Footle


A footle is a 2 line, 2 syllable trochaic monometer poem with an integral title suitable for light, witty, pertinent, topical verse.

http://www.poetrysoup.com/dictionary/footle

My Example

Form: Footle

Five Fun Footles

Trochaic
headache

Must write
just right

The judge
won’t fudge

Gloom ‘er
humor

Too late
missed date!

© Lawrence Eberhart – June 10, 2015

Park’s Triad

The following description and example are reposted with permission from Poetry Magnum Opus, with thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on that fine resource.

Triad meaning three for which I have found 2 different forms of verse called a Triad.

  • The Triad is a genre from ancient Irish Verse rather than a verse form although the early examples are in 3 mono-rhymed triplets. Like the Treochair it is a departure from the quatrains of Dan Direach. More modern versions allow the structure to be at the poet’s discretion. Most importantly, the poem should include 3 related subjects and their character.

    The elements of the early Triad are:
    1. a poem that lists 3 related things and considers their effects.
    2.  many very early Triads were written in 3 mono-rhymed triplets. Meter is at the discretion of the poet.
    3. modern interpretations of this form vary from free verse, a loose poetic form written in 3 couplets rhymed or unrhymed, or in nonce frames created specifically for the poem.
    4. most importantly written including 3 related subjects, their character and relationship.

Here is a Triad written in the 3 mono-rhymed triplets 

Uniquely Irish, The Shamrock by Judi Van Gorder

I don’t want to sound terse
nothing could be worse
I try to write a clever verse.

Of shamrock’s I will carp,
may sound a bit too sharp
not like sweet music on the harp.

In distant Ireland of all places
they cover most of the bases
even the art of shaving faces.

Seamrog, (Gaelic) shamrock, with its 3 leaves is said to represent not only the Holy Trinity, but also (the fruits of the spirit, faith, hope and charity), (love, valor and wit), (past, present and future) and uniquely Irish, (clever verse, music on the harp, and the art of shaving faces).

A variation of the Triad was published in Pathways for the Poet by Viola Berg 1977 and is attributed to Rena Ferguson Parks. It is a metered, rhymed invented form with a refrain.

The invented variation of the Triad is:

  1. a poem in 22 lines made up of an octave, sixain and an octave in that order.
  2. metric, all lines are iambic tetrameter accept the last line of each stanza which is a refrain in iambic dimeter.
  3. rhymed, turned on only 2 rhymes, rhyme scheme xxxaxabA xxxabA xxxaxabA – b rhyme linking the stanzas and A being the refrain.

My Example

I have chosen for expediency to differentiate, by tagging the second version with the name “Park’s Triad”.

They’re Out of Names

Last week I found another life;
it’s on the Internet, you know.
If you are not already there
you must be tied up playing games,
or busy earning daily bread,
or optimistic, chasing dames.
you ought to join this word- before
they’re out of names.

I could not use a name I knew;
I tried a few and many more,
then many others after those.
“That name is taken”- screen proclaims.
I can’t be Larry anymore,
they’re out of names.

I teleport, and I can fly,
and be a woman, or a man
or be a robot or a beast,
but I cannot be John or James.
I can now choose to wander free
or be one with more lofty aims.
So join up now, and don’t be sore;
they’re out of names.

© Lawrencealot – February 4, 2015

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Fatras

The Fatras, fatrasie, fratrasie, resverie, could be described as the ravings of a happy lunatic. The verse is joyously irrational with no clear direction and yet it has a unique defined structure. Originating in Europe in the Middle Ages it is upbeat, “full of wordplay, ridiculous associations, and intentional nonsense.” NPEOPP.

The Fatras is:
• a poem in 11 lines.
• composed in a way that the 1st and last lines form a distich, a poem in 2 lines, that holds the entire theme of the larger poem. This is known as the fatras simple.
• unmetered.
• unrhymed.
• written with clever wordplay and disconnected nonsense which set the tone.
• The fatras possible allows for some coherent text, the fatras impossible make no sense at all.
• a fatras double when 2 eleven line stanzas are formed, with the lines of the distich reversed in the 2nd stanza. The last line is a restatement of L1 of the poem

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=679#fatras
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example

Nothing’s in Something’s Way (Form: Fatras – simple)

If nothing takes up all the space then where will
something go? There’s nothing here, there’s nothing there,
So where’d I put my underwear? My closet’s full
of nothing, as is my chest-of-drawers. I want
a twirling thing-a-ma-whack that hoots and runs
around a track, my underwear I’d also
like. Grandpa’s teeth now share a glass with water
from the sink so he can drink while he can’t chew,
and still i have no clue about where I might
find that underwear of mine. I wonder how
things can be found when nothing’s already there.

© Lawrencealot -December 17, 2014

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Fatras

Décima

Décima, Décima Espinela, Espinela, the Décima Italiana and the Italian Décima Rima

  • Décima is a Spanish term of the 14th and 15th centuries referring to any 10 line stanza. In the 16th century, the poet adventurer Vencinente Espinela developed the Décima into the verse form of today the Décima orDécima Espinela or simply Espinela . By whatever title, it is commonly referred to as “the little sonnet”. 

    The Décima or Décima Espinela or Espinela is:

    • stanzaic, written in any number of 10 line stanzas.

    • syllabic, 8 syllables per line.

    • rhymed, abba : accddc . The colon represents a pause, therefore L4 should be end stopped.

    • composed with the 7th syllable of every line stressed. (This is probably easier to do in Spanish than in English.)

    • variable. There is a variation of the Espinela that is written in 12 line stanzas rhyme abba : accddcxd, x being unrhymed.

 

 
Pasted from  http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1029
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example

Turkey Gaffe (Décima)

My dad had a quirky turkey
that was thin as macaroni,
very skinny, and quite bony;
so dad turned him into jerky.
Dad’s neighbor thought that was quirky,
deemed all birds were meant for roasting,
all marshmallows meant for toasting,
what’s not fried was meant for baking.
Dad’s jerky he was forsaking
at the luncheon he was hosting.

© Lawrencealot – November 29, 2014

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Decima

a la Bartholomew Griffin

a la Bartholomew Griffin is a poetic device, technique or tool. This technique is sometimes used as an exercise in repetitive end words in workshops and classrooms. Named for English poet Bartholomew Griffin (died 1602) from two of his 150 sonnets which were written with the end word repeated throughout the poem. This is considered Griffin’s literary contribution to technical form. The device is usually used in light verse and does not necessarily adhere to the original sonnet structure used by Griffin.

a la Bartholomew Griffin is:
• light verse.
• short. A poem written in 14 lines or less.
• metered or not at the discretion of the poet.
• written repeating the same end word throughout the poem.

SONNET 23. (published 1596) by Bartholomew Griffin

Fly to her heart ! Hover about her heart !
With dainty kisses mollify her heart !
Pierce with thy arrows her obdurate heart !
With sweet allurements ever move her heart !
At midday and at midnight, touch her heart !
Be lurking closely, nestle about her heart !
With power (thou art a god !) command her heart !
Kindle thy coals of love about her heart !
Yea, even into thyself, transform her heart !
Ah, she must love ! Be sure thou have her heart !
And I must die, if thou have not her heart !
Thy bed, (if thou rest well) must be her heart !
He hath the best part sure, that hath her heart,
What have I not ? if I have but her heart !

Write On by Judi Van Gorder

I ask, is this right?
I thought the right
way of it was truly right
in front of me. Right
next to the selected, right
book of verse at the right
hand of my desk. Write?
That word ‘s not right.

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1103
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example

Unexcused Absence (a la Bartholomew Griffin)

The poet needed an excuse
The missing muse was not excuse
enough he thought he ought excuse
his muse; he thought, “No, there’s no excuse
to give my muse an excuse to excuse!”

© Lawrencealot – November 9, 2014

Tigerjade

Tigerjade

Predictions

3a We’ll go on?
3a Soon begun
12b a new Mayan calender called B’aktun 14
12b hidden in Guatemala, more future unseen
12c in Xuitun excavation-seven thousand years
12c 2.5 million days to quell some folks fears.
3d End of fuss?
3d Still end us?
3e But not all
3e you recall
12f relied on just Mayan calendar prophesy
12f Dire times for our evil crimes some others see–
12g Nostradamus, Bible, Native Americans.
12g Angry Earth disasters causing all short life spans
3h in some way
3h on some day.

Tigerjade
Created by Jacqueline Sturge
1. Any number of octaves or 8-line stanzas
2. Syllable Count: 3-3-12-12-12-12-3-3
3. Rhymed: a-a-b-b-c-c-d-d. Continue e-e-f-f-g-g-h-h etc

© 2012 Linda Varsell Smith “Word-Playful” www.RainbowCommunications.com

• The Tigerjade is an invented stanzaic form introduced by Jacqueline Sturge. In researching the name, I found Tiger Jade the name of a freighter in the Bengal Tiger line. The name could also refer to jewelry, a jade tiger.

The Tigerjade is:
○ stanzaic, written in any number of octaves.
○ syllabic, 3-3-12-12-12-12-3-3 syllables per line.
○ rhymed, aabbccdd eeffgghh etc.

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?/topic/2192-invented-forms-from-poetry-styles/

My Example

Choose a Treat

Choose a Treat (Tigerjade)

Please abide;
step inside.
The treats you offer are enticing, yummy, yet
your hands are full of goodies and your little pet.
Your fingernails are lovely, but that pot is black;
please set it down then come inside and scratch my back.
When you’re done
we’ll have fun.

Costume’s bold!
Are you cold?
I’ll warm you up in ways that you might contemplate,
and effortlessly, I think you’ll reciprocate.
I’ll scratch your back as well as anywhere you itch.
This night is Halloween – you know you can bewitch.
Please come in.
Let’s begin.

© Lawrencealot – October 28, 2014

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Tigerjade

Con-Verse and Conversation in Couplets

Converse in Couplets is an invented stanzaic form that emulates a Conversation Poem or dialogue in rhymed couplets. John Henson introduced this form at Poetry Styles. This could fall under the genre of a French Débat or Eclogue Débat with a prescribed stanzaic form. Shadow Poetry.comexpands this form shortening the name to Con-Verse to change the syllabic count of the couplets.
Converse in Couplets is:
○ stanzaic, written in any number of couplets.
○ syllabic, all lines are 11 syllables.

a conversation between at least 2 voices.

The Age Old Story by Judi Van Gorder

I got caught in the hall without a hall-pass,
my practice ran late, then I ran out of gas

You were told before to be home by seven 
and no excuses pave the road to heaven.

I would have called but you do not understand
things didn’t play out the way that I planned.

It’s the third time this week that you’ve come home late.
You could be dead in a ditch while I fret and wait.

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?/topic/2192-invented-forms-from-poetry-styles/
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

Con-Verse
The Con-Verse, created by Connie Marcum Wong, consists of three or more 2-line rhyming stanzas (couplets). The meter of this form is in syllabic verse.

Rhyme scheme: aa,bb,cc,dd,ee
Meter: 7,7,8,8,9,9,10,10,11,11

(Syllabic verse only counts the number of syllables in a line.)

This form consists of three or more couplets which ascend by one syllable up to and until you reach a syllabic count of eleven which would contain ten lines.

This process may be repeated for a longer verse. If repeated, you must begin your first couplet with the syllabic count of seven again and continue from there

Pasted from http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/converse.html
Many thanks to the ShadowPoetry site.

My Example

Toilet Seat Lament  (Con-verse)

The seat was up again, dear!
What?honey – I didn’t hear.

The toilet seat, you just left up!
It makes it easy for the pup.

Don’t give me that “doggies drinking bit!”
Dear, just put it down before you sit!

© Lawrencealot – October 10, 2014

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Con-verse

Sneadhbairdne

Sneadhbhairdne (sna-vuy-erd-ne):
A quatrain stanza of alternating eight syllable lines and four syllable lines with two syllable endings. Lines two and four rhyme, line three consonates with both. All words in the final line must rhyme line, the final word of line four alliterating with the preceding stressed word.

(x B) x x x x (x a)
x x (x b)
x x x x x (b c)
b b (x B)

Pasted from <http://www.thepoetsgarret.com/celtic1.html>

Sneadhbairdne (snay-vuy-erd-ne) is an ancient Irish Form seemingly overloaded with features used in direct meter.

The Sneadhbairdne is:
• stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains.
• syllabic 8-4-8-4 syllables per line.
• alliterated in each line.
• written with two-syllable end words in each line.
• rhymed, L2 and L4 end rhyme. L3 consonates with the rhyme.
• every stressed syllable in L4 must rhyme.
• written with cywddydd (harmony of sound) and dunadh (beginning and ending the poem with the same word, phrase or line).

x x x x x x (x x) 
x x (x A) 
x x x x x x (x a) 
x A(x A)

October by Barbara Hartman

Beware! Canyon country’s ablaze
—gold leaves galore
glow by silver streams that glisten,
storms roar, restore.

Cumulus clouds shroud the Chuskas,
people prepare
for horny hunters who declare
“Let bears beware!”

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1166
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example

She’s a Tease (Sneadhbairdne)

Warning! She will keep you waiting
playing, pleasing
quite despite impatient pleading
She likes teasing.

With her wiles you’ll welcome waiting
scorning mourning.
I’ll implore you’re not ignoring
forlorn warning.

© Lawrencealot – October 9, 2014

Visual template of sorts

Sneadhbairdne

Aragman

POETRY FORM: ARAGMAN by Salvatore Buttaci
Published by: Salvatore Buttaci on 9th Mar 2012 |  
Aragman (pronounced “a rag man”)

Sometimes we can even invent poetic forms. Why not! There was a first time for all the forms we currently rely on to write our poetry. Some poet sat down one day and purposely or accidentally devised an original form that became so popular it survived the centuries. So I thought I’d come up with one of my own. I hope you like it so much you’ll tell all your poet friends and they’ll tell their friends and they’ll––well, you know what I mean. Maybe one day Literature will remember Sal Buttaci as the inventor of the “aragman.” 
 
Write as many stanzas as you care to.  
The word “aragman” is an anagram of the word “anagram.” 
 
First of all, 
 
1.  Begin with a word or two, perhaps your first name or first and last name. Settle on a word or two with not too many letters. In my aragman below, I used my first name “Salvatore.”
2.After you settle on a word, go to the Internet site http://Wordsmith.org/anagram/
3.Type in your word and click on “Get Anagrams.” Instantly, you will be provided with all the words that use the letters of your chosen word. 
4.Copy/paste all the words that are derived from your chosen word and carry it over to your Microsoft Word screen, give the file a name, and save it. 
 5.Now take a look at each of the anagrams and decide on a few for your aragman. You will need three for each six-line stanza. From the list select those anagrams that can be woven into your poem.
 6.In each stanza, odd-numbered lines 1, 3, and 5 are different anagrams from your list. If it’s possible, restrict each anagram on these lines be the same number of syllables. Make these anagram lines darker than the others. Even-numbered lines 2, 4, and 6 are completions of corresponding anagram lines 1,3, and 5. If possible, let these completion lines also conform to the same number of syllables, perhaps a number greater than the syllables of the anagram lines.For example, in my poem, the anagram lines are each three syllables while the completion lines are each almost all six syllables long.
7.The poem’s last line stands alone, after the stanzas, and it is one more anagram line. I must say, the aragman could provide lots of fun for those of you who enjoy the puzzle-working aspect of wordplay. Thankfully, the Internet site at Wordsmith will provide you with the anagrams of your selected word. That’s truly the hardest part and it’s done for you. Next, you need to select the best of the anagrams, preferably all having the same number of syllables and related meanings, even if their relationships is a stretch.
 
Let yourself have fun writing an aragman. Don’t make yourself crazy by insisting on too many stanzas. The following poem I wrote has six stanzas of six lines each, but I am including here only four. Send us one of no more than three stanzas. Better yet, find a home for your aragman by submitting it to a magazine or Internet –zine.
 
SENDING SALVATORE SOME ANAGRAMS
 
A slaver to
the labor of wordplay
A travel so
vicariously thrilling
A vast lore
from which to dabble
Atlas over
a hefting of strong words
A rave slot
machine to pull down poems
Area volts
zapped in poetic lines
Tear salvo
from the broken-hearted
Tears oval
and wet flow down faces
Alas, voter!
it’s time to add your name to
Art as love
       #
 
© 2005 Salvatore Buttaci
Pasted from http://www.flexwriterscreativenetwork.net/members/profile/1050/blog-view/blog_7470.htm

Restated Specifications
An Aragman is:
Stanzaic, consisting of one or more sestets, except the final stanza, which shall be a septet.
Free-form: rhyme, meter, and line-length at the poets discretion.
Formulaic: Each odd numbered line is an anagram of the same word or phrase.

My example

Ruff Let Go (Aragman)

Let Ruff Go
Ruff left a spot
Left of Rug
and he’s been taught
Get off rut
You silly mutt; don’t be
Forgetful.

© Lawrencealot – October 4, 2014

San Hsien

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.

• San Hsien (three strings) is another invented verse form in a decastich. It was created by Jessamine Fishback.

The San Hsien is:
○ a decastich, a poem in 10 lines.
○ metric, iambic dimeter. L1 is acephaletic (drops the 1st unstressed syllable).
○ rhyme, rhyme scheme ABbaccabBA.
○ composed with a refrain, L1 & L2 are repeated as L9 & L10 in reverse.

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

Specificity

Sober Thought (San Hsien)

You are here
the sign proclaimed.
“Where?”, I exclaimed.
“That final beer
was just too much;
you’re out of touch
that much is clear;
aren’t you are shamed?”
The sign proclaimed
You are here.

© Lawrencealot – September 25, 2014

Picture Credit:  ea of Allpoetry

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San Hsien