Category Archives: whimsy

Rosemary

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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.

• The Rosemary is an invented verse form that uses envelope quatrains. It was introduced by Viola Berg. 

The Rosemary is:
○ a poem in 12 lines, made up of a rhymed couplet, 2 envelope quatrains followed by a rhymed couplet.
○ metric, iambic pentameter.
○ rhymed aabccbdeedff.
○ L4,L5 and L8,L9 are indented.

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

Specificity (Rosemary)

I wandered as I walked and wondered where
I was today, and did I even care??
Like Jack “none” Reacher twixt his many tasks*
My days unfolded just by circumstance
and if you met me it would be by chance.
I seldom answered questions that were asked.
I hitch-hiked here, and don’t know where here is.
I’m somewhere where I’ve never been before,
and glancing see a sign above a door.
It posts the proper answer to the quiz.
The letters, boldly printed make it clear;
they proudly make the point that “You are Here.”

© Lawrencealot – September 22, 2014

*Jack (no middle initial) Reacher is a protagonist in Lee Child novels that I cannot resist.
Photo taken by ea of allpoetry.com

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Rosemary

Deten

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Deten
Type: Structure, Rhyme Scheme Requirement
Description: A poem rhymed abcab decde fgcfg developed by Johnn Schroeder. There are no other requirements than the rhyme scheme, but in English, iambic pentameter never hurts.
Attributed to: Johnn Schroeder
Origin: American
Schematic: abcab decde fgcfg
Rhythm/Stanza Length: 5

Pasted from <http://www.poetrybase.info/forms/000/78.shtml>
My Thanks to Charles L. Weatherford for his work on the wonderful poetrybase resource.

My example poem

Thrust Upon You (Deten)
The time to write a masterpiece
that moves another person’s soul
is when your mind is well content,
but this must be a faster piece;
it won’t fulfill that lofty goal.

But look! The form I’m using here,
I’ve never seen or used before
so this could be a nonevent.
The rhyme scheme might appear unclear,
it’s not one I’d choose to adore.

I came, I saw, and then I tried.
I took advantage of your trust;
I hope you found the time well-spent.
At least I think I’m satisfied,
another form has bit the dust.

© Lawrencealot – August 6, 2014

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Specifically or Iambic tetrameter
Deten

The Thorley

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• The Thorley is a stanzaic form patterned after the poem Chant for Reapers, by English poet, Wilfred Thorley 1878.

The Thorley is:
○ stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains.
○ metered, accentual with alternating lines of L1 & L3 with 5 heavy stesses and L2 & L4 with 3 heavy stresses. The trimeter lines have feminine endings.
○ unrhymed.

Chant for Reapers by Wilfred Thorley
WHY do you hide, O dryads! when we seek
Your healing hands in solace?
Who shall soften like you the places rough?
Who shall hasten the harvest?
Why do you fly, O dryads! when we pray
For laden boughs and blossom?
Who shall quicken like you the sapling trees?
Who shall ripen the orchards?
Bare in the wind the branches wave and break,
The hazel nuts are hollow.
Who shall garner the wheat if you be gone?
Who shall sharpen his sickle?
Wine have we spilt, O dryads! on our knees
Have made you our oblation.
Who shall save us from dearth if you be fled?
Who shall comfort and kindle?
Sadly we delve the furrows, string the vine
Whose flimsy burden topples.
Downward tumble the woods if you be dumb,
Stript of honey and garland.
Why do you hide, O dryads! when we call,
With pleading hands up-lifted?
Smile and bless us again that all be well;
Smile again on your children.
Pasted from <http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=668>
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of effort creating this fine PMO resource.
My Example

My Nose (The Thorley)

Say what you will about my larger nose
I seldom think about it.
It anchors well the other facial parts
a package deal, I reckon.

Note: my nose is notable I think
spread out long and spacious.
Seldom seeing it myself allows
measured self-contentment.

© Lawrencealot – August 2, 2014

Note: Stanza 1 is iambic, stanza 2 is trochaic. Both meet the accentual requirement of The Thorley.

Visual Template
Any arrangement with 5 and three stresses for the respective lines will work. This template shows two common meters.

The Thorley

Sweetbriar

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  • The Sweetbriar is a stanzaic invented form similar to the Minuette. It uses only 1 rhyme and was created by Viola Berg.
    The Sweetbriar is:

    • stanzaic, written in 2 sixains.
    • syllabic, 4/4/6/4/4/6 syllables per line.
    • rhymed, rhyme scheme xxaxxa xxaxxa.
My Thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the wonderful resource at PMO
My example poem
He Watches Me Bathe    (Sweetbriar)
He likes to watch
me shower it excites
him, that I know.
I wait until I’m sure
he’s there, then I
put on my show.
I see him smile
as I’m caressed by the
cool water’s flow.
He spends that time with me
each day, until
I have to go.
© Lawrencealot – April 5, 2014
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Teddy Poem

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Teddy Poem
Type:
Structure, Subject, Metrical Requirement, Rhyme Scheme Requirement, Other Requirement, Isosyllabic
Description:
A fixed form of three six-line verses summed up by an orphan couplet. All lines are in alexandrines. Rhyme scheme is aabbcc. There is an additional starter line which is, “Many, many years ago when Teddy was much younger than today…” The starter line occasionally varies slightly. The topic of these poems is always the adventures of a certain Theodore E. Bear, or Teddy as he is better known, who was created in the Garden of Eden, and having found the Fountain of Youth is immortal and eternally youthful.
Attributed to:
“The Dread Poet Roberts”
Origin:
American
Schematic:
Rhyme and line pattern: x aabbcc ddeeff gghhii jj
Meter: xX xX xX xX xX xX, or
xxxxxxxxxxxx
Rhythm/Stanza Length:
6
Line/Poem Length:
21
Reference:
See Also:
My Thanks to Charles L. Weatherford for this most complete description that I could find.
Example Poem and Visual Template
Ode to Theodore E. Bear     (Teddy Poem)
Many, Many years ago when Teddy was much younger than today…
For many, many, years- and I have now lost count
young Theodore E. Bear, went searching for the fount!
The fountain that he found- it grants perpetual youth.
He’s  been around forever- should be long of tooth.
That he has found it- any children will attest,
as silently he speaks, and puts them to their rest.
He dresses up in dresses, or may wear a bow.
He doesn’t mind cross-dressing, that much all of us know.
He may don a railroad cap or a Smokey hat,
or ‘bear’ soft messages, that tell of this and that.
He’s never embarrassed to go nude as it were
and sit about quite proudly, wearing only fur.
He goes with first responders – he’s most often there-
to mitigate the panic- temper their despair.
While firemen fight the blaze- before the clean-up starts,
kids will cling to Teddy, a balm for frightened hearts.
If they sustain an “Owie”,that requires a shot-
with Teddy there the pin-prick’s pain is soon forgot.
And when things are all peachy, Teddy you will find
as husband’s ways of saying “Thanks I’m glad you’re mine.”
© Lawrencealot – February 8, 2014

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Trifrain

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This is a form created by Lisa LaGrange on Allpoetry.com
It is Stanzic, consisting of any number of quatrains.
It is isosyllabic, eight syllables per line.
It is metered, generally iambic tetameter, but not limited thereto.
It has a repetition (Refrain) requirement
Except for the refrain, which is the first 4 syllable of line one, repeated twice as line 4, it requires mono-rhyme.
Rhyme pattern: aaaR 
Note: Added 2/23/2014:
The Trifrain is a new form that I added to this blog in January 2014, which is so very like a Monotetra (created in 2003), that I have been contacted with the following message: I think you should be careful when giving credit to a poet for creating a poetic form. You documented that Lisa LaGrange created a new form called a “Trifrain”. She now insists that it’s her form when in actuality it’s nothing more than a modified Monotetra created years ago by: Michael Walker.
I agree with the statement that is it nothing more than a modified Monotetra, but it is just that – modified.  It adds the REQUIREMENT of a REFRAIN (While dropping the requirement of MONO-RHYME.)
Lisa could well have simply credited her writing as  such a modification, without giving it a name.  But now we have a label we can refer to if we wish to write this style.
My dilemma, is that I cannot unilaterally decide that the new requirements are insufficient to allow a new name.  Many sonnet forms were invented with merely a change of rhyme pattern, etc…
But I definitely can and will give credit to the inspiring poet upon whose shoulders one is standing.
 
Example poem:
 
Nap Time     (Trifrain)
 
I need a nap to clear my head 
that happens when I go to bed 
to sleep instead, well just instead. 
I need a nap.  I need a nap. 
 
My tasks await, I can’t delay 
my puppy sez it’s time to play 
my wife wants barking far a way. 
My tasks await.  My tasks await. 
 
I’ll get things done I’ll catch up soon 
I’ll still have all this afternoon 
but with my muse I must commune. 
I’ll get things done. I’ll get things done. 
 
My head is clear.  I took a nap 
with puppy cuddled in my lap 
I’m better now, My nap’s a wrap. 
My head is clear.  My head is clear. 
 
© Lawrencealot – January 30, 2014
 
Visual Template:
This template shows iambic tetrameter.
 
 

Skeltonic Verse

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My Summary:  Skeltonic Verse  is:
Any number of lines without a Stanza break
Each line consist of two heavy stresses and any number of unstressed syllable
Lines are mono-rhymed until the poet decides to begin a new rhyme.
The poem should have energy and be fun.
Skeltonic Verse is named after its creator, English poet John Skelton (1460-1529),who tutored King Henry the Eighth when he was just a prince, spent time in prison, was censured by the Church and in general, seemed to have a great amount of fun.
Sources I found useful with more information you may appreciate.
Skeltonic Verse which today is sometimes also referred to as Tumbling Verse, is from the 15th century when English poet John Skelton (1460-1529) created short lines which resemble the hemistich of the Tumbling Verse of King James. It is a subgenre of Georgic, didactic verse, the verse usually being instructional in nature. The lines are of irregular dipodic meter with a tumbling rhyme. 
Skeltonic Verse is:
  • written in any number of dipodic lines without stanza break.
  • dipodic which is a line with 2 heavy stresses and any number of unstressed syllables.
  • rhymed, tumbling rhyme is any number of monorhymed lines until the rhyme runs out of energy then the lines switch to a new mono-rhyme series. 
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the great PMO resource.
Skeltonics
Type:
Structure, Metrical Requirement, Rhyme Scheme Requirement
Description:
Developed by John Skelton (Happy Hank, the Wife Slayer’s poetic mentor and court poet), these are satirical rhymed dipodic lines. It is also known as Tumbling Verse. This requires explaining the difference between podic and accentual-syllabic verse. With accentual-syllabic verse, every syllable counts, both stressed and unstressed. If a line of verse is iambic pentameter, it will be ten syllables alternating between unstressed and stressed as: da_DUM da_DUM da_DUM da_DUM da_DUM.
“I dived beneath the desk to hide from her.”
Podic verse was kind of a looser midway point between the alliterative accentuals of the Anglo-Saxons and the accentual-syllabics that Chaucer adapted into English based on French forms that were rhymed and syllabic. So, podic verse is usually rhymed and has a certain number of stresses in the line, but the number of unstressed syllables doesn’t count. A dipodic line has two stresses. It might have from zero to four unstressed syllables, so the line can vary from two to six syllables and still be dipodic.
“Her eyes aflame
fire bright
cast her claim
all night.”
Although this quatrain varies between two and four syllables per line, they are all dipodic.
Skelton’s rhyming was also inconsistent. He might rhyme two lines in a row or ten, then he’d change rhymes for another indeterminate length, and then do it again.
My thanks to Charles L.  Weatherford who frequently provides more detail and insight than most.
My Example Poem
Dipodic What?
Dipodic Verse
Will be Terse.
Stress used just twice
to keep it nice,
short or long
a lilting song
or sounding gong
that won’t go wrong
if you adhere
to the rule here,
Now is that clear
My dear?
© Lawrencealot – 2013

Flung

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This form was created by Larry Eberhart, aka, Lawrencealot on allpoetry.com
Type: Stanzaic
Meter: Tetrameter or Pentameter
Presented as two or more Octaves
Rhyming pattern: ababcccc ddeeffff
If the poem is extended it should continue alternating couplet and cross rhyme
for the first quatrain of each octave.
Example Poem
What Happened to George?
“A gastropod mollusk is what I am,”
said George to his host. “And I have long found,
that being submerged (if you give a damn),
is sometimes better than up on the ground.
If I get too dry I might desiccate,
then I’d be dinner for you and your mate,
but now I can slime noxious stuff you’ll hate.
But I’ll feed you for life if you just wait.”
The beetle had thought, this slug he’d deceived.
Now he did not know what should be believed.
“The farmer’s intending a toxic plan
to kill us all– perhaps he just began.”
I need a mate who’s many rows away.
I cannot get to her within one day.
You can go fetch her, I’ll tell you the way,
Then both of us will in your burrows stay.
The beetle knew two was better than one.
If there’s an option for unending food
instead of foods poisoned– had it begun?
he’d best collaborate with George the dude.
Both slugs were omnivorous slugs you see,
So George deigned to explain how it will be.
You’ve heard tuna called “Chicken of the Sea.
Well Chicken of ground shall be Joyce and me.”
In days some thirty eggs from George’s mate.
produced the protein for the beetles plate.
The beetle got smart and let some eggs hatch.
It just meant they’d have more earthworms to catch.
The beetles Kentucky Fried Sluggets sold
like heaters in Vermont when it gets cold.
The farmers profits jumped about two-fold,
Explain? That bright slug George, he just grew old.
© Lawrencealot – March 3, 2013
This poem answers the following question by Sir Mike bike
Get me a wheelchair!” Cried the sick bug,
“For I have no legs (because I’m a slug!)
A very nice beetle all dressed in bright black,
Said “Never mind slug just jump on my back…..”
The slug (quite determined to get a free ride)
Now dumped common sense and he now dumped all pride,
He slid on the beetles back with such ease,
Said ”Take me to market as quick as you please!”
Now the beetle pretending hard to be nice,
Said “Certainly sir, there’ll be no price!”
“But first I have to visit my mum,
You can come too my little chum!”
So down it the ground where black beetles gorge,
Went poor Mr. Slug (whose name was George)
He never more was seen again…..
Pray what happened….can you explain?
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