Tag Archives: Cephas

Mirror Sestet

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The Mirror Sestet, created by Shelley A. Cephas, is a poem that can be
written in one or more stanzas of 6 lines each. The specific guidelines for
this form are as follows:
The first word of line 1 rhymes with the last word of line 1.
The first word of line 2 is the last word of line 1 and the
last word of line 2 is the 1st word of line 1.
The first word of line 3 rhymes with the last word of line 3.
The first word of line 4 is the last word of line 3 and the
last word of line 4 is the 1st word of line 3.
The first word of line 5 rhymes with the last word of line 5.
The first word of line 6 is the last word of line 5 and the
last word of line 6 is the 1st word of line 5.
The Mirror Sestet can also be written in non-rhyme.
All rules must be followed except there is no 1st and last word rhyming.
Example Poem
It Worked
“Turds like him can speak in fancy words.
Words that  promise much. Those phony turds.
Great gods I fell for it.”  Here I wait,
Wait for Merlin to do something great.
“Smile for then he’ll make it worth your while.
While there, he’ll match figure to your smile.”
Visual Template

Decquain

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The Decuain (pronounced duck•won), created by Shelley A. Cephas, aka Shelly A on Allpoetry.
It is a short poem made up of 10 lines, which can be written on any subject.
There are 10 syllables per line and the poem is written in iambic pentameter.
There are 3 set choices of rhyme scheme:
ababbcbcaa, ababbcbcbb, or ababbcbccc
For a longer Decuain poem, add more stanzas for a double, triple, quatruple, etc. Decuain.
Example Poem

Leap to Lancelot 
















They thought they had me trapped– the silly fools.
But I’m an acrobat and dive with skill.
I do double twists into tiny pools.
I’ll foil their evil plans to rape and kill.
After a safe dive, which will be a thrill,
I’ ll be saved by Sir Lancelot by skiff.
He’s promised so I know he surely will.
His little boat was hidden by the cliff.
No maiden fair (and that does describe me,)
will Lancelot allow be lost at sea.
(c) Lawrencealot – April 18,2012
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Octameter

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Octameter, created by Shelley A. Cephas,
is a poem made up of 16 lines
divided into two stanzas of 8 lines each.
Each line has a syllable count of 5.
The set rhyme scheme is: abcdedfd ghcgigdd  (abcdedfdghcgigdd)
I found this form defined on Shadow Poetry.
Of all the poetry forms I have studied none has been affixed with a more misleading and potentially confusing name.
Example Poem
T-aint Octameter  (Octameter)
Most mis-named form seen–
the Octameter.
That’s a standard line
length measured in feet.
I ambs, trochees, such
which decide the beat.
Confusing girth with
length was not too neat.
It’s an octastitch.
Can’t quarrel at all.
If this form were mine
There’d be a name switch.
Say.. an octapent;
gone the need to bitch.
Current name is scat,
Cephas should fix that.
© Februrary 5, 2013
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Trilonnet

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Created by Shelley A. Cephas
A 14 line poem made up of four tercets and one rhyming couplet.
Meter: iambic tetrameter or iambic pentameter.
Each 3 line verse is an unrhymed triplet, but there is rhyming between the stanzas..
2 rhyme schemes: abcabcabcabcdd  or abccbaabccbadd
Example Poem
Little Brick Library
When I was young,  and that means wee,
My nearby library did astound.
I started stopping every day.
I’d roam the shelves from about  three
’til five o’clock or ’til I’d found
one book I could not put away.
It was wonderful they were free;
the best resource that I had found
and books had so darn much to say.
This was long ‘fore girls intrigued me.
The building was a good friend found,
where I’d rather hang-out than play.
Those short years opened wide the door.
to much I still plan to explore.
(c) Lawrencealot – May 4, 2012
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Triquain

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Triquain…created by Shelley Cephas,
A Triquain is a seven line poem with syllables in multiples of 3 as follows:
3, 6, 9, 12, 9, 6, 3 This form is always centered.
syllabic,3/6/9/12/9/6/3,unrhymed,7 lines
ALWAYS Centered
 
 
Example Poem:
 

Interim Heaven  (Triquain chain – Cephas) 

 
The puppy
brought to the hospital
where the boy was dying adopted
him on first sight.  The lad’s pain was subdued by drugs.
Nothing could subdue the instant joy
filling him as he hugged
The puppy.
 
The cancer
would not relent, and yet
the boy’s eyes were brighter than before
and he never cried another day.  The puppy
snuggled when he slept and licked his face;
played gently other times
with the boy.
 
When the boy
passed on while he slept, the
puppy knew and whined, parents wept.  In
tears a younger brother took the pup, who shut up
and licked away that boy’s tears.  Wiping
grief away, replacing
it with love.
 
(c) Lawrencealot – May 7,2012
 
 
Visual Template:

As it happened, the Triquain above was the first one that I encountered.
It was not however, the first form given the name.

• The Triquain, found in Berg’s Pathways for the Poet 1977 appears to be an attempt at combining the haiku and Crapsey cinquain. It was created by L. Stanley Cheney and referred to in both the Caulkins’ Handbook and Pathways. This form comes a little closer to the purpose of haiku than some other haiku wannabees. There is another invented form also called a Triquain that appeared on the internet about 25 years later written in a syllabic heptastich.

The Triquain is:
○ a tristich, a poem in 3 lines. It is composed in 3 units, L1 introduces the subject, L2 expands and leads into action, L3 is the enlightenment or question.
○ syllabic, with 2-7-7 syllable count per line.
○ Titled, unlike the haiku.

stud by Judi Van Gorder

newborn
leggy colt struggles to stand
first of many challenges

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1188#triquain
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example

Inquiry (Triquan-Cheney)

questions
preceding words, as babble
most unanswered before death

(c) Lawrencealot – October 29, 2014