Category Archives: seasons

Dibi

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This is an accentual form created by Mary Lou Healy, writing as Mlou on Allpoetry.Com.

Even fewer poets have the training and awareness to carry off a seamless accentual form than have that ability when working with an established meter. So I have constructed the template for her original verse “The Last Hurrah”, as alternating iambic trimeter and dimeter, which it technically is.

The Last Hurrah
The Last Hurrah

Oh, that last defiance
in face of fate,
the red glove flung down
at winter’s gate! There is no mute compliance,
no patient wait.
Dressed in gypsy gown,
fall holds fete.

Brief, so brief the hour
to scintillate,
to make the canvas sing,
to resonate.
Every leaf a flower
to captivate
the heart, to hold ’til spring…
Spring, don’t be late!

Restated specifications
The Dibi is:
Stanzaic, consisting of two or more octains.
Metered, consisting of alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter.
Rhymed: abcbabcb. I quite enjoyed the feminine a-rhyme, but Mary Lou avows it is optional.

Visual Template
Dibi
My example

When Wrong is Right(Dibi)

I’m sometimes wrong I guess
It must be true,
because I don’t agree
at times with you.
Although I must confess
my doubts accrue
logic’s an absentee;
from your own view.
But even if you’re wrong
things work out right
between the two of us
if I’m contrite.
Correct won’t bang a gong
and bring delight
worth raising any fuss
with you at night.
© Lawrencealot – December 1, 2014

Anapestic tetrameter 

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Anapestic tetrameter is a metric line of verse used most often for light verse or comic effect. Dr Suess is a master in the use of anapestic tetrameter. But it is not confined to light verse; it can be used in more serious work such as inLord Byron’s Don Juan. It is another meter originating in ancient Greek Verse. As it name implies, it is a line of 4 sequential anapests. quantitative short/short/LONG = ssL/ssL/ssl/ssL or accentual syllabic unstessed unstressed STRESSED = uuS/uuS/uuS/uuS

The anapest, sometimes called a reverse dactyl, it is in quatitative verse a combination of a 2 short vowel sounds followed by a long vowel sound (ssL), or in accentual syllablic verse it is 2 unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable (uuS).

‘Twas the night / before Christ / mas, when all / thro’ the house
Not a creat /ure was stir / ring, not ev / en a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tinny reindeer.
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!
“Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!”
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.
His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!” 
—————————Clement Clark Moore’s Night Before Christmas
Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1254
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My Example

As Soon as It’s Here (Anapestic tetrameter)

As the weather gets cooler and nights start to chill
and the holiday seasons promote our good will
and we wave to our neighbors out raking the leaves
we are thinking ahead to next summer’s short sleeves.

© Lawrencealot – November 11, 2014

Visual template

Anapestic tetrameter

Medallion

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Pathways for the Poet by Viola Berg (1977) is a book for and by educators. Classic poetic forms as well as many invented forms which appear to have been invented as teaching tools or exercizes for use in workshops or classrooms are included. Some of these invented forms I have found in use in internet poetry communities, a testament to their staying power. On this page I include the metric invented forms found there in which appear to be exclusive to the community of educators from whom Ms. Berg drew her support. I have yet to find these in any other source. …. Whether classroom exercise or sharpening your skill as a writer, some of these forms can be fun to play with.

• Medallion is an invented verse form is a shape poem using predominantly trochaic meter. This form was created by Lilian Mathilda Svenson.

The Medallion is:
○ a poem in 9 lines.
○ metric, L1-L8 are trochaic and L9 is iambic. Syllables per line 4-7-8-7-9-10-9-7-4. As you can tell from the odd numbered syllable count of L2, L4, L5, L7 & L8, these lines are either catalectic or acephaletic (dropping either the end syllable or first syllable from the line). For this form, although it is not so instructed, the example poem is catalectic.
○ rhymed, rhyme scheme xabccbadd.
○ shaped. The poem should be centered on the page.

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1199#dionol
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example

Summer Sears Us (Medallion)

Summer sears us
Makes autumn our next goal.
Fans are run to keep us cool.
Loud compressors whirr and hum 
while we wait for cooler days to come.
Winter’s cold kills homeless; keeps kids home from school, 
furnaces gulp gas and gobble coal.
Such a different song we sing, 
and pray for spring.

© Lawrencealot – September 18, 2014

Visual template

Medallion

Rime Couée

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Rime Couée is a tail-rhymed verse form of 12th century Provencal troubadours. Though it originated in France, it is thought to be the predecessor of the more popular Scot form, the Burns Stanza. 
The Rime Couée is:
  • stanzaic, written in any number of sixains made up of two tercets.
  • accentual, folk meter of normal speech. L1,L2, L4, L5 are longer lines of a similar length, L3 and L6 are shorter lines of the same length.
  • rhymed, rhyme scheme aabccb, ddeffe etc.
Thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the wonderful PMO resource.
My example Poem
St. Joseph Lighthouse – Lake Michigan        (Rime Couée)
St Joseph Lighthouse
When Old Man Winter struts his stuff
to show that he is good enough
he paints in white.
Unlike the art-work done by Spring
where colors touch most everything
pastel or bright.
His canvass can be anything
a bridge a tree, an old coil spring
that’s left outside.
St. Joseph lighthouse shown above
received full measure of his love.
I’m satisfied.
©Lawrencealot – February 8, 2014
Photo Credit:  Facebook  – unknown, Rights belong to photographer
 
Visual Template
 
 

Sheshire

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Sheshire
Type:
Structure, Metrical Requirement, Rhyme Scheme Requirement, Isosyllabic, Pivot Requirement
Description:
A poem based on six-line verses with a closing couplet. Here are Chuck’s rules:
  1. The Sheshire is comprised of three stanzas of 6 lines with a rhyme scheme of either ABABAB or ABCABC. Completed by a rhymed couplet.
  2. Each line has the same number of syllables. The one exception to this is the last line, which may have up to six additional syllables. The additional syllables must a phrase that is set aside (by parenthesis or dashes, for example). If this aside is removed, the correct syllable count would be there and the line would remain a reasonable sentence.
  3. Each stanza should have a shift in tone. The ending couplet should leave the reader (or at least the poet) with a grin. It can be a darkly ironic grin, but a grin, nonetheless.
The derivation is from the Hebrew words shesh and shir or shira meaning six poem.
Attributed to:
Charles David Lipsig
Origin:
American (Jewish)
Schematic:
Rhyme: ababab or abcabc
Total schema:
ababab cdcdcd efefef gg or
abcabc defdef ghighi jj
Rhythm/Stanza Length:
6
Line/Poem Length:
20
Examples:
Status:
Incomplete
See Also:
My thanks to Charles L. Weatherford for the wonderful resource quoted. 
  • The Sheshire is an invented verse form by Jewish-American poet Charles David Lipsig found at Poetry BaseThe name comes from Hebrew six=shesh and poem=shir.The Sheshire is:
    • a poem of 20 lines made up of 3 sixains followed by a couplet.
    • isosyllabic except the last line which includes the same # of syllables as the previous lines plus a finishing phrase separated from the base line by caesura.
    • rhymed, rhyme scheme ababab cdcdcd efefef gg or abcabc defdef ghighi jj.
    • composed with a pivot or change of tone from stanza to stanza and ends with a note of irony.
 My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the wonderful resource quoted. 
 
 
Example Poem
Shovel Snow (Sheshire)
When I was only nine or ten
and winter’s chilly nights dumped snow,
I loved to help my daddy then
We’d bundle up, he’d say, “Let’s go!”
Together, we two working men
would scrape and push and scoop and throw.
Into my teens I found it paid
to take my shovel- make the rounds
to work for those who were dismayed
how quickly that white stuff abounds.
While others in their warm homes stayed
I worked with scraping, grunting sounds.
I had no sons to share the task.
Our drive was shaded by our house;
“Please clean the walk,” my wife would ask.
Of course one ought to please one’s spouse
so covered up, and with ski-mask
I worked. It did no good to grouse.
Retired and lazy now I nap
or read or watch my football game. (Let teens now do that crap!)
© Lawrencealot – February 2, 2014
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Haikuette

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  • The Haikuette is another seemingly, American answer to the haiku and was introduced by Louise Sipfle in the Caulkins Handbook and included in Berg’s Pathways…
    The Haikuette is:

    • a tristich, a 3 line poem. Each line must be a separate entity, yet must contribute to the whole.
    • syllabic, 17 syllables or less. There is no specified syllable count per line.
    • written without verbs.
    • unrhymed.
    • titled.
      You by Judi Van Gorder
      fresh freckled Lily
      sweet fragrance, pink and spicey
      your face in the sun
A big thanks to the efforts for Judi Van Gorder for a wonderful resource at PoetryMagnumOpus
Example Poem
Brrrr!
early morning frost
etched crystalline windshield designs
frown on your face
© Lawrencealot – November 28, 2013

Jue Ju

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Storyline(jue ju)
This is Chinese style poetry
jue ju—– the curtailed or frustrated verse, does not mean to tell a story but to create a mood. It does in the most frugal way imaginable, and with a high tone. The impression one gets is much like that from a symphony orchestra where a solo instrument takes up the theme. A jue ju has only four lines of five or seven syllables each.
Jue Ju (curtailed or frustrated verse) is one of the oldest of the Chinese patterns and in the 3rd century AD the Jue Ju was very popular. It often carried “suggestively erotic themes”. It does not tell a story but attempts to create a mood.
The basic rhythmic unit of Chinese poem is the single character (zi), which is pronounced as one syllable. In English the word represented by the character might be more than one syllable. Originally the Jue Ju was composed in 5 character lines. By the Tang era, 8th century it had evolved to a 7 character pattern and became fundamental to Chinese poetry.
The Jue Ju is:
  • metered, 5 or 7 character or word lines. (lines should be same length)
  • composed of 4 lines.
  • often erotic.
  • compared to Western poetry could be considered terse and compressed. 
    秋月 (程颢) 
    清溪流过碧山头，空水澄鲜一色秋；
    隔断红尘三十里，白云红叶两悠悠。Autumn Moon by Cheng Hao translated by Xiao-zhen aka worm, Nov 6,2009
    Over green hills a limpid brook flows
    Sky mirrored in the water of autumn hue
    Away from the distant earthly world
    Maple leaves and velvet clouds leisurely float
    “The Autumn Moon, a seven-character-‘cutshorts’ (jue ju), was composed by an ancient Chinese poet Chen Hao (1032–1085), a philosopher of Northern Song Dynasty. No line of the poem touches the autumn moon, but it shines every line.” ~~Xiao-zhen aka worm     
    pillow woman by judi Van GorderRaven strands of silk tangle
    and spread over her pillow.
    With soft eyes, pleasure waits
    white curves stretch upon futon.
Thanks to Judi at PMO.
Example Poem
Steady breathing warms my neck
laughing at winter’s cold assault.
My thighs touching your curves;
winter coldness overcome by warmth.

Kwansaba

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Kwansaba is an African American verse form of praise. The Kwansaba, (swahili kwan – first fruit / saba -principle) was created in 1995 by Eugene B Redmond, East St. Louis Poet Laureate and professor of English at Southern Illinois University-East St. Louis. The form was developed in honor of the celebration of Kwanzaa . The poetic form adopts the number 7 from Kwanzaa’s Nguzo Saba (7 principles) as well as embraces its roots in the South African tradition of thePraise Poem. 
Kwanzaa is a 7 day celebration of the African-American family encompassing African-American heritage, culture and principles. The celebration was introduced by Dr. Maulana Karenga, African-American educator, following the Watts riots of 1966 with the intent of bringing the African American community together.Kwansaba, the birth of a poetry form The 7 principles of Kwanzaa are unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. Each day of the celebration focuses on one of the principles.
The Kwansaba is:
a celebration of family and African-American culture, a praise poem.
a septastich, a poem in 7 lines.
measured by 7 words in each line.
written with no word exceeding 7 letters.

The description above was pasted and copied from
http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=2769
with some slight editing.
 
Example Poem
 
Flashmob Christmas
 
Almost always tears trend down my face
after joyous smiles from ear to ear.
Seeing smiles erupt across the entire crowd
after pause of waiting wonder, knowing now
this gift is given- it’s for all.
Folks see shyness put aside for them,
to be caroled with season’s joyful songs.
 
© Lawrencealot – December 13, 2013

Sonnetina Uno

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SONNETINA UNO
A ten line poem
Requires: IAMBIC PENTAMER using BLANK VERSE
Example Poem
Interlude (Sonnetina Uno)
The winter settled down, it’s artwork done,
The thermometer dropped stopping the snow
and holding for us still-life clearly cast.
The roads were all cleared; a recess was called
for visitors to take pictures to share.
A suspension of time, deferring spring,
with frigid heart-warming inversion felt
as still air-motionless, and mutely crisp.
While not every year is such a scene seen,
these days are treasures wrought for memory’s sake.
© Lawrencealot – January 4, 2013
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Trimeric

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Trimeric tri-(meh)-rik n: a four stanza poem in which the first stanza has four lines
and the last three stanzas have three lines each, with the first line of each repeating
the respective line of the first stanza.
The sequence of lines, then, is abcd, b – -, c – -, d – -.
There is no line length, meter, or rhyme requirement or prohibition.
Example Poem
Whisky Works
He zig-zagged up the steep hill
much too drunk to walk a line.
Winter weather laid down a chill
with ice on that steep incline.
Much too drunk to walk a line
he headed home, had time still.
Unless he fell he’d be fine.
Winter weather laid down a chill
as he staggered up the hill.
He’d make it;  he had the will.
With ice on that steep incline–
(he had lots of time to kill)
his anti-freeze worked just fine.
© Lawrencealot – April 29, 2012