Tag Archives: 16 lines

Markette

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Markette: Created by Michael Degenhardt.
Rhymed Quatrains.

Syllable Count: 11/10/9/5
Rhyme Scheme: aaab cccd ddde fffe

No Place to Call Home

Partners Place –Housing First: An initiative to provide permanent housing
for chronically homeless persons

a11 In our town homeless people live under bridge.
a10 They camp out by railroad tracks or on a ridge.
a9 Some people care, try to help abridge
b5 gaps in services.
c11 The chronically ill, addicted, jobless,
c10 poverty, life situation painful mess–
c9 some folks try to raise our consciousness
d5 and want to make dent.
d11 Shelter, a place to call home, they will pay rent–
d10 percentage of income from government,
d9 coordinate needs as seen evident.
e5 working together.

f11 Grants, donations, they have built a safe, new place–
f10 apartments where residents interface,
f9 live with others, meet staff at own pace–
e5 safe from the weather.

http://www.rainbowcommunications.org/velvet/forms/
My Thanks to Linda Varsell Smith for her contributions above.

My example

For a Happy Next Year (Form: Markette)

This very troubled year will certainly end
I hope the best for you next year, my friend.
We can’t tell what the next might portend;
may yours be joyful.

Sub-cultures rising up and promising strife
give little care how they affect your life.
agendas they hold make discord rife.
Practice brotherhood.

Though agitators provoke and relish hate,
if we respond we make their traction great.
So stay with those you appreciate.
Stay well and happy.

Avoid the fools who pander harsh foolishness.
No confront is going to solve this mess.
We need Hellos more and “Hell no’s” less.
Accumulate friends.

© Lawrencealot – December 29, 2014

Visual template

Markette

Dibi

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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
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
Dibi
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

Lilt

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Lilt – An invented form created by Mary Lou Healy, aka Mlou of Allpoetry

It is:
A 16 LINE poem, consisting of four quatrain stanzas
Accentual with odd lines of each stanza having 3 stressed syllable
and even lines having two stressed syllables
Rhyme Scheme: abab cdcd efef ghgh
Rentrement requirement: The 2nd line of each stanza becomes part of the first line of the next stanza
and the 2nd Line of the final stanza, is the first part of the first Stanza’s first line.

This form employs a rentrement or rentrament (fr.) which is the repetition of a phrase from one line as a line elsewhere in the poem. The device is also found in the Rondeau and English Ballet.

Note, while only the number of stressed syllable in a line is important,
The poet may get there using any metric scheme, or none.

NEW: After I had posted my double Lilt, the inventor has decided to allow unlimited Lilts to be strung together as a single poem, if the author observes the rule of linking the final stanza in the poem, to the first line of the poem.

My Example

Emptying the Hall    ( A double Lilt)

It is madness, don’t you think, and not too nice
to deposit one old pickle
when the dictionary called for beans or spice
and the hostess seems so fickle?

To deposit one old pickle on the plate
when three cucumbers were ordered
could upset the wild old chef – who exhales hate;
then he’ll have you drawn and quartered.

When three cucumbers were ordered – don’t be bragging,
(you add vinegar and cukes.)
and it’s gibberish, methinks, but tongues are wagging.
and they’re betting the chef pukes.

You add vinegar and cukes into your salsa.
It is madness, don’t you think,
To be serving things that crunch with forks of balsa?
I for one was tickled pink.

The party’s done and now
The story’s told
and Morse code tells them how
you were so bold.

The story’s told in print
your name’s revealed.
I never gave a hint;
my lips are sealed.

Your name’s revealed in spurting
and fractured prose
can’t leave a poet hurting,
I don’t suppose.

And fractured prose re-runs!
The party’s done.
The bread and buttered buns
I thought were fun.

© Lawrencealot – September 23, 2014

Visual templates

Lilt

The Herrick

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• The Herrick makes use of alternating feminine and masculine end words. It is a verse form named for Robert Herrick (1591-1674) and patterned after his poem To the Virgins to Make Much Time.

The Herrick is:
○ stanzaic, a poem of 4 quatrains. (16 lines)
○ metered, alternating tetrameter and trimeter lines. Odd number lines are tetrameter ,even numbered lines are trimeter.
○ rhyme, rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef ghgh. Odd numbered lines are masculine rhyme, even numbered lines have feminine rhyme.

To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time by Robert Herrick (1st stanza)

Gather ye rose-buds while ye may:
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles to-day,
To-morrow will be dying.
The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he’s a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he’s to setting.
That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer ;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.
Then be not coy, but use your time,
And while ye may go marry :
For having lost but once your prime
You may for ever tarry.
Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=668
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resouce.
My Example poem

Are Caterpillars Cognizant?(The Herrick)

When caterpillars go to sleep
I wonder if they’re knowing
that while their sleep is very deep
their lovely wings are growing?

Is metamorphosis a shock
or is it all expected?
Do larvae young ones watch the clock
and know it’s all connected?

When they crochet that crusty shell
that doesn’t look delicious
and hide in sight so very well
are they themselves suspicious?

Like teenage girls that want a bust
anticipating greatly
do they awake with pride or just
think, “What has happened lately.”

© Lawrencealot, – July 27, 2014
Visual Template
The Herrick

The Fletcher

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• The Fletcher is a verse form that employs long and short lines, from the poem Away, Delights by John Fletcher (1579-1625)

The Fletcher is:
○ 2 octaves made up of 2 quatrains each.
○ metered, L1, L3, L5, L8 are pentameter and L2, L4, L6, L7 are dimeter*.
○ rhymed ababcdcd efefghgh, L1 and L3 of each octave are feminine rhyme.

Away, Delights! By John Fletcher
AWAY, delights! go seek some other dwelling,
For I must die.
Farewell, false love! thy tongue is ever telling
Lie after lie.
For ever let me rest now from thy smarts;
Alas, for pity go
And fire their hearts
That have been hard to thee! Mine was not so.
Never again deluding love shall know me,
For I will die;
And all those griefs that think to overgrow me
Shall be as I:
For ever will I sleep, while poor maids cry–
‘Alas, for pity stay,
And let us die
With thee! Men cannot mock us in the clay.’
Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=668
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the fine PMO resource.
CORRECTION: Line 6 is trimeter.

My Example poem

Drinking Time (The Fletcher)

The bar’s a proper place to start your drinking –
but not too soon
for only drunks and chippies, I am thinking
begin at noon.
If you’re despondent, casting only gloom
we’d rather you just stay
within your room.
our bar’s a place to hunt and flirt and play.

The advantage of starting drinking later –
for normal guys
the early girls will find you looking greater,
surprize, surprize!
And you can differentiate before
you find yourself a ten
that’s but a four.
But then, a four’s a ten compared to men.

© Lawencealot – July 26, 2014

Rustavelian Quatrain or Shairi

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Shairi, or Rustavelian Quatrain
Shota Rustaveli wroteThe Knight in the Panther’s Skin, Georgia’s national epic, towards the end of the twelfth century. It tells of a young prince helping to find a friend’s beloved, who has been captured by devils. Rustaveli used a particularly difficult form for it, known by the Georgian word shairi. 
The recommended rules for English-language shairi are: 4-line stanzas, with all four lines rhyming with one another. The lines are unusually long, having 15 or 16 syllables, and all the rhymes are of either two or three syllables.  
Note for purists
In Georgia, each line of a shairi has exactly 16 syllables, and they recognise two varieties of the form. In a magali (high) shairi stanza the syllables divide 4/4//4/4 (in each of the four lines), whereas in a dabali (low) shairi they divide 5/3//5/3. InThe Knight in the Panther’s Skin (or Vepkhis Tqaosani, if you prefer), Rustaveli alternated magali and dabali stanzas for the entire length of the poem – no fewer than 1576 stanzas. 
© Bob Newman 2004, 2005. All rights reserved.

My thanks to Bob Newman for his wonderful resource above.

Restated specifications:
Stanzaic, quatrains, mono rhyme, multi-syllabic rhyme

 Example Poem
 
 Redirected Feelings     (Rustavelian Quatrain)
 
She faced each day with deep desires- that seemed to her distressing.
Her husband’s morally correct, and counts his wife a blessing 
and’s careful to avoid an act that might call for confessing, 
and sadly that means he won’t watch his pretty wife undressing. 
 
His attitude left her in doubt that her looks were appealing. 
So secretly she bought some clothes- the kind that are revealing, 
then once each week would flash to men the charms she’d been concealing. 
To watch men stare at cleavage bare, aroused in her warm feelings. 
 
She soon could not deny the rush- the moist and warm sensation- 
so weekly outings multiplied; then there was escalation. 
Her exhibition soon became a road to fun flirtation,
a road she knew was but a path, a path to her damnation. 
 
She told herself, “This path is wrong! I’ll stop, what I’m inviting. 
I’ll find a hobby stay at home although that’s less exciting.” 
She switched her gears, and it appears, more people she’s delighting, 
She’s famous now, and satisfied with her erotic writing.
©Lawrencealot – February 28, 2014

Visual Template (15 syllable option)

 

Trolaan

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Trolaan, created by Valerie Peterson Brown, is a poem consisting of 4 quatrains.
Each quatrain begins with the same letter. The rhyme scheme is abab.
Starting with the second stanza you use the second letter of the first line of the first stanza to write the second each line beginning with that letter.
On the third stanza you will use the second letter on the first line of the second stanza and write the third each line beginning with that letter.
On the fourth stanza you will use the second letter on the first line of the third stanza and write the fourth each line beginning with that letter.
There is no mandatory line length or meter specified. (Added)
Example #1:
Distraught Blessings
Desire the sound or hope,
deluding minds in darkness.
Daunting though its scope,
deluged now with the access.
Elope into the morrow,
envelope me with song.
Enclose me now in sorrow
easing against the throng.
Longing for succulent prospect,
laying waste to eager night,
Lopsided in neglect,
listless with delight.
Only now will I protest,
owning nothing less.
Opening now I detest,
one more time to bless
.
Copyright © 2008 Valerie Peterson Brown
 
My example poem
In Sincerity, One Word or Two     (Trolaan)
Don’t you now know I love you so?
Did I not tell you many times?
Do leaves not rustle when wind blows?
Devotion I spell out in rhymes.
Oh Sweetheart, never doubt my love.
Other young ladies hit on me.
Occasionally I will sort of
Omit offending, don’t you see?
How can you feel demeaned, my sweet?
Harangues are not required at all.
Heaven knows they are not as neat.
Have trust! I love you most of all.
Open relationships are fun.
Of course I only play around
on those times I am with someone.
Otherwise, it’s with you I’m found.
© Lawrencealot – July 7, 2013
Visual Template

Retourne

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Like so many other French forms, the Retourne is all about repetition. It contains four quatrains and each line has eight syllables.
(16 lines, 8/8/8/8)
The trick is that the first stanza’s second line must also be the second stanza’s first line, the first stanza’s third line is the third stanza’s first, and the first stanza’s fourth line is the fourth stanza’s first.
Retournes do not have to rhyme. (rhyme optional)
Example Poem
Abandoned
I’d loved her only all my life.
She found another to her taste.
She left me– I now have no wife.
New city, no friends; joys erased.
She found another to her taste.
I begged, pleaded, asked her to stay
“I miss you, come back! what a waste,
keeping your lover is okay.”
She left me– I now have no wife.
Anquish bestirred me. I tried drink.
But quit to give my boys a life.
Work, feed the boys, cry, try to think.
New city, no friends; joys erased.
It took a long while, ‘ere I tried
to date– I was feeling disgraced
How could I ever lose my bride?
© Lawrencealot – April, 2012
Visual Template
 
 

RemyLa Rhyme

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The RemyLa Rhyme Form, a form created by Laura Lamarca, consists of 4 stanzas. 
Each stanza has four lines.
 The syllable count per stanza is 8/10/12/8 and
 the rhyme scheme is abca defd ghig jklj. (abcadefdghigjklj)
The first word of stanza 1 must also be the last word of stanza 4. 
The last word of stanza 1 must also be the first word of stanza 2 and the last word of stanza 2 must be the first word of stanza 3.
Finally, the last word of stanza 3 must also be the first word of stanza 4.
J1, x, x, x, x, x, x, a
x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, b
x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, c
x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, A1 
A1, x, x, x, x, x, x, d
x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, e
x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, f
x, x, x, x, x, x , x, D1 
D1, x, x, x, x, x, x, g
x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, h
x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, i
x, x, x, x, x, x, x, G1 
G1, x, x, x, x, x, x, j
x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, k
x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, l
x, x, x, x, x, x, x, J 
Example Poem 
Cant Kick 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Pants hanging around our butt-crack
We met, said “Howdy”, got a bit rowdy
We’d rather play street ball, bounding and bouncing here
than go to the gym or the track.
Track my progress and you will find
I’m a kicker- and no one is quicker.
I simply own this ball game when played on this block.
I’m double-teamed and I don’t mind.
Mind you that’s in this neighborhood.
Today we we’re aiming at taming foes
that kick a wicked ball in Homer’s home ground.
There’s never been a doubt they’re good.
Good enough to stand a real chance.
With me doubled and tripled we did lose.
A loss costs the losers a high-wire pair of shoes.
Next time it could cost me my pants.
(Lawrencealot – June 22, 2012
Visual Template

Coraline poetry form

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This is a form invented by Allpoetry’s Lisa Morris , aka Streambed

It is a modified Italian Octave  with the following specifications. 

The lines are octasyllabic, to be written preferable in iambic tetrameter,

but trochaic tetrameter may be used at the poet’s discretion.

 A poem consists of exactly two  stanzas, each being an octave. (2 octaves)

The rhyme scheme is: abbaccab

 

Example poem
Revised (Coraline)
For years and years I loved one wife
whose sensuality evoked
desire in every word she spoke.
I thought I’d married her for life.
My work demanded much of me
were I to climb the corporate tree;
she coped with kids and household strife
and felt her passion’d been revoked.
So she revoked our marriage vow-
became a vamp and able tease,
and found more men than me to please.
I offered work to disavow,
to change so she would stay with me;
but she enjoyed then being free.
The gloomy skies have brightened now,
a pampered wife sets me at ease.
© Lawrencealot – September 18, 2013
Visual Template (for iambic tetrameter)