Gemstone

This is a form invented by Lisa Morris , aka Streambed on Allpoetry.

  • It is a 32 line poem made up of four 8 line stanzas.
  • Each stanza consists of 5 iambic tetrameter lines, and 3 iambic trimeter lines
  • The Rhyme pattern for each stanza is ababccba (with independent rhyme)
  • Meter: Lines 2,4, and 7 are iambic trimeter, the rest are iambic tetrameter.
  • The form map is:
    • 8 A
    • 6 B
    • 8 A
    • 6 B
    • 8 C
    • 8 C
    • 6 B
    • 8 A

Streambed’s Introduction:

I believe this is a new form; if you know of it from somewhere else, please give me a link and I will include the information. It is named after the poem I created it for: “The Gemstone” below.

Streambed’s Example

Form: Gemstone

The Gemstone

She kept a gemstone hid away,
once given, at a ball,
because she feared her mother’s say;
she’d force the man to call.
She hid it in her silks and floss
beneath the chest’s enameled gloss,
and underneath it all
the gemstone there in splendor lay.

She took it out when nights were still
and held it to her breast,
which surely was the man’s first will
when they had kissed, caressed.
It felt so cool against her skin;
she wished for his strong eyes again
and then she was distressed
and paced before her window sill.

He said he’d claim her as his bride
before the year was out,
and on this word she had relied,
but now she had her doubts.
The heiress of a large estate
with many, many hearts in wait
and many gifts to tout
was seen with him, out on a ride.

She laid her trust down in the drawer;
the facets, too, were there,
and in her mind, she heard the roar
of dancing in his care.
That night might be all that they had,
and if it was, her heart was glad
the gem he chose to share;
for it too sparked within its core.

© Lisa Morris

My Example

Form: Gemstone

Chivalry

I chose to honor womankind
as Arthur said we must.
They may be common or refined
but chivalry they trust.
They often can and will beguile;
they were designed to make men smile.
They promise more than lust;
they nurture using heart and mind.

For man there ought to be one maid
eclipsing all the rest
and she need never be afraid
when he’s put to the test.
I’m a man who loves them all,
the thin, the fat, the short and tall;
mankind is so well blessed
with diverse beauty, so arrayed.

A young man is not always smart
when wooing just for sport.
He’ll take a trollop or a tart
and happily consort.
No harm is done to either one
if both agree it’s just for fun.
Take care! Do not distort –
nor trifle with another’s heart.

If chivalry can take control
and lead you through your life
you’ll play a noble happy role
completely free of strife.
You’ll grace the days of maidens fair
creating jealously nowhere;
you’ll please your chosen wife
thereby making two lives whole.

© Lawrencealot – February 15, 2016

Visual template:

Note the use of the acephalous (headless) foot in the final line. Although a volta is not mandated, line 7 seems the proper place should you choose to employ a turn.

Tri-Duet

This form was created by Willam J. Reed IV, writing on Allpoetry as BluesMan.The author provided no other specifications than that the poem must consist of six or more tercets, but in his sample poem the first two lines were shorter than the third.
Rhyme pattern aab ccb dde ffe ggh iif
For my template I have use tri-meter and tetrameter, generally iambic.
THIS IS NOT A NEW rhyme pattern but merely a treatment of either the Alouette, or the form we call the Bush Ballad Meter. Both of which use the same rhyme pattern and line length differentiation, but in sestets as opposed to tercets.
Example Poem
Reverting (Tri-Duet)
My days are fulfilling
and though I am willing
to venture to new avenues,
if they should prove boring
and not worth exploring
my effort you must then excuse.
Not wanting to slight you-
with hopes to delight you,
I’ll manifest meter I think.
This form sings with a beat
that I find rather neat
so I’ll try to not make this stink.
When each day I awake
I say “Oh heaven’s sake!
I’ve found a new form to be learned”.
If writing in meter
results in defeat or
I fail in my try- still I yearned.
© Lawrencealot – January 14, 2014
Visual Template
 
 

Michelle's Quatrain Wrap

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.
Visual Template:

Haibun

Haibun (俳文?, literally, haikai writings) is a prosimetric literary form originating in Japan, combining prose and haiku.
haibun may record a scene, or a special moment, in a highly descriptive and objective manner or may occupy a wholly fictional or dream-like space.[citation needed] The accompanying haiku may have a direct or subtle relationship with the prose and encompass or hint at the gist of what is recorded in the prose sections.
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The haibun is prose (or a prose poem) interleaved with one or more haiku:

  • The prose is not an explanation of the haiku.

  • The haiku is not a linear continuation of the prose.

Make each word count in the prose text, as in a prose poem.

Compact micro-haibun limit the prose text, such as to 20-to-180 words. Most commonly only one haiku is included, placed after the prose, and serving as a climax or epiphany to what came before.

Many haibun include more than one haiku and longer text than the above range, as long as the resulting work is strong enough.

The juxtaposition of prose and haiku is important.

  • The prose should add to the depth with which we experience the haiku.
  • The haiku should add meaning to the prose.

 

 

 

 

  Missing Man  (By J Zimmerman)
   
    Mid-November after I rake the leaves I stand at Central and First,  holding the Stars and Bars. All of them died in Nam — my brother Joe, my cousin Freddy, mom’s youngest brother Jack. Sometimes I just have to come out on the streets and stand with my flag. There’s no parade.
   
            The smell of burning
            could be diesel
            could be napalm

First published in Frogpond 34:1 (Winter, 2011)

 

Pasted from http://www.baymoon.com/~ariadne/form/haibun.html

Related Forms: Alphabet Haiku,  Crystalline,  Haibun,  Haiga,  Haiku,  Haikuette,  KimoLune, PixikuRhaikuSijo, UkiahZip

Example Poem

 

To Kill Those Mocking Words

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
He was told to write outside of his comfort zone, choosing a form in which he’d never written and make it his own for just a little while. “Let me use my pencil and tablet ma, this keyboard is already outside of my comfort zone.  ”  But she replied that it was all part of his learning experience.  He continued, dejected because chewing his pencil helped him think.

dialog message
unblanks his screen again –

finger hits cancel

 

© Lawrencealot – March 19, 2013