Twin-Rhymer

This is a form created by Mary Lou Healy, writing on Allpoetry as Mlou.

I had originally named it the Spanner, drawn from the title of  the poem below.  However she has written several with the general form, including a sonnet version, so I am changing the form name in both cases to “Twin-Rhymer” which in more descriptive and is the creator’s preference.

Her first such poem was “I Span the Sky”

Like the forest in which I stand,
I raise my arms to embrace the sky.
I’m one with tall trees and greening land
with never a need to question why.
Life is what it is!  On either hand,
I grasp its truth with a gladsome cry.
I hold it fast by a single strand
and all the whims of chance deny.
The farthest vistas my arms have spanned,
intensely blue as lazuli,
hold secrets I may not understand
but I’ve no need to identify
the mystery of a cloud, wind-fanned
or the wing-tilt of dark hawks who fly.
All is just as creation planned
for the life of such as you and I.
 
 
Pasted from http://allpoetry.com/poem/10301105-To-Span-The-Sky-by-Mlou

I named it the Spanner and provided the specifications below, so that we might try it.

The Spanner is:
The poem is a strophe of any even number of lines.
Meter: Tetrameter lines, consisting of primarily of:
Iamb + Amphibrach +2 iambs
Rhyme pattern: alternating rhymes, also called cross-rhyme i.e., ababab

Note: The template I present to the world will be of a
poem that adheres strictly to the quoted meter, although
we know that in practice a line may  range from 7 to 10 syllables.

My example

Snoozing with My Muse (Twin-Rhymer)

I sleep so soundly when very tired
as opposed to when I merely doze,
and I get tired when I’m uninspired
that’s very often, I do suppose.
While doing nothing will make me tired
I tire much more wielding rakes and hoes.
I put in all of the years required
in solving corporate cares and woes;
then time arrived and I was retired.
I’ve time to think now, and to compose,
but can’t begin till a theme’s acquired.
So there I sit. You know how that goes!
I drift off thinking of things desired…
I’m working honey, in sweet repose.

© Lawrencealot – October 18, 2014

Visual template
Now renamed Twin-Rhymer
Spanner

Snapshot

This is an invented form created by Mary Boren, aka Meter_Maid on Allpoetry.

It is a poem of 7 lines
It is metrical, requiring several specific metrical feet, to wit:
L1: A pair of spondees
L2-3: Dimetrical dactylic couplet plus a hard beat at the end
L4-5: Anapestic dimeter, not rhyming with each other
L6: Anapestic trimeter, rhyming with L4
L7: Anapest. amphibrach, or iamb, which may, but is not required to rhyme with L5
It is formulaic, requiring a person’s name in either line 2 or 3.
It is themed:
 ” to capture a person’s unguarded moment, breaking stereotypes.”  I’d like to somehow convey that the task is to zoom in on descriptive details that plant a distinct concrete image, preferably an unexpected one.  You could almost say it has a volta at L5, as it catches something a camera would miss.  
It is rhymed with rhyme pattern: xaabzbz, where “z” lines may rhyme or not.

My Example

Just Notions  

Think long, think wrong!
Lawrence R. Eberhart thought
thinking of things he was taught
would most surely reveal
at least one salient fact
he was wrong all along on that deal
looking back.

© Lawrencealot – August 23, 2014

Note: This poem fails to be a Snapshot lacking the apparently candid moment required by the theme.

Try this one:

Neighborly Chat  (Snapshot)

Stop, look, think back.
Shoveling snow from the walk
Jerry MGee stopped to talk
with the girl from next door
he’d forgotten her name,
but remembered her shape from before,
quite a dame.

© Lawrencealot – August 23, 2014

Visual Template

Snapshot
Note: Several options exist for L7.