Muzdawidj

The following description is reposted with permission from The Poets Garret, with thanks to Kathy Anderson.

Muzdawidj

Persian poetry influenced other nations and whilst Turkish poetry also developed it was slightly later and influenced by Persian poetry and was popular in Turkey until the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

Early Urdu Mathnawi was at first religious in nature, but because of Persian influence included romance, and adventure and even secular stories.

The Arabic Mathnawi (Called Muzdawidj) has one major difference in that it is presented as a triplet; a. a. a. / b. b. b. / c. c. c.. pattern, rather than a couplet like the Persian version.

 

 

This Bitter Earth

 

It went to my head what you said yesterday
And again the thoughts burn yet become doubts play
For whenever hearts are involved I must pray.

How goes these whispers into the heavenlies
To evoke imaginative displays, please
Me as much as the cello with bow glories.

Charms take me away as do the words we speak,
When there are clouds in our eyes they tend to leak
For far gone days and flung desires bespeak.

Kathy Anderson

 

See also: Mathnawi

My Example

Form: Muzdawidj

Taxies

How familiar is that grand old checker cab
where passengers sometimes feel compelled to gab,
for like a barkeep, it’s covered by the tab.
Put tradition and romance off to the side,
Sometimes a taxi’s a must if you’re to ride.
Frequently it’s hard to find a better guide.

© Lawrencealot – February 21 2015

Enclosed Triplet

The following description is reposted with permission from The Poets Garret, with thanks to Divena Collins.

Enclosed Triplet

The Enclosed triplet is a very interesting form and if the a.b.a..b.c.b. format is used it forms the basis for the Sicilian Triplet , Terza Rima, using the enclosed word as continuity, or where lines or words are repeated there is the Villanelle, or later the Terzanelle.

The alternative left with is to have the centre unrelated completely as shown below.

Feelings

How would we know if our feelings are low
So low that teardrops stain porcelain faces
When faces are painted a warm loving glow

Which glows through when a lover embraces
If his embraces are few how may we know
Shall love flow when a tender heart races.

How can it be when true love hurts so much
So much it can break in two loving hearts
When hearts may respond to a sensual touch.

For touch prevents them from falling apart
Playing a part of true lovers games as such
To stop love from hurting is a work of art.

It could be that love came much too late
That it was never to be for you and me
For the love we had then was our fate.

Divena Collins

My Example

Form: Enclosed Triplet

Abhorrent

Some words I think I must abhor
for they are words I seldom use
but now I’ll try to use them more.

Like pardon, when I mean excuse
me madam, will you move your ass?
Or, loose by people who mean lose.

Correcting them, when done with class,
requires that I must bite my tongue;
when poets do it, it’s most crass.

© Lawrencealot – February 18, 2015

Visual Template

Trisect

The following desription is reposted with permission from Form and Formlessness, with thanks to Erin A. Thomas, who also writes on Allpoetry as Zahhar.

My 1st trisect poem. The trisect is my own semantically complex poetic form which I will use to help me with developing my use of depictive language.

E merge nce


Fortress

walls of paper kept the world at bay
cubes of indistinction none would see
where settled there within a watcher peered

the dusty brown a perfect camouflage
propped against a wall or by a hedge
passed a thousand times by reckless feet

corrugated fibers held the wind
so that the space inside was made to form
a child’s island haven from the storm

sometimes it was a spaceship among the stars
sometimes a moon-base on a barren scape
sometimes a roving tank all battle-scarred
but always it provided safe escape


Goliath

shaped from molten vats of ore
molded by a burning greed
riveted with violent force
pieces merge to fill a need

manifest from heavy silence
oils surge and slowly drip
uncertainty across the roads

power charges through its frame
explosions channeled in its chest
to serve a senseless master’s will

tires grind an alley’s dirt
shadows steer a ghostly wheel
the phantom grill athirst for blood


Impact

black lightning strikes the living clay
evaporating life from every limb
suspending consciousness alone
void of breath yet interfused with fear

tires spin throughout the dark
an engine roars above a twisted neck
inches from a lifeless face
psychic tethers anchored in vibration

a heedless monster lumbers back
the shelter shattered open like a nest
blood resumes its former course
and wild bones reanimate the flesh

a figure stands and staggers numb with pain
screams and scampers filled with terror
headlights rear and fade away
a child’s bones left fractured like his mind


The first segment focuses on cardboard. I used to create cardboard forts when I was a child—sometimes very elaborate—and hang out in them all day long. Some of them would be portable, and some would be built in vacant lots or alleyways blocks or miles from home. They were always very well camouflaged, so my little hideout would remain my little hideout. The portable ones I’d often setup at the edge of a busy parking lot, made to look like a pile of scrap cardboard, where I’d hang out and just watch people without them knowing. These simple forts were a safe haven for me, a private place to go and be away from troubles and worries. And I had my share.

The second segment focuses on the automobile, the car. I remember reading up on their manufacturing process and design, and the primary materials used in their construction, before starting this segment.

The third segment focuses on a little mishap I had in one of those cardboard forts as a 14 year old, which involved a car. It was in an alleyway a few blocks from home. City blocks. Los Angeles City blocks. About a mile away at least. I had some big fight with my mother that day and decided I’d just have my own space that night in a cardboard fort I and a friend had built a day or two before. It was a beautiful fort, with four separate compartments, each of which were big enough to lay out flat in. The whole thing was masterfully camouflaged with various sorts of debris from the area, including dead palm branches and branches of other sorts. In the end it looked like a slash pile, just a bunch of branches and other random materials tossed into a pile—but it was hollow, and there were access points.

That night as I slept a car slammed into the fort and ran over my right arm, shoulder, and neck, breaking the upper arm longways from near the elbow across to the top near the ball socket, and blew a piece out of the ball socket itself. My neck was severely sprained—which is of course a miracle. It was possible to make out the tire treads on my throat. How I happened to be aligned such that the tire didn’t snap my head one way and pop my skull off the spine like a bottle opener I have no idea.

This was my first NDE. I have no way to prove it, but I just know. I know what I experienced, and I was dead for at least a moment—and a moment is long enough to be dead. Sometime I’ll dedicate some poetry and discussion to that experience. But as I “returned”, after the car had somehow managed to back up off me without running over my neck a second time, I sprang up in a panic, and it came toward me again, then stopped, then backed all the way down the alley and around the far corner, as if in a mad rush to escape affiliation with the mishap. I’ll never forget the sight of those headlights.

I was near a series of hotels. And each time I knocked, with my left arm since right wouldn’t respond, the owners would come to the door and I’d ask for help and they’d slam the door on me. It sucked. In this manner I ended up up making my way half a mile to an apartment complex my mom had lived in a year or so before, where some people knew me, and an ambulance was called.

Troisieme

The following description is reposted with permission from Poetry Maqnum Opus, with thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on that fine resource.

The Troisieme is a verse form introduced by Viola Berg. The content is broken into 4 parts, an introduction in the 1st tercet, an expansion in the 2nd tercet, a parallel or contrast in the 3rd tercet and a summary or conclusion in the couplet.The structural elements of the Troisieme are:

  1. stanzaic, written in 3 tercets followed by a couplet.
  2. syllabic, 3-5-7 3-5-7 3-5-7 9-9  syllables each.   
  3. unrhymed.

    It’s Finally Here

    Holidays
    have turned the corner,
    the Christmas season begins.

    Ornaments
    boxed with care last year,
    unpacked and hung on the tree.

    Twinkling lights,
    and red bows adorn
    garland strung around the room.

    Candy canes and shaped sugar cookies
    fresh from the oven for you and me.
                                         ~~Judi Van Gorder

My Example

Form: Troisieme

Promised Ascension

Man alone will plot against his kind
because of words one man deemed were true.
They promote a life beyond this realm.

Dismiss all logic! Faith overcomes!
The next life counts promises much more.
Believe those words and your pain dissolves.

That others think those words are fiction
marks them somehow as threats deserving
Your enmity lest you come to doubt.

The plots and counter-plots marred reality
and placed our morality below the wolf.

© Lawrencealot – February 5, 2015

Englyn penfyr

Englyn penfyr, én-glin pén-fir or short ended englyn in the old style, is the 1st codified Official Welsh Meter, anEnglyn. The oldest Welsh poetry in manuscript (early 9th century) was found written in the margin of the Juvencus Metrical Version of the Psalms, preserved in the Cambridge University Library. It is said to be stanzas written in praise of the Trinity in the englyn penfyr meter. Both the Englyn penfyr and the Englyn milwr are associated with “primitive Britain” and were out of vogue by the 12th century.

The englyn penfyr is:

  • stanzaic, written in any number of tercets.
  • syllabic, a 10 syllable line followed by two 7 syllable lines.
  • rhymed, mono rhymed, the main rhyme (the dominant rhyme of the stanza) of L1 found in the last half of the line followed by caesura end rhymes with L2 and L3.
  • composed with an addendum, a “gair cyrch” in L1 (syllables in the last half of a line that follow the main rhyme marked by caesura. The gair cyrch end rhyme is to be echoed or consonated as secondary rhyme in the 1st half of L2. The caesura often appears as a dash.)

 

Y wlad mewn gwisg o flodau -yn galw

Dwy galon i lwybrau

Yr ifanc drwy yr hafau

x x x x x x x A x b

x x b x x x A

x x x x x x A

The countryside, in its floral dress, calls

two hearts to roam the paths

of the young through summer days.

by Dosbarth Tanyroes “Y Flwyddn” 20th century found in Singing in Chains by Mererid Hopwood

Mud laps by Judi Van Gorder

Ripples in the mud pool fanned ~ far and wide

spreading inside-out to land

in small laps upon the sand.

Oprah by Judi Van Gorder

She sings her own tune – in touch with her soul

she shares her goal, grasps the moon

with wisdom none can impugn.

First Light by DC Martinson

Night before a Christmas morn – stars tarry;

Hymns carry a world so torn

To be saved by God’s Yet-born.

Night before a Christmas morn – all is seen

Red and green. Our hearts, forsworn,

Still are gifts to God’s Low-born.

Night before a Christmas morn – in the dark,

Holy spark. Candles have borne

Ev’ry soul to God’s High-born.

Dreams by Stephen Arndt

Come, let the ember lights burn low; no more

_____Let flames roar and flare, for so

_____Drowsing dreams may freely flow;

And let me dream what lies in store (I know

_____Men can’t show me that far shore

_____Which my plodding might explore).

Our dreamings mimic what might be, for they

_____Mold the clay to cast a key

_____Opening new worlds to see.

I am not deaf to what dreams say. Watch me:

_____I am free to stop and stay

_____Or to wend my winding way.

Are dreams like dice on which to bet? How few

_____Pay what’s due on piled-up debt!

_____What they grudge is what you get.

I know my dreams may not come true, and yet

_____Why forget that if they do,

_____I shall fly to where they flew?

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=987
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My attempt

Evil Must be Fought (Englyn penfyr)

I’d really like to preach peace – but I can’t.
Can’t chant for the wars to cease.
Can’t call to disband police.

When attacked you must defend – or else die.
You ask why do some descend?
Evil and greed I contend.

When evil tried to impose – and by force
I’d endorse those who arose,
though it was not peace they chose.

© Lawrencealot – December 10, 2014

Related Welsh Form are HERE.

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Englyn penfyr

Englyn byr cwca

Englyn byr cwca is a shortened crooked rhyme and is not one of the 24 Official Welsh Meters.

Englyn bry cwca is:
• stanzaic, written in any number of tercets.
• syllabic, 7-10-6 syllable lines.
• rhymed, rhyme scheme aba, cdc, etc. The L2 end rhyme appears internally midway in L3.
x x x x x x a
x x x x x x x x x b
x x b x x a

A Look Forward byJudi Van Gorder

Vows, “in sickness and in health”,
they’re hard to see when strong and young in love,
time is part of the wealth.
But years turn and visions blur,
the body slows and vitality goes,
hopes and woes are deferred.

Here we are in winter’s dawn,
through grace or luck our days continue bright.
We shun the night upon
which one life will first depart.
Only “death and taxes” they say, “are sure”.
mature, we play our part.

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=960\
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example

AM and PM (Englyn bry cwca)

Relentlessly time moves on
with urging when we’re young; we’d like a blitz
until it’s almost gone.

In the winter of life’s year
time slows our body making us aware
we ought share our lives cheer.

© Lawrencealot – December 9, 2014

Visual template

Englyn bry cwca

Triversen

The Triversen, (triple verse sentence), is a sentence broken into three lines. It has also been referred to as a “verset”, a surge of language in one breath.

The Triversen was originated by William Carlos Williams as a “native American” poetic form of the 20th century. According to Lewis Turco in his Book of Forms, it is “one of the most innovative things done to modern free-verse.” It introduced the “variable foot” to free verse. As best as I can understand, the “variable foot” is a phrase or portion of a sentence contained within a line.

The Triversen is:
• accentual. The rhythm of normal speech, employing 1 to 4 strong stresses per line.
• stanzaic, written in any number of tercets. Each tercet is a sentence broken into 3 uneven lines, each an independant clause.
• grammatical. The sentence is broken by line phrasing or lineating or sense units. There should be 3 units. L1 is a statement of fact or observation, L2 and L3 should set the tone, imply a condition or associated idea, or carry a metaphor for the original statement.
• unrhymed.
• alliterated. Alliteration accentuates stress.

Eventide by Judi Van Gorder 8-20-05

Sunset silence is interrupted
by a cursory
“rib-it”.

Diminishing 
sun slides 
behind the horizon.

Twilight arrives 
with a hic-up 
and a wink.

 

On Gay Wallpaper by William Carlos Williams

The green-blue ground
is ruled with silver lines
to say the sun is shining.

And on this moral sea
of grass or dreams like flowers
or baskets of desires

Heaven knows what they are
between cerulean shapes”
laid regularly round.

Mat roses and tridentate
leaves of gold
threes, threes, and threes.

Three roses and three stems
the basket floating
standing in the horns of blue.

Repeated to the ceiling
to the windows
where the day

Blow in
the scalloped curtains to
the sound of rain

Copied from: http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=618
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example

water lilies

Water Lilies (Triversen)

Water lilies on pond’s surface
lie in wait
just as though expecting us.

Posed on pads in proud profusion
as they might for Claude Monet;
only now, awaiting us.

Water lilies seem eternal
you and I
have just begun.

© Lawrencealot – August 27, 2014

Depiction Prime

The Depiction Prime was created by Ashrus of Allpoetry.
It is:
A 6 line poem.
Stanzaic: having two three-line stanzas.
Syllabic: each stanza having lines of 4/6/5 syllables.
Formulaic: First stanza depicts the appearance of the subject of the poem, but never tells what the subject is. This stanza just describes its colour, look, beauty or style.
The First line of the next stanza may give a hint about the subject. Last two lines reveal the subject matter clearly. Lucid language is preferred in these three lines.
Rhyme pattern: xxa xxa. Last lines of both stanzas must rhyme.
Meter unspecified.

My example poem

Super Moon (Depiction Prime)

Tangerine arc
peeks over hill, becomes
crescent, then an orb.

Perigee time
make plains and craters seem
too grand to absorb.
© Lawrencealot – July 13, 2014

Visual Template
Depiction Prime

The Kerf

• The Kerf is a verse form in tercets and is attributed to Marie Adams.
The Kerf is:
○ a poem in 12 lines made up of 4 tercets.
○ syllabic, 6/7/10 per line.
○ rhymed, rhyme scheme abc abc dec dec.
Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1882#baccresiez
My Thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the wonderful resource at PMO
My Example Poem
If She Says “What ?” (The Kerf)

You could be wrong, you know,
and perhaps you could be right,
and either way it seldom matters much.
You never need to show
your correctness out of spite.
Conceding may help keep you out of dutch.
If your wife should say “What”,
when your statement’s barely out,
it’s possible, you’re somehow out of touch.
Try this to save your butt!
“That’s Fred’s thinking- I’m in doubt.
I wonder darlin’, what you think of such?”
© Lawrencealot – March 28, 2014
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Rime Couée

Rime Couée is a tail-rhymed verse form of 12th century Provencal troubadours. Though it originated in France, it is thought to be the predecessor of the more popular Scot form, the Burns Stanza. 
The Rime Couée is:
  • stanzaic, written in any number of sixains made up of two tercets.
  • accentual, folk meter of normal speech. L1,L2, L4, L5 are longer lines of a similar length, L3 and L6 are shorter lines of the same length.
  • rhymed, rhyme scheme aabccb, ddeffe etc.
Thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the wonderful PMO resource.
My example Poem
St. Joseph Lighthouse – Lake Michigan        (Rime Couée)
St Joseph Lighthouse
When Old Man Winter struts his stuff
to show that he is good enough
he paints in white.
Unlike the art-work done by Spring
where colors touch most everything
pastel or bright.
His canvass can be anything
a bridge a tree, an old coil spring
that’s left outside.
St. Joseph lighthouse shown above
received full measure of his love.
I’m satisfied.
©Lawrencealot – February 8, 2014
Photo Credit:  Facebook  – unknown, Rights belong to photographer
 
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