Category Archives: humor

Octain

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The Octain is an invented verse form begins and ends the poem with the same word. It was created by Lillian Mathilda Svenson.The defining features of the Octain are:
an octastich, a poem in 8 lines.
syllabic, 2/4/6/8/8/6/4/3 syllables per line.
Not a typo, the last line takes 3 syllables but the last word must be the same as the first.
rhymed or unrhymed. If it is rhymed the rhyme scheme is AbcdbcdA.
Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1882#baccresiez
My Thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the wonderful resource at PMO
In the rhyme scheme AbcdbcdA, the capital A indicates a word refrain.
My Example
Octawhat? (Octain)
Confused?
A multi-form
with rhyming or without,
was named “Octain”, ain’t that a bitch?
If naming your dog, Dog’s the norm
then I won’t kick about
an octastitch
though confused.
© Lawrencalot – April 3, 2014
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Logolilt

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  • The Logolilt is an invented verse form that features diminishing line length. It was created by Flozari Rockwood.The Logolilt is:
    • stanzaic written in any number of sixains made up of 2 tercets each.
    • syllabic, 8/4/2/8/4/2 8/4/2/8/4/2.
    • rhymed, rhyme scheme aabccb ddeffe. (aabccbddeffe)
My Thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the wonderful resource at PMO
My Example
I Taught My Grandkid, Too (Logolilt)
I frequently find I must dunk
a yummy chunk
into
my hot chocolate or coffee-
that’s just like me.
Do You?
© Lawrencealot – April 1, 2014
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Logolilt

The Kerf

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• The Kerf is a verse form in tercets and is attributed to Marie Adams.
The Kerf is:
○ a poem in 12 lines made up of 4 tercets.
○ syllabic, 6/7/10 per line.
○ rhymed, rhyme scheme abc abc dec dec.
Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1882#baccresiez
My Thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the wonderful resource at PMO
My Example Poem
If She Says “What ?” (The Kerf)

You could be wrong, you know,
and perhaps you could be right,
and either way it seldom matters much.
You never need to show
your correctness out of spite.
Conceding may help keep you out of dutch.
If your wife should say “What”,
when your statement’s barely out,
it’s possible, you’re somehow out of touch.
Try this to save your butt!
“That’s Fred’s thinking- I’m in doubt.
I wonder darlin’, what you think of such?”
© Lawrencealot – March 28, 2014
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Double Seven

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This interesting form was created by Lisa La Grange of Allpoetry.
It is stanzaic, consisting of any number of quatrains.
Each quatrain will have its own abab rhyme pattern,
Where the a-rhymes will always be feminine.
It is isosyllabic, each line being seven syllables.
It is metric, each line having two metric feet, the first foot being four syllables, and the second foot being three syllables.
The a-rhyme lines consist of a secundus paeon + an amphibrach: da DUM da da / da DUM da
The b-rhyme lines consist of a tertius paeon + an anapest
 da da DUM da / da da DUM
So the meter of a stanza is thus:
da DUM da da da DUM da
da da DUM da, da da DUM
da DUM da da da DUM da
da da DUM da da da DUM.
Example Poem
Just-Married(Double Seven)
I wonder if the bridegroom
has accepted yet the fact
that access to the bathroom
will be science, inexact.
I she wants to go shopping
and he’s planned a poker game,
I think that he’ll be copping
friends a plea they’ll know is lame.
But he may find his laundry
looks much better than before
and find there is no quandary
for it’s him she does adore.
© Lawrencealot – February 24, 2014
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Where the red letters indicate lines with feminine rhyme.

Oddquain Butterfly

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Oddquain
Oddquain is a short, usually unrhymed poem consisting of seventeen syllables distributed 1/3/5/7/1 in 5 lines, developed by Glenda L. Hand.
Oddquain variations:
oddquain sequences – poems made up of oddquain stanzas
crown oddquains – a five stanza oddquain sequence
reverse oddquains – a oddquain with a reverse syllable pattern of 1/7/5/3/1
mirror oddquains – a two stanza oddquain sequence of the pattern 1/3/5/7/1 1/7/5/3/1
oddquain butterflies – a “merged mirror oddquain” where the two stanzas of a mirror oddquain are merged together, one of the middle 1 syllable lines is dropped, resulting in one nine line stanza of the form 1/3/5/7/1/7/5/3/1.
Please note that a oddquain butterfly is not a “oddquain” because it doesn’t have five lines, but it is “butterfly” made up of two oddquains that were merged together into one poem.
Thanks to Shadow Poetry for the above.
I have selected only the Mirror Oddquain here, to represent the oddquain series, simply to introduce a cousin into the Cinquain family tree.

 

My example poem.
This is Odd
‘Tis
odd because
the numbers are not
even, though that’s not even
strange.
Even even numbers can
at times strike me odd
I swear to
God.
© Lawrencealot – February 21, 2014

Butterfly Cinquain

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The Butterfly Cinquain isn’t a cinquain at all:it is a nonostich (9 lines)and uses the syllable count of the Crapsey Cinquain and then reverses it, therefore the misnomer.
The Butterfly Cinquain is:
○ 9 line poem.
○ syllabic, 2/4/6/8/2/8/6/4/2 syllables per line. 
unrhymed.
Thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the above.
 
 
 
My Sample poem
Plastic Trees     (Butterfly Cinquain)
Don’t like
fake plastic trees.
When one sets out to trick
the senses of someone they like
they ought
to learn to fake sincerity,
with honesty the best
the plastic should
be real.
© Lawrencealot –  November 16, 2014

 

Pathya vat

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The Pathya Vat is a Cambodian verse form, consisting of four lines of four syllables each, where lines two and three rhyme. When a poem consists more than one stanza, the last line of the previous stanza rhymes with the second and third lines of the following one.
Example Poem
She Shops     (Pathya vat)
On shopping day
you disappear
and it’s unclear
to me, just how.
“You go alone,
I can’t stop now”,
and anyhow
my team’s behind.
I know your ways
so I declined
and you are kind
to let me stay.
Go find treasures,
(it takes all day-
I’ll gladly pay)
just not to play.
© Lawrencealot – Februrary 5, 2014
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This is show in iambic dimeter

Chanso

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Chanso
Type:
Structure, Metrical Requirement, Repetitive Requirement, Rhyme Scheme Requirement, Other Requirement, Isosyllabic
Description:
Another French isosyllabic form of either five or six stanzas plus an envoy. A Chanso must be very regular in structure. The same number of syllables in each line, the stanzas all the same, the envoy being like the last half of a stanza, the rhyme scheme the same, but beyond that, you get to make it up. The double ballade and double ballade supreme would both be considered to fit this form. So would any number of other variations.
Origin
French
Copyright © 2001-2013 by Charles L. Weatherford. All rights reserved.
__________________
Canso, Chanso, Chanson French, Occitan and Provincial love songs, made popular in 12th century Europe by the troubadours which constantly strove for originality and perfection of form. The lines between the 3 terms is blurred. The Chanson is believed to be the inspiration for the ItalianCanzone. The verse often exalted a lady love. Courtly Compliment is a sub genre of the Chanson.
The Canso, Chanso or Chanson are:
  • stanzaic, usually 5 or 6 nonce stanzas of identical pattern.
  • expected to be original in form. The metric length of the line, the number of lines in a stanza, the rhyme scheme was expected to be different from anything that had gone before.
  • often ended by an envoy or tornada structured in the same pattern as the last half of the previous stanzas. (The Occitan tornada is a dedication to a patron or friend added at the end of verse while the French envoy is a summation of the theme added to the end of the verse. )
My thanks to Mr. Weatherford, and to Ms.  Van Gorder for their fine resources.





Example Poem
 
Cold-cuts      (Chanso)
I planned to lunch at home today
and get away from office noise.
A hot pastrami sounds so good,
I know I would enjoy it much
and then a nap would sound okay.
I stacked thin slices pretty high
I don’t know why but thinner works;
I slathered mustard on the meat
then set the heat at one-oh-one.
It smelled so good on fresh warm rye.
I was about with great delight
to take a bite when cell-phone chimes
demanded my reluctant ear
a financier it seems was keen
to cure my future’s fiscal plight.
He was informed and spoke at length
of safety, strength ,and asset growth,
with fortune favoring the bold;
my sandwich cold he said good-bye
for like I said he spoke at length.
I heated up my meal once more
then at the door there came a knock
(a lady looking for my wife),
who for the life of me I know
I didn’t know, I stalled therefore.
Two more phone calls and one more knock,
by then the clock showed time to get
me back to join the working fold
and eat my cold repast at last-
warm lunch at home  is such a crock!
© Lawrencealot – January 22, 2014
Visual Template
This is simply a template relating to the poem above.
A poet can use any line length or meter he wants, so their can be no “correct template.”
In this case I used iambic tetrameter, interlaced rhyme, and a unique rhyme scheme.
Note.  The specifications at the top call for repetition which I have not employed.

Double Refrain Ballade

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Double Refrain Ballade
This is identical to the Ballade, except that both Lines 4 and 8 from the first stanza become refrains in succeeding stanzas.
The rhyme scheme is:  abaBbcbC
                                     abaBbcbC
                                     abaBbcbC
                                     bBcC
Example Poem
 
Courtroom Follies  ( Double Refrain Ballade)
“She had three kids I understand,
were any of those children male?”?
“No.” “Were they girls?” (I won’t expand.)
Let’s hope that logic will prevail.
Describe the person at the jail-
“Quite bald but with much facial hair.”
“Was he a male or a female?”
These questions have been asked, I swear.
“What gear were you in,” came the demand?
“at impact?” he asked from the rail.
A shirt and Gucci sweats, my man.”
Let’s hope that logic will prevail.
I wasn’t drinking Ginger ale,
it was just Ginger’s Ale I’d share
i drove ‘cus couldn’t walk so well.
These questions have been asked, I swear.
“Where did the helicopter land?”
“Near marker three, right near the trail.”
“do you know where that is offhand?”
Let’s hope that logic will prevail.
“‘Tween marker two and four as well.”
You must set forth question with care
for some folks have strange tales to tell.
These questions have been asked, I swear.
So ask a friend to post your bail.
Let’s hope that logic will prevail.
And take along clean underwear.
These questions have been asked, I swear.
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Crystalline

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Crystalline Verse is a small poem, limited to 17 syllables, whose primary focus appears to be to match the Japanese clarity of image with the English harmony of sound. It was inspired by the Haiku and like the haiku it may be at its best when written in present tense. Any reference that can place the verse in context much like the Japanese kigo (season) or kidai (symbolic seasonal reference) is recommended. 
The Crystalline employs the kireji (cutting word) of the haiku. The kireji in haiku is a word that “cuts off” one view and turns the reader to a different view. In a longer Japanese poem the kireji is 2 long lines inserted midway in the poem that change the direction of the poem not only in structure but in thought. A stand alone small poem such as the Crystalline emulates the long poem’s kireji couplet long line frame and it should “cut” or turn the view from one line to the next.
Unlike haiku which observes the image with objectivity and attempts to keep the ego out of the verse, the Crystalline invites the poet’s subjectivity and permits the poet’s thought and feelings to be communicated through the verse.
The verse form was created by American poet Denis Garrison and more information can be found at his site, Short Verse. 
The Crystalline is:
  • a complete couplet. It can be a stand alone poem or written in any number of couplets as a longer poem. Like the Renga, a longer poem of Crystalline stanzas can be written by alternating more than one poet.
  • syllabic, 17 syllables. A regular Crystalline is 8/9 or 9/8 syllables per line. An irregular Crystalline is 2 lines totaling 17 syllables and broken where appropriate other than the 8-9/9-8 regular form.
  • written with the English grammatical rules of syntax, caps and punctuation. In other words no all lower case, omitted punctuation, nor incomplete sentences commonly seen in English haiku. Good grammatical English applies.
  • at the poet’s discretion, written with poetic devices such as rhyme, onomatopoeia, metaphor, allusion etc.
  • composed with a “cut” or pivot most often between L1 and L2.
  • untitled.
    The dust of summer covers the shelf
    where in spring you last left your ring.
    Judi Van Gorder
A big thanks to Judi Van Gorder, other than the inventor, I found nothing else of much help.
The Crystalline: A Haiku Couplet
Denis M. Garrison
Four crystallines by Denis M. Garrison:
# 16
Rain-soaked barnyard’s a muddy bog,
but amidst the muck, blooms marigold.
#17
This primeval sea of prairie grass
is grackle-peppered … bison-strewn!
#18
In banyan roots enwrapped,
the granite Cross glows in the midst of lilies.
#19
Turtle shell found on grandma’s grave:
vacant, yet it bursts with violets.
DEFINITION: The “crystalline” is a new haiku analogue; a seventeen syllable couplet that assimilates as much as possible from the Japanese haiku tradition into the English poetic tradition. A primary concern for the crystalline is the euphony of the verse. See examples above
A Big thanks to Dennis M. Garrison
My own example:
In  the backyard grass my dogs all go-
The sidewalk’s game if there is snow.
(c) Lawrencealot – December 4, 2014