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
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
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