Visual template

Double Ballad Stanza