Galloping Denturn

GALLOPING DENTURN is a poetry form invented by Dennis William Turner, writing on All Poetry as Dennisturner19.

  • It is comprised of two DACTYLIC tetrameter quatrains stating a point of view.
  • This is followed by a stand-alone one, two or three syllable word or phrase. For example: but – unless – but then – although – until, – however etc., Providing the TURN.
  • The concluding two quatrains, in ANAPESTIC tetrameter, make the argument, (emphasised by the change of metre.)

Turner’s Example

Form: Galloping Denturn

Why Bother?

Sometimes, my targets are scarcely attainable;
All that I try to do seems to fall short,
Efforts invested are hardly sustainable,
Work and commitment can all come to nought.
Labour seems pointless with goals unachievable.
Destined for failure, why should I still try?
Thoughts of success can be quite inconceivable.
“Try, try again,” they say. I just say, “Why?”

Although…

There’s a lot to be said for attempting your best
And for pushing and striving that little bit more
And remaining committed when put to the test
And to put in more effort than ever before.
If I DON’T try at all, then I’m doomed from the start
And it’s not a nice thing to be doomed, I confess,
So all negative thoughts should be set well apart
And I’ll give it the best that I can — nothing less!

© Dennis Turner, November 2017

My Attempt

Form: Galloping Denturn

Self-Medication

Ardently I do eschew taking medicine
arguing strongly against such reliance.
Eating correctly provides all my lecithin,
AND all the nutrients known now to science.
Certainly sponsors will vouch with some clarity
championing benefits brand names provide.
Taking their claims as the truth would be charity
Knowing beforehand how many have lied.

However,

With my tendency shown to perhaps skip some meals,
to respond to the TV’s promoting fast food,
and to pay much attention to five dollar deals
well, I might then deduce that my diet’s no good.
And I do take my Bayer’s prescribed for my heart,
and some Anacin, rarely, without too much fuss
since my doc’ says take pills — well then maybe I’ll start
I’m not stupid, you know, just a growing old cuss.

© Lawrencealot, November 2017

A Visual Template:

Diabolo

Diabolo is a poetry form invented by Dennis William Turner, writing on All Poetry as Dennisturner19.

His specifications and an example:

  • A poem of two, six-line, iambic stanzas.
  • Each stanza:
    • Lines 1,2,4 and 5, iambic tetrameter with rhymes at syllables 6 and 8.
    • Lines 3 and 6, iambic Dimeter with rhymes at syllables 2 and 4.
  • Rhyme scheme:
    • (a,b,)(a,b,)(c,d,)(e,f,)(e,f,)(c,d, )
    • (g,h,)(g,h,)(i,j,)(k,l,)(k,l,)(i,j, )

Turner’s Example

Form: Diabolo

Utopia

Man’s instinct was to stay alive;
He fought so that he may survive
And procreate,
But time for fighting should be done
And lasting friendships could be won.
A noble state.

All people should say “No” before
Their leaders choose to go to war.
The shame should cease.
To kill is such a frightful sin;
We must all do the right thing in
The name of peace.

© Dennis William Turner, August 2017

My Example

Form: Diabolo

Supremacist

I hate him cuz he’s not like me,
and we’re a special lot, you see.
we’re white and loud.
As white privilege (without a need,
our culture’s flaw, no doubt, indeed.)
A rightful crowd!

To bully people, black and brown
we threaten them and back them down;
our tool is fear.
Our president equivocates;
thinks screaming is just give and take –
so cool and clear!

© Lawrence Eberhart, August 2017

Denturn

DENTURN is a poetry form invented by Dennis William Turner, writing on All Poetry as Dennisturner19.

  • Stanzaic: 2 stanzas of iambic tetrameter
  • 2 stanzas of trochaic tetrameter
  • Rhyme pattern: poet’s option.
  • It is comprised of two IAMBIC, tetrameter quatrains stating a point of view.
  • This is followed by a stand-alone one, two or three syllable word or phrase. For example: but – unless – but then – although – until, – however etc., Providing the TURN.
  • The concluding two quatrains, in TROCHAIC metre, make the argument, (emphasised by the change of metre.)
  • SPECIAL NOTE: If two syllables are used at the TURN, then the following line should have ANACRUSIS in order to make the seamless transition between metres.

an·a·cru·sis
(ăn′ə-kro͞o′sĭs)
n.
One or more unstressed syllables at the beginning of a line of verse, before the reckoning of the normal meter begins.From http://www.thefreedictionary.com/anacrusis

Turner’s Examples

Form: Denturn

Go For It

I’m in a quandary, on the spot:
Now, should I exercise or not?
I’d much prefer to just relax
Instead of pounding running tracks.
The gym is not the place for me;
The sofa is the place to be!
I’d rather browse the Internet
Than run a round and smell of sweat,

Although,

It’s true that heart disease is stealthy,
Even when you feel quite healthy.
Maybe running at the double
COULD be worth a little trouble.
My excess will take some shifting,
Maybe I could try weight lifting?
This great book will show me how,
Here’s my chance; I’ll start right now.

© Dennis William Turner

My Attempts

Form: Denturn

Puppies

The puppies chew on furniture,
and eat up books I’ve out on loan,
which now require expenditure
and thus become my very own.
They chew things just to hear them crunch
and chewed up paper lines our hall,
They miss the training pads a bunch
and won’t all come each time I call,

and yet,

I don’t believe I’ll give them up;
Can’t release a single pup
They have taken up my heart –
Dollars aren’t just cause to part!
All of them should outlive me.
(Vets and food and toys aren’t free),
Joy and love and laughter reign –
Puppies make me young again!

© Lawrence Eberhart – 7/18/17

Comments by Mr. Turner:

Although your piece was technically correct, the use of catalectic lines in the Trochaic section gives it the ‘feel’ of acephalous iambic. The real essence of the Trochaic section is the double-syllable end rhyme. It is this that gives the strong contrast with the first section, (along with the stressed syllable to start the line of course.) I know that I have used a catalectic ending for my final rhyme, but that was deliberate in order to finish with a stressed syllable for emphasis as in the punchline of a joke. In fact, I’ve used the same ploy on other Denturns that I have written. I much prefer the strict tempo approach in order to get the full feeling of contrast. My opinion. What do you think?

WHAT I THINK. Dennis is spot on! Here is my revised poem.

Puppies (Revised)

The puppies chew on furniture,
and eat up books I’ve out on loan,
which now require expenditure
and thus become my very own.
They chew things just to hear them crunch
and chewed up paper lines our hall,
They miss the training pads a bunch
and won’t all come each time I call,

and yet,

I don’t believe their ever leavin’
Can’t release one puppy even.
They own me now; I’m enchanted.
Planned to sell but I’ve recanted.
They’ll outlive me, so I reckon
We’ll share love ’til angels beckon.
Joy and love and laughter reign –
Puppies make me young again!

© Lawrence Eberhart – 7/25/17

Visual Template:

SonnetyRondel

This is a form invented by Lisa Morris, aka Streambed on Allpoetry.

Streambed is so grounded in sonnetry, that it spills over into most everything she writes, but in this case she has decided to become mischievous and play in the muddied waters of Roundeaus and Rondels as well. The SonnetyRondel might better be described as a SonnetyRondeau because this form uses the rentrement or first phrase of L1 as a refrain rather than the full line as in the Rondel.

  • Stanzaic: Three quatrains
  • Metric: Iambic pentameter and di-meter
  • Rhyme Scheme: abaB baaB abaB|
  • Refrained

Streambed’s Example

SonnetyRondel

My Heart is True

My heart is true and ever will be so;
it murmurs love in words, which always new
pour from this ink, and catch you in their flow;
my heart is true.

I know the richness and the truths of you
and listen to your sighs when they ache low
and all your desert’s storming sandy blow.
My heart is true.

The years to come will ease the pain you know
with tenderness, which took deep root and grew
while beauty then, we’ll cultivate and sow;
my heart is true.

© Lisa Morris

My Example

SonnetyRondel

You Know My Mind

You know my mind and always think of me;
and even when my acts may seem unkind,
you know I never meant for them to be,
you know my mind.

You know the warts and flaws you’ll sometimes find
that other people simply cannot see,
and disregard them – how sweet love can be!
You know my mind.

I’m sure I know at least a thing or three –
and love is thoughtful, if it is not blind!
You tolerate my spontaneity.
You know my mind.

© Lawrence Eberhart – July 4, 2016

Gemstone

This is a form invented by Lisa Morris , aka Streambed on Allpoetry.

  • It is a 32 line poem made up of four 8 line stanzas.
  • Each stanza consists of 5 iambic tetrameter lines, and 3 iambic trimeter lines
  • The Rhyme pattern for each stanza is ababccba (with independent rhyme)
  • Meter: Lines 2,4, and 7 are iambic trimeter, the rest are iambic tetrameter.
  • The form map is:
    • 8 A
    • 6 B
    • 8 A
    • 6 B
    • 8 C
    • 8 C
    • 6 B
    • 8 A

Streambed’s Introduction:

I believe this is a new form; if you know of it from somewhere else, please give me a link and I will include the information. It is named after the poem I created it for: “The Gemstone” below.

Streambed’s Example

Form: Gemstone

The Gemstone

She kept a gemstone hid away,
once given, at a ball,
because she feared her mother’s say;
she’d force the man to call.
She hid it in her silks and floss
beneath the chest’s enameled gloss,
and underneath it all
the gemstone there in splendor lay.

She took it out when nights were still
and held it to her breast,
which surely was the man’s first will
when they had kissed, caressed.
It felt so cool against her skin;
she wished for his strong eyes again
and then she was distressed
and paced before her window sill.

He said he’d claim her as his bride
before the year was out,
and on this word she had relied,
but now she had her doubts.
The heiress of a large estate
with many, many hearts in wait
and many gifts to tout
was seen with him, out on a ride.

She laid her trust down in the drawer;
the facets, too, were there,
and in her mind, she heard the roar
of dancing in his care.
That night might be all that they had,
and if it was, her heart was glad
the gem he chose to share;
for it too sparked within its core.

© Lisa Morris

My Example

Form: Gemstone

Chivalry

I chose to honor womankind
as Arthur said we must.
They may be common or refined
but chivalry they trust.
They often can and will beguile;
they were designed to make men smile.
They promise more than lust;
they nurture using heart and mind.

For man there ought to be one maid
eclipsing all the rest
and she need never be afraid
when he’s put to the test.
I’m a man who loves them all,
the thin, the fat, the short and tall;
mankind is so well blessed
with diverse beauty, so arrayed.

A young man is not always smart
when wooing just for sport.
He’ll take a trollop or a tart
and happily consort.
No harm is done to either one
if both agree it’s just for fun.
Take care! Do not distort –
nor trifle with another’s heart.

If chivalry can take control
and lead you through your life
you’ll play a noble happy role
completely free of strife.
You’ll grace the days of maidens fair
creating jealously nowhere;
you’ll please your chosen wife
thereby making two lives whole.

© Lawrencealot – February 15, 2016

Visual template:

Note the use of the acephalous (headless) foot in the final line. Although a volta is not mandated, line 7 seems the proper place should you choose to employ a turn.

Shrinking Verse

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

The Shrinking Verse is:

  • Stanzaic: It consists of three or more stanzas of diminishing length written in common meter, followed by a single rhyming iambic tetrameter couplet. Usually the stanza preceding the couplet is four lines in length.
  • Metric: It is written in common meter (alternating lines 0f iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter.)
  • Rhyme: Each stanza has its own alternating two rhymes and the final couplet rhymes aa.
  • Volta: The final couplet provides a turn, a twist, or a summary of the poem.

Mlou’s Example

Form: Shrinking Stanza

The Sacrifice

Dark forces held the earth in thrall
and morning did succumb.
In strict command, night covered all
and beat a muted drum.
But Blanche, the maid of light, did call
her white doves swift to come,
to sweep away the fearsome pall
and new day’s guitar, strum.

They gathered all the darkness in,
absorbed it, one by one,
until day’s magic could begin
to summon forth the sun.
Blanche and her flock will always win
though task is never done.

The price they pay to rescue day
is burdensome and sad;
to keep the clouded night at bay,
they’re e’er in blackness clad.

Oh, white and black, those opposites
on which time’s glass of hours sits!

© Oct. 17, 2015 – Mary Lou Healy

My Example

Form: Shrinking Stanza

Harmonics

The universe in iambs beat
except when more excited
and then there may be many feet
that spring up uninvited.
When two electrons chance to meet
their meeting is high-lighted
with touches that are short and sweet
that leave mere men delighted.

God particles and nutrinos
are hypothecated;
entanglement that comes and goes
with distance unrelated
are guesses because no one knows
(’til after they’re cremated.)

But we can listen to the clatter
and some may then conclude
that changing states of God’s matter
ought be left to that dude.

Iambs will work, ‘cept when they won’t.
Should we all care? Because I don’t.

© Lawrencealot – October 21, 2015

In appreciation of Mary Lou’s teaching me about the sanctity of feet versus syllables, I have freely used feminine rhyme throughout.

Rhyming Wave

The Rhyming Wave is a poetry form created by Katharine L. Sparrow, American writer and poet who writes on Allpoetry.com.

The Rhyming Wave is:

  • Stanzaic: Consisting of 2 or more quatrains plus an ending couplet.
  • Metric: Lines 1 through 3 are iambic tetrameter and
  • line 4 is iambic trimeter.
  • Refrained: Syllables 6 & 7 of line one are repeated as syllables 2 thru 7 and syllable 8 is the same in both lines and syllables 1 & 2 are of line 3 are repeated in line 4
  • Refrain: The ending couplet is the first and the last line of the previous stanzas.
  • NOTE: The author is amenable to having poets substitute rhyming as well as identical syllables. I have done so in my example poem.
  • Rhymed: Rhyme scheme Aaab BBbc CCd AD, where the capital letters represent refrain words or refrain lines.

Here is the author’s own explanation. At the end I have included a visual template that may help some.

The Rhyming Wave is a form of my own invention. The instructions seem complicated, but once you start writing it, you will get it pretty quickly. A Rhyming Wave is so named because words repeat themselves, similar to waves lapping over and over again on the shore. A Rhyming Wave has at least 2 verses and an ending couplet. Each verse is four lines with the first three written in iambic tetrameter (4 “feet” of 2 syllables each) and the fourth line three feet, or six syllables. The ending couplet will be the first and last lines of the poem repeated. To write a Rhyming Wave you must know how to write in iambic meter. This is the da-DUM, da-DUM rhythm. If you don’t know how to do this, your Rhyming Wave may not come out sounding as it should. As with all iambic metered poems, it does not have to be PERFECT, but it should sound melodious to the ear.

  • – First line: 4 iambic feet (8 syllables)
    • She dwells among the foamy swells,
  • – Second line : syllables 6 and 7 of line one are repeated as syllables 2 through 7 (three times) and syllable 8 is also repeated as syllable 8.
    • the foamy, foamy, foamy swells–
  • – Third line: 4 iambic feet (8 syllables) last syllable rhymes with last syllable of lines one and two
    • Beneath the cresting waves she dwells,
  • – Fourth line: first 2 to 3 syllables (whichever fits) of line three are repeated/ six syllables only
    • beneath the ocean’s roll.
  • Verses 2 through 4, same pattern – first line of each verse rhymes with last line of previous verse:
    • Her song floats from a sandy shoal
    • a sandy, sandy, sandy shoal–
    • her voice that creeps into the soul,
    • her voice, a crooning trill.
    • And over all a misty chill
    • a misty, misty, misty chill–
    • she’ll sing again, it’s sure she will,
    • she’ll sing her haunting tune.
    • Her humming soothes the silver moon,
    • the silver, silver, silver moon,
    • where stars will span the ocean soon–
    • where stars will hear her song.
  • Ending couplet, first and last lines of the poem:
    • She dwells among the foamy swells,
    • where stars will hear her song.
  • The poem must have at least 2 verses, but there is no limit to the number of verses

Sparrow’s Examples

Form: Rhyming Wave

Mermaid’s Song

She dwells among the foamy swells,
the foamy, foamy, foamy swells–
beneath the cresting waves she dwells,
beneath the ocean’s roll.

Her song floats from a sandy shoal
a sandy, sandy, sandy shoal–
her voice that creeps into the soul,
her voice, a crooning trill.

And over all a misty chill
a misty, misty, misty chill–
she’ll sing again, it’s sure she will,
she’ll sing her haunting tune.

Her humming soothes the silver moon,
the silver, silver, silver moon,
where stars will span the ocean soon–
where stars will hear her song.

She dwells among the foamy swells
where stars will hear her song.

Rose Covered

A cottage in the shady wood,
the shady, shady, shady wood–
amid soft, leafy arms it stood
amid the woodland trees.

Perfume hung on the hazy breeze
the hazy, hazy, hazy breeze
where roses opened for the bees
where roses blossomed red.

The roses climbed and gently spread,
and gently, gently, gently spread–
they made the walls a flower bed,
they made the cottage sweet.

A respite in the steamy heat,
the steamy, steamy, steamy heat–
a cool and comfortable retreat
a cool and quiet place.

A cottage in the shady wood,
a cool and quiet place.

© Katharine L. Sparrow

My Example

Form: Rhyming Wave

Pleasant Quest

He waited for the perfect mate
the perfect, perfect, perfect mate
the one he would appreciate
the one he knew he’d find.

She’d have to have a caring mind
a daring, rare and caring mind
to make him leave his quest behind
to make him say, “It’s you!’

Enroute he took a playful view–
a playful, playful, playful view
before he chose to say, “I do”–
before he chose his bride.

He had a very pleasing ride–
a pleasing, teasing, pleasing ride
He mostly left girls satisfied.
He most enjoyed the search.

He waited for the perfect mate
He most enjoyed the search.

© Lawrencealot – August 27, 2015

Visual Template:

Triple Stance

The form was created by Lisa La Grange, writing on Allpoetry.com.

The Triple Stance is:

  • Stanzaic: Consisting of any number of sestets
  • Metered: Each stanza consisting of 4 lines of iambic dimeter, and 2 line of iambic trimeter.
  • Rhyme Pattern: abcabc, where the a-rhymes are feminine.

My Example

Form: Triple Stance

What Knees

My sister fretting
about her knees –
“They’re knobby, don’t you think?”
“What I am betting’s
that no one sees
them; have another drink.”

“So stop your loathing
cus I’ll make book
one thing is crystal clear,
If you’ve no clothing
they’ll never look
below your thighs my dear.”

© Lawrencealot – July 6, 2015

Visual Template