Category Archives: ribald

Wounded Couplet poetry form

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

This form contains within its rhyming pattern, two couplets, one of which seems wounded, and is wrapped by four other lines, hence some rationale for its name.

It is stanzaic, consisting of any number of octains.
It is syllabic 10/10/6/10/10/10/10/10
It is metric, using iambic meter.
It is rhymed, the pattern being: abccbadd

Example Poem

 

Elixir     (Wounded Couplet)

My lover went a wandering I think
for he believes that magic will restore
his potency and verve.
He wants to play around is all.  What nerve!
He claims he’s seeking mermaids by the shore
to find for him an elixir to drink.
Which beats testosterone in every way
whenever fortitude comes into play.

 

The tavern called the “Wharf” is near the beach
and frequently young barmaids catch his eye
(which seldom scans the shore.)
Perhaps it’s just the scanty clothes they wore
I guess he’ll look for fairies by and by.
The man’s intent let’s try not to impeach.
If elixir’s at home in foaming glass
he’ll need a test, and’s sure to make a pass.

 

I figured then that two could play that game
so put on fairy costume with a mask
and strode into the bar.
The men’s reactions  bordered on bizarre.
I had five drinks and didn’t have to ask,
But all their pick-up lines were truly lame.
When sitting, my costume revealed my thighs,
which seemed to be a magnet for the guys.

 

My lover was among the gazing flock,
He leered at me with barely hidden lust.
His fairy had appeared.
The absence of a potion was not feared,
as his eyes roamed from ankles up to bust.
His codpiece was enlarged, and not with socks.
The elixir was visual nothing more.
Adventure comes to men when they explore.

 

I saw some girls were equally entranced
with fairy wings and panty showing skirt,
and thus I tweaked my plan
and this is how my fairy tale began.
I planned and schemed and still had time to flirt
and with each wink I found my plan enhanced.
With stealth each girl departed then came back
prepared to mount our fairy tale attack.

 

Each girl returned in fairy tale attire
and each in turn gave their farewell that night
then walked out to the sea.
We danced and splashed and shared a fine esprit
and spoke of fairy kings and mortal’s plight
and all the fantasy the men require.
My lover saw his fairies on the beach
but all of us were well beyond his reach.

 

When I got home light hues announced the dawn;
my drunken lover was unconscious yet.
He needed all his sleep.
As planned, his dreams were bothersome and deep.
He woke and pulled me close and said, “Annette,
It frightened me when last night you were gone.
It gave me pause and gave me cause to grieve.
I’ll not again go chasing make believe.”

© Lawrencealot – April 14, 2014
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The Donna

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  • The Donna is a syllabic Limerick, without requiring the anapestic rhythm. Created by Viola Berg, the verse should be witty and fun.
    The Donna is:

    • stanzaic, written in any number of quintains.
    • syllabic, lines of 8/6/4/4/6.
    • rhyme xabba, xcddc etc.
My Thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the wonderful resource at PMO
My Example Poem
Out at Second Base     (The Donna)
I couldn’t undo her brassier,
and dammit how I tried,
for big boobs need,
they do indeed,
a strap that’s pretty wide.
Exasperated, the girl said,
“Let’s kiss and kiss some more.”
I missed her flesh
but our lips meshed
until my lips were sore.
© Lawrencealot – March 22, 2014
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Duo-rhyme

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The Duo-rhyme, a poetic form created by Mary L. Ports, is a 10 or 12-line poem, with the first two and last two lines having the same rhyme scheme, and the center of the poem (lines #3 through #8 or #10) having their own separate monorhyme scheme.
Meter: 8 beats per line, written in iambic tetrameter (4 linear feet of iambic)
Rhyme Scheme: 10-line:aabbbbbbaa and 12-line: aabbbbbbbbaa
Example #1:
Paper Moon
A yellow, paper midnight moon,
the kind that makes young lovers swoon,
casts moonbeams on her golden hair.
Soft wind caresses, not to scare
red, blushing cheeks of maiden, fair.
A scent of lilacs fills the air.
In magic garden – would she dare
unleash her passions without care?
Unusual, the moan and croon
of wind and August, paper moon.
Copyright © 2007 Mary L. Ports
Example #2:
Visitation
Oh, midnight wind with whisperings,
come tease sweet fairy’s crystal wings.
How gracefully she floats tonight
with purple billows flowing bright.
Dear, wistful spirit in the night,
through starlit mist she casts her light.
For welcomed cheek, a kiss just right
is softly placed so that one might
receive her blessings without fright;
love’s beauty sought, a soul’s delight.
To realms of wonder in my dreams
I’ll float upon the songs she sings.
Copyright © 2007 Mary L. Ports
Thanks to Shadow Poetry!
Example Poem
Come On or Come-on (Duo-rhyme)
Come on or Come-on
Oh, please tell me my pretty lass
who flirted on our way to class,
would such intentions in my head
that point directly to your bed
correctly read what was unsaid,
or was I purposely misled?
I want not to appear as crass
but do react to tits and ass.
© Lawrencealot – January 6, 2014
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Gwadodyn

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This is a complex form for which I found disparate specifications on the internet.
What is certain is:
It is an old Welsh form
It is syllabic, usually 9/9/10/9
It is stanzaic, usually quatrains or sestets
It is rhyming, usually mono-rhyme of the 9 syllable lines
And with internal and/or interleaved rhyme for the long line.
Here are the better references I used:
The gwawdodyn is a Welsh poetic form with a couple variations. However, both versions are comprised of quatrains (4-line stanzas) that have a 9/9/10/9 syllable pattern and matching end rhymes on lines 1, 2, and 4. The variations are made in that third line:
  • One version has an internal rhyme within the third line. So there’s a rhyme somewhere within the third line with the end rhyme on the third line.
  • The other version has an internal rhyme within the third line that rhymes with an internal rhyme in the fourth line.
In both cases, the rhyme starts somewhere in the middle of the third line and it is a unique rhyme to the end rhyme in lines 1, 2, and 4.
Here’s a possible diagram for the first version (with the x’s symbolizing syllables):
1-xxxxxxxxa
2-xxxxxxxxa
3-xxxxbxxxxb
4-xxxxxxxxa
Note: The “b” rhyme in the middle of line 3 could slide to the left or right as needed by the poet.
Here’s an example I wrote for the first version:
“Cheat,” by Robert Lee Brewer
The rumors you’ve heard are true: I run
to forget my past. What I have won,
I’ve lost in lasting memories, blasting
through my brain like bullets from a gun.
As you can see, “run,” “won,” and “gun” rhyme with each other, as do “lasting” and “blasting.”
*****
*****
Here’s a possible diagram for the second version:
1-xxxxxxxxa
2-xxxxxxxxa
3-xxxxbxxxxx
4-xxxbxxxxa
Note: In this version, both “b” rhymes can slide around in their respective lines, which affords the poet a little extra freedom.
Here’s my example modified for the second version:
“Cheat,” by Robert Lee Brewer
The rumors you’ve heard are true: I run
to forget my past. What I have won,
I’ve lost in lonley moments, my sorrow
my only friend while others are stunned.
In this version, “run,” “won,” and “stunned” rhyme (okay, “stunned” is a slant rhyme), while “lonely” and “only” rhyme inside lines 3 and 4.
Please play around with the form this week, because it’ll be the focus of the next WD Poetic Form Challenge starting next week.
******
A big thanks to Robert Lee Brewer
Gwawdodyn, gwow-dód-in-heer (gwad = poem) is the 20th codified, Official Welsh Meter, an Awdl. It is a combination of a cyhydded naw ban couplet followed by either a toddaid or cyhydedd hir couplet.The Gwawdodyn is:
  • is stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains made up of a Cyhydedd Naw Ban couplet followed by either a Toddaid or Cyhydedd Hir.
  • syllabic, L1,L2,L4 are 9 syllable lines and L3 is a 10 syllable line.
  • when written with a cyhydedd hir couplet the stanza is
    • rhymed aaba, with L3 internal rhyme and L4 cross rhymed b.
  • when written with a Toddaid
    • mono-rhymed.
    • composed with gair cyrch following the main rhyme and caesura of L3. The gair cyrch end rhyme is echoed in the first half of L4 in secondary rhyme, assonance or consonance.
x x x x x x x x a
x x x x x x x x a
x x x x b x x x x b
x x x x b x x x a
x x x x x x x x c
x x x x x x x x c
x x x x d x x x x d
x x x x d x x x a
with Toddaid
x x x x x x x x a
x x x x x x x x a
x x x x x x x b – x c
x x x x c x x x b
x x x x x x x x d
x x x x x x x x d
x x x x x x x e – x f
x x x x f x x x e
House of Stone Turns to Sand by Judi Van Gorder
Ballots stolen, voters turned away,
but dead men will vote twice on the day.
No new fields to plow, there is no work now,
no sweat on the brow, no one to care?
Mugabe builds his army of boys
they now shoulder guns instead of toys
He took back white-farms without care – the fields
without yields leave black cupboards bare.
Sick mother has no milk for baby,
a crocodile barks in the belly.
Mother is dying, baby is crying
no one defying, no one will dare.
(Zimbabwe is Shona for house of stone)This poem uses Cyhydedd Hir end couplets in stanza 1 & 3 and Toddaid end couplet in stanza 2. I couldn’t resist creating a main rhyme in stanza 2 that was also a linking rhyme between all stanzas.
A big thanks to Judi Van Gorder
Gwawdodyn Hir
Type:
Structure, Metrical Requirement, Rhyme Scheme Requirement, Stanzaic
Description:
(gwow DOD in heer) A syllabic form that can go in two ways. Either way it consists of a syllabic sestet where all lines except the fifth are nine syllables and monorhymed. The fifth line is ten syllables and has a separate rhyme that may be internal (fifth and tenth syllable) or cross-rhymed with the sixth line (seventh through the ninth syllable of fifth line cross-rhymes with third through the fifth in sixth line).
Origin:
Welsh
Schematic:
xxxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxxa
xxxxbxxxxb
xxxxxxxxa
or
xxxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxxa
xxxxxxbxxx  (Syllable 7 to 9)
Rhythm/Stanza Length:
A Big thanks to Bob Newman
My Example
Uninvited      (Gwadodyn
My girl gone- my love unrequited
left me lonely and not delighted.
I gave girl next door transport from the store,
that and nothing more! How short-sighted.
You’d think perhaps I’d been benighted
I did not know what I’d ignited
That gal didn’t knock; my door wasn’t locked
from sleep I was shocked yet excited.
That she was nude was now high-lighted
by her chills that I soon had righted.
That she had applied could not be denied,
but midnight rides must be invited.
© Lawrencealot – December 25, 2013

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Essence

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Stanzaic, any number of couplets
Isosyllabic, Hexasyllabic lines
Rhyme Pattern: xbxcxa xbacxa, where b and c are interlaced rhyme, AND c is optional.
      Note: The b and c rhymes can be found on any syllables.
  • Essence is a rhyming hexasyllabic couplet with internal rhyme with a twist. Normally in English prosody “internal rhyme” refers to a word within the line rhyming with the end word of that line or the end word of the previous line. However in this verse form internal rhyme refers to words from somewhere within the line rhyming internally within the next line, it could be 1 or 2 rhymes. (This could be tricky in only 6 short syllables.) Found at ShadowPoetry.com and attributed to Emily Romano, published in P.O.E.T. magazine in 1981.
    The essence is:

    • stanzaic, written in any number of couplets.
    • syllabic, hexasyllabic lines.
    • end rhymed as well as interlaced rhyme. x b x x c a b x c x x a The b and c interlaced rhymes may be placed in any position within the lines, the c rhyme is optional.
Two short lines with end rhyme
sort within, tend to time.
——Judi Van Gorder
 
 
My great thanks to Judi of PMO, for the above.
II made one change in the description.  Instead of referring to the b and c rhymes as internal rhyme, I called them interlaced rhyme.
Rhyming a word in the middle of one line with a word in the middle of another is called interlaced rhyme.
Here, thanks to Bob Newman of Volecentral, is the most definitive list of rhyme types I have ever encountered.   http://www.volecentral.co.uk/vf/rhyme.htmNote: I would also disagree with the indicated rhyming convention, but guess I will not insist it be x a x b x c  since the previously indicated pattern bestows the a-rhyme upon the end-rhyme position.
Isosyllabic: 6/6/6/6/6/6
Rhymed (bca)(bca) (Interlaced rhyme)
My  Example Poem
Bye Bye,  Bad Boy      (Essence)
Next time you reel me in
to climb and feel and sin,
I plan to take to bed
a man to slake instead.
© Lawrencealot – Thanksgiving day 2013
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Essence

Trolaan

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Trolaan, created by Valerie Peterson Brown, is a poem consisting of 4 quatrains.
Each quatrain begins with the same letter. The rhyme scheme is abab.
Starting with the second stanza you use the second letter of the first line of the first stanza to write the second each line beginning with that letter.
On the third stanza you will use the second letter on the first line of the second stanza and write the third each line beginning with that letter.
On the fourth stanza you will use the second letter on the first line of the third stanza and write the fourth each line beginning with that letter.
There is no mandatory line length or meter specified. (Added)
Example #1:
Distraught Blessings
Desire the sound or hope,
deluding minds in darkness.
Daunting though its scope,
deluged now with the access.
Elope into the morrow,
envelope me with song.
Enclose me now in sorrow
easing against the throng.
Longing for succulent prospect,
laying waste to eager night,
Lopsided in neglect,
listless with delight.
Only now will I protest,
owning nothing less.
Opening now I detest,
one more time to bless
.
Copyright © 2008 Valerie Peterson Brown
 
My example poem
In Sincerity, One Word or Two     (Trolaan)
Don’t you now know I love you so?
Did I not tell you many times?
Do leaves not rustle when wind blows?
Devotion I spell out in rhymes.
Oh Sweetheart, never doubt my love.
Other young ladies hit on me.
Occasionally I will sort of
Omit offending, don’t you see?
How can you feel demeaned, my sweet?
Harangues are not required at all.
Heaven knows they are not as neat.
Have trust! I love you most of all.
Open relationships are fun.
Of course I only play around
on those times I am with someone.
Otherwise, it’s with you I’m found.
© Lawrencealot – July 7, 2013
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pantoum

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The pantoum consists of a series of quatrains rhyming ABAB in which the second and fourth lines of a quatrain recur as the first and third lines in the succeeding quatrain;
each quatrain introduces a new second rhyme as BCBC, CDCD .
The first line of the series recurs as the last line of the closing quatrain,
and third line of the poem recurs as the second line of the closing quatrain, rhyming ZAZA.
The design is simple:
Line 1
Line 2
Line 3
Line 4
Line 5 (repeat of line 2)
Line 6
Line 7 (repeat of line 4)
Line 8
Continue with as many stanzas as you wish, but the ending
stanza then repeats the second and fourth lines of the
previous stanza (as its first and third lines), and also
repeats the third line of the first stanza, as its second
line, and the first line of the first stanza as its fourth.
So the first line of the poem is also the last.
Last stanza:
Line 2 of previous stanza
Line 3 of first stanza
Line 4 of previous stanza
Line 1 of first stanza
NOTE: I found to meter specified for this form but on Shadow Poetry found examples from Iambic Trimeter to Pentameter
Example PoemThen She Married Me
I met her online, whatcha think of that?
In writing workshop I critiqued her work.
Then we played sensual games by chat.
Cutting out by need… the hotel desk clerk.
In writing workshop I critiqued her work.
Her stories aroused a man unfulfilled.
Cutting out by need… the hotel desk clerk.
Our minds connected; our Eros was thrilled.
Her stories aroused a man unfulfilled.
We climbed with words into each other’s head.
Our minds connected; our Eros was thrilled.
This late-night texting led me to her bed.
We climbed with words into each other’s head.
Then we played sensual games by chat.
This late-night texting led me to her bed.
I met her online, whatcha think of that?
(c) Lawrencealot April 2012
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Tercou

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This form was inventented by  Amanda J. Norton of Allpoetry.
It is syllabic 5/4/5  5/4/5  8/6
Rhyme pattern  aba aba aa
No meter is required.
First Tercet
line1 : 5 syllables
line2: 4syllables
line3: 5 syllables
Rhyme scheme aba
Second Tercet
line1 : 5 syllables
line2: 4syllables
line3: 5 syllables
Rhyme scheme aba
Couplet
Line 1: 8 syllables
Line 2: 6 syllables
Rhyme Scheme  aa
Must Be Center Aligned
Example poem
Anxious ( Tercou )
Adoration grows
with every date.
and my shyness shows.
We are both disposed
to end the wait
parents have proposed.
I shall keep secret what arose
when you once shed your clothes.
© Lawrencealot – April 2,2013
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The meter shown is NOT required.

Ballad

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A short narrative poem with stanzas of two or four lines and usually a refrain. The story of a ballad can originate from a wide range of subject matter but most frequently deals with folk-lore or popular legends.
They are written in straight-forward verse, seldom with detail, but always with graphic simplicity and force. Most ballads are suitable for singing and, while sometimes varied in practice, are generally written in ballad meter, or common meter, i.e., alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter, with the last words of the second and fourth lines rhyming. (xaxa)
 
Example Poem
Part of a composite poem called
Loves Lost
When cancer took my mom away
I wished it had been me.
Yet Johnnie’s pain was just the same,
that anyone could see.
I took the emo route and thought
I’d maybe end my life.
Then Johnny took up guiding reins
no longer held by wife.
He brought me back from self-abuse
and stopped me being wild.
He gave me strength and sound advice
a mother gives her child.
He told me my virginity
was not for common guys;
it was a one-time gift to give
to true love as a prize.
“To honor your mom, succeed now
and in your coming life.”
He cared for me relentlessly
while having now no wife.
My love for Jonny, grew with me,
(for I’d begun to bloom.)
I fantasized about my  “dad”
when lonely in my room.
He was a “hunk” my girl-friends thought.
I’d always shared that view.
Two hundred pounds of sculptured male
and standing six-foot-two.
My want was such I had to touch
his beauty every day.
I’d accidently show down blouse
and make my cute butt sway.
And when I’d sit upon his lap
before “goodnights” were said,
I’d feel him grow and I would know,
what he would do in bed.
Then one warm summer day instead
of sitting I just rode
his leg.  It was spontaneous
and caused me to explode.
His want was clear, but one lone tear
I saw roll down his face.
He thought accepting offered gift
would be his life’s disgrace.
We talked and hugged and he held
me closely while he said,
“My sweetheart Ann, when you’re eight-teen
I think that we should wed.
© Lawrencealot – November 10, 2012

Catalectic Verse

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A catalectic line is a metrically incomplete line of verse, lacking a syllable at the end or ending with an incomplete foot. One form of catalexis is headlessness, where the unstressed syllable is dropped from the beginning of the line.
Making a meter cataletic can drastically change the feeling of the poem, and is often used to achieve a certain effect. Compare this selection from Book III of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Song of Hiawatha” with that from W. H. Auden’s “Lay Your Sleeping Head, My Love”. The first is in trochaic tetrameter, and the second in trochaic tetrameter catalectic (or headless iambic tetrameter).
By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.
Dark behind it rose the forest,
Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,
Rose the firs with cones upon them;
Bright before it beat the water,
Beat the clear and sunny water,
Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.
–H. W. Longfellow
Lay your sleeping head, my love,
Human on my faithless arm;
Time and fevers burn away
Individual beauty from
Thoughtful children, and the grave
Proves the child ephemeral:
But in my arms till break of day
Let the living creature lie,
Mortal, guilty, but to me
The entirely beautiful.
–W. H. Auden
Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalectic>
Example Poem
Sheila sought the solace soon of Sam.
Harlots’ hearts were hardened oft by men.
See, most men just didn’t give a damn.
Sam loved legs and thighs and thighs again.
Sam, at four-oh-four did tip the scale.
Sheila weighed a bout one half of that.
She was standby fill-in piece of tail.
Sailor boys last night had called her fat!
Sam said,” Shiela you are just right size.
You’re the only woman here with thighs.”
© Lawrencealot – May 22, 2012