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 La Velle is a verse form that combines couplets and triplets and was created by Nel Moldglin.
The La Velle is:
○ a poem in 15 lines, made up of 3 couplets and 3 triplets beginning with a couplet followed by 3 triplets and ending in 2 rhymed couplets.
○ metered at the discretion of the poet.
○ rhymed, each stanza is monorhymed, rhyme scheme aa bbb ccc ddd ee aa. The first and last couplets carry the same rhyme.
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
Cinnamon Summer (La Velle)
When a neighbor in the forest uses cinnamon while baking
and the cocoa on the windowsill is there for someone’s taking
and the scintillating scent that drifts and beckons, thus inciting
through the curtains of that lonely summer cabin by inviting
the young boy that then was me to meet a lass who loved delighting.
And though time flies like an arrow, and fruit flies like all her cooking,
it was me who liked her most of all and thought she was good-looking.
She had kittens and a pony and a rug that she was hooking
and the candles but no streetlights and Bob Dylan music playing,
and the sparrows in the forest kept the time with leaves a-swaying,
all brought solace to the lady that I sometimes thought was praying.
It was only that one summer that I shared her special magic
and I’ve prayed a bit since then, that she has suffered nothing tragic.
The young lass was always offering a happiness for taking
and I sometimes still remember her sweet cinnamon when waking.
© Lawrencealot – September 11, 2014
Visual Template
Note: Any meter or line-length is acceptable.
