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.
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• Zenith is a stanzaic form with meter and line length left to the discretion of the poet. It was introduced by Viola Berg.
The Zenith is:
○ stanzaic, written in any number of sixains.
○ meter at discretion of poet.
○ rhymed, abcabc defdef etc.
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
Debt Forgiveness (Zenith)
Alice made a bet
the gun wasn’t loaded
picked it up to look.
Skipped out on that debt
when the shell exploded
so she’s not upset.
© Lawrencealot – September 30, 2014
Picture source: kimoutloud.com
