Tag Archives: 3 quatrains

Patrol Poem

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The Patrol Poem “is an accentual verse poem in three stanzas of four lines each.” Rex Allen Brewer invented the form in response to an exercise in group study of Poet’s Companion. It was an exercise to create a new form, distinct by meter, rhyme and use of poetic devices. I include it here because the form is musical and representative of one of many small poetic communities popping up on the internet. 

The Patrol Poem is:
• a 12 line poem made up of 3 quatrains.
• accentual verse, giving importance to stress count. There are 4 stresses in each of the 4 lines of the first quatrain, 3 stresses in each of the 4 lines of the second quatrain and the stress count alternates stresses from 4, 3, 4, 3 in the third quatrain.
• rhymed, rhyme scheme is xaxa xbxb xcxc. x being unrhymed.
• composed with repetition of words as a criteria of this form. In each quatrain 1 word is repeated 4 times, anaphora (repetition of the first word of the line) may be employed to accomplish this goal. 

Advice to a Beginning Poet-Writer 
by Rex Allen Brewer 

Listen to your broken heart my friend; 
listen as the old folks speak; 
listen to the jay’s tall tale; 
listen and learn before you speak. 

Write the simple stuff; 
write the common tale; 
write barefoot poetry; 
write to shape a spell. 

Learn to write with Glory words, 
words that soar and fight. 
You want words that sing and shout, 
words that dance all night.

With Apologies
by Judi Van Gorder

Late, again and again and again!
Late for school, the bell has rung,
late for work, a client waits,
late for mass, the Kyrie sung.

I’m always a step behind,
time seems to slip away,
I find too much to do. . .
delay, delay, delay.

I am even late in dreams,
I rush to be on time,
I vow to change, be punctual,
forever an uphill climb.

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1921
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example

Can You Do This (Patrol Poem)

Cut out responding when provoked
Cut out concern that you’ve been dissed.
You cut your nose to spite your face
when cutting comments make you pissed.

Let words of rudeness wither,
let them simply dissipate.
Let a smile touch on your face,
let them see no sign of hate.

When taunters see you’re not affected
when mean words they choose to spew,
when tranquility’s reflected,
that’s when they’ll stop taunting you.

© Lawrencealot – January 5, 2015

Douzet

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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 Douzet is a verse form with a unique rhyme scheme in the last quatrain. An exercise in meter and rhyme found in Pathways but is attributed to an unknown which Berg found in Clement Wood’s Poet’s Craft Book 1936, a book I have yet to get my hands on.

The Douzet is:
a 12 line poem made up of 3 quatrains.
metered, iambic pentameter.
abba cddc abcd.
  

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

Tombstone Romance (Douzet)

I rode to Tombstone for to see a show. 
It weren’t a cultural center, that I knew
but Josephine was there, and Fabian too.
Despite the outlaws, I just had to go.
For me it was a break from daily strife
and for the touring troupe, I’d have to guess
not being shot was proof of their success,
and Wyatt Earp there met his future wife.

He married Josephine you surely know,
a fated match as she was passing through.
For forty-seven years they shared their life
for neither one would settle now for less.

© Lawrencealot – September 8, 2014

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Bref Double

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Bref Double
Type:
Structure, Rhyme Scheme Requirement, Isosyllabic
Description:
A fourteen-line French form. Like many French forms, the rules are a bit complex. It is composed of 3 quatrains and a couplet, all isosyllabic. It has three rhymes: a, b, and c. It has five lines that are not part of the rhyme scheme. The c rhyme ends each quatrain. The a and b rhymes are found twice each somewhere within the three quatrains and once in the couplet.
Impressions:
Have fun; it’s French.
Origin:
French
Schematic:
Some sample rhyme schemes would be:
abxc abxc xxxc ab,
xaxc xbxc xbac ba,
xabc xaxc xbxc ab,
etc.
(abxcabxcxxxcab, xaxcxbxcxbacba, xabcxaxcxbxcab) )(14 lines)
Rhythm/Stanza Length:
4
Line/Poem Length:
14
Pasted from <http://www.poetrybase.info/forms/000/25.shtml>

My thanks to Charles L. Weatherford for his fine Poetrybase resource.
My example poem
A Merchant Mariner     (Bref Double)
A soliloquy mumbled while aboard a ship
addressed issues encountered by conscripted men:
the comforts found in surroundings I’d known, no thoughts
of danger real or imagined- not everyday.
With thoughts of carnality, adventure, hardship,
rewards of sharing bounty, succeeding and then
returning home after I’ve traveled, unraveled
the wonderful mystr’ies that might hold me in sway.
The captain, querulous, demands most constant yield
from every man. The old first  mate so hates the king
he wrings more than mere duty from men on his watch.
The nation we’re helping will repay us some day.
I came home a hero. It was quite a long trip.
But now that those days are passed, I’d do it again.
© Lawrencealot – April 18, 2014
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Atrina

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The ATRINA form was Invented by Keith Metcalf Drew of AllPoetry.A stanzaic poem of 18 lines, consisting of 3 quatrains and a sestet.
It is isosyllabic, each line have 8 syllables.
Rhymed: AaaA BbbB CccC AaBbCc where the capital letters indicate refrain lines.
(AaaABbbBCccCAaBbCc)
The first and last lines in each verse are exactly the same.
The third line in each verse is of similar wording to the second line or reversed i however prefer it if you use the same words but reversed.
Then when you have written the three verses.
The fourth verse consists of the first two lines from each of the three verses.
Here is an example:
AN ATRINA:
Her heart it pales in shades of grey,
The pain inside to ever stay,
Inside the pain to ever stay,
Her heart it pales in shades of grey,
Reciting all the poems she’d read,
The lover lost within her bed,
Lost the lover within her bed,
Reciting all the poems she’d read,
And deep within she still believes,
The angels keep her heart its grief,
The grief her heart the angels keep,
And deep within she still believes,
Her heart it pales in shades of grey,
The pain inside to ever stay,
Reciting all the poems she’d read,
The lover lost within her bed,
And deep within she still believes.
The angels keep her heart its grief.
 Example Poem
From the Mist    (Atrina)
A love like yours is heaven’s gift.
It saved a soul that was adrift.
A soul was saved that was adrift.
A love like yours is heaven’s gift.
You came to me out of the mist.
Your lips demanding to be kissed.
Your lips expecting to be kissed.
You came to me out of the mist.
I left mere mortals on the shore
to be with you forever more.
with you I’ll be forever more.
I left mere mortals on the shore.
A love like yours is heaven’s gift.
It saved a soul that was adrift.
You came to me out of the mist.
Your lips demanding to be kissed.
I left mere mortals on the shore
to be with you forever more.
© Lawrencealot – March 10, 2013
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