Medallion

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.

• Medallion is an invented verse form is a shape poem using predominantly trochaic meter. This form was created by Lilian Mathilda Svenson.

The Medallion is:
○ a poem in 9 lines.
○ metric, L1-L8 are trochaic and L9 is iambic. Syllables per line 4-7-8-7-9-10-9-7-4. As you can tell from the odd numbered syllable count of L2, L4, L5, L7 & L8, these lines are either catalectic or acephaletic (dropping either the end syllable or first syllable from the line). For this form, although it is not so instructed, the example poem is catalectic.
○ rhymed, rhyme scheme xabccbadd.
○ shaped. The poem should be centered on the page.

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

Summer Sears Us (Medallion)

Summer sears us
Makes autumn our next goal.
Fans are run to keep us cool.
Loud compressors whirr and hum 
while we wait for cooler days to come.
Winter’s cold kills homeless; keeps kids home from school, 
furnaces gulp gas and gobble coal.
Such a different song we sing, 
and pray for spring.

© Lawrencealot – September 18, 2014

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