Line Messaging is a poetry form created by Angel Favazza is a poetic form wherein the poet utilizes the last line of each stanza to help represent an overall idea. So if the last line of each stanza is read together (separately from the poem) it will have an independent message or be a poem all on its own.
Example #1:
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I, a mere woman; yet of mind and heart,
walk alone past the cemetery gates.
Reaching out to touch the crude, dim metal
a glorious thought takes me—
I stand still for my heart can walk no more
and the vital force within my breast
grieves with the knowledge of a youth now faded.
Submit; succumb to this sublime graveyard,
beyond the sorrow of generations gone.
Independent flowers mock the very
ground from which they rise;
Inspiration grows within me.
Copyright © 2009 Angel Favazza
Example #2:
Homeless
Help me make sense
of his cardboard life,
is there no one who will
lend a hand to history?
Charge up hill like a solider
and give him electric fire?
Teach him every thing and
unveil our electronic Eden,
an online life—
one of electric solitude,
to finally be electrically-tethered.
And then,
maybe then, we won’t blame ourselves.
Copyright © 2009 Angel Favazza
Pasted from http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/linemessaging.html
Many thanks to the ShadowPoetry site.
A year later….looking back at this I see that I made the story evolve from the THIRD line of every stanza, rather than the last. I cannot now find any reference that gives me that right – So my example must be “in the manner of Line Messaging”.
My example
The Death of the Brassy Dame (Form: Line Messaging)
The brassy dame was there of course
The night that we assume she died.
My mom-in-law was home that night,
my husband sitting by her side.
I came to see the brassy dame
whose charms had led my man astray.
My derringer was on my thigh
and no man’s hands would get that high.
I’d planned to shoot the brassy dame
and end her husband stealing game;
My husband’s alibi was tight
I failed that task for which I came.
The husky stranger whisked her out
a victim of her musky lust;
My presence here my alibi
is one that everyone will trust.
That Cadillac was not so new
and Thomas lived upon a hill.
A funny thing about the brakes
when they do fail, then speed can kill.
He knew my husband had a thing
and might just be inclined to fight.
How do you suppose Thomas chose
to troll for brassy dames that night?
I can’t say I was upset much
When he re-set the game I guess.
A little tweak is all it takes
to change the nature of the mess.
A brassy hussy and her hunk
deceased together due to haste.
I let it slip I must suppose
a piece of luck to good to waste.
© Lawrencealot – January 3, 2015
For your convenience, here are the results of Line Messaging.
This is the conclusion of the poem if you now merely read of the number 3 lines from each stanza.
My mom-in-law was home that night,
My derringer was on my thigh
My husband’s alibi was tight
My presence here my alibi
A funny thing about the brakes
How do you suppose Thomas chose?
A little tweak is all it takes
I let it slip I must suppose.
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