Poetic Form 23: Tautogram

Stay Here

She sees

silent

stars scattered,

searching.

She softly sketches

stenciled satire.

She seeks solitude’s secrets. 

Silently, she says, 

“Stay.”

He hides his hands.

Hardships hampers

his home.

He holds history,

hindering hope.

His hindsight haunts

happiness.

He hollars,

“Here?”

Poetic Form #23: Tautogram

The tautogram form uses the same letter for the beginning of each word in the poem or a variant form uses a different starting letter for each stanza.

 

Poetic form 22: Palindrome

Tomorrow?

Today feels rough,

hate runs doubt.

Mouths filled with

painted lines to divide.

Fences or shields, only

questions drop;

can we

love?

We can.

Drop questions.

Only shields or fences

divide to lines painted

with filled mouths.

Doubt runs hate

rough; feels today.

Poetic Form #22: Palindrome

A palindrome poem has a few variations but the basic idea is to use the same words in the first 
half of the poem as the second half with a central word to flip the poem at.

Poetic Form 21: Senryu

When it is all said

We share this moment on earth

Let us rotate now

Poetic Form #21: Senryu

A senryu poem has a 5 / 7 / 5 syllable pattern. The subject is usually about 

human nature.

Poetic Form 20: Prose

Bring me down

6:24 p.m. June 24, 2020

I’m driving on interstate 80, headed to a Henderson to pick up my son. We are down 
to one car after he hit a deer a week ago.

I’m counting memories like the mile markers on the shoulder, when the song “Landslide” 
(Smashing Pumpkins’ version) comes on the radio. And I am panicking to keep the tears 
at bay, but when the chorus starts, “Well, I've been afraid of changing / 'Cause I've built 
my life around you...” I feel all the yesterdays run down my cheek. Inside I am standing
there, arms filled with snap shots of zoo trips, basketball tournaments, visits to a dinosaur 
museum now closed. I can’t hold them all. They fall from my hands, fluttering like dead 
leaves in an autumn storm. I scramble to catch them. Left arm hugging memories tight, 
while my right sweeps through the air grasping at the moment my wife and I had a flat 
tire early in the morning. My heart heaves, more moments shift in my arms, then ambushes
me. The photos of my life cascade in front of me. Joy and frustration. Happiness and 
exhaustion. Victory and sorrow. All swirl in a colorful avalanche that buries my soul. I almost 
pull over in fear of being blinded by the rumble of living. 

“Well, the landslide will bring you down / Oh, the landslide will bring it down”

6:27 p.m. June 24, 2020

I’m driving on interstate 80...

Poetic Form #20: Prose

A prose poem is written as prose, without traditional line breaks. The poem still makes use of 

poetic devices such as repetition, rhyme, metaphor, and other literary elements.

Poetic Form 19: Chant

Come Forward

Come forward

Out of the shadows of indifference

Come forward

Out of the doorways of the past

Come forward

Out of the waves of fear

Come forward

Out of the fog of grief

Come forward

Out of the pages already written

Come forward

Come forward into today

Poetic Form #19: Chant

Chant poems incorporate repetitive lines. You can repeat every line, a phrase, 

or every other line.

Poetic Form 18: Mondo

 

Tomorrow

Will there be peace on

plains of a land divided

by blind hate for each other?

Only if the wind

is allowed to speak the truth

as it caresses their hands.

Poetic Form #18: Mondo 

The mondo form is a question and answer poem from Japan. 
It typically has a 5 - 7 - 7 syllable scheme; it can have a 5 - 7 - 5 form, too. 
Traditional mondo poems used nature as a central component.

Poetic Form 17: Rondine

When I Die

When I die, fading into stars

I know you will miss me awhile.

Remember my laughter, my smile.

But days will take memories far

from your heart. Like an old boxcar,

time will continue down the miles

when I die.

Today, like fireflies in a jar,

we will shine, guiding through the trial

of the pain of loving. Compile

the moments, count our many scars

when I die.

Poetic Form #17: Rondine

The rondine form is a 12 line poem with two stanzas. First stanza is 7 lines, 
second stanza is 5 lines. The lines have 8 or 10 syllables except the refrain, which
is the last line of each stanza. The refrain is part of the first line. 
The rhyme scheme is: abbaabR - abbaR

Poetic Form 16: Alphabet Poem

Warning

Watch how giving love 

becomes quests. Telling 

zealous stories. Joy -

xeroxed opinions.

Nothing until you 

accept every fake 

declaration. Rise.

Proclaim memories,

keeping virtue clear.

Poetic Form #16: Alphabet Poem

The basic guideline is to use the alphabet as the backbone of the poem. You can 
work through the alphabet with every line starting with the appropriate letter (A to Z or Z to A). 
You can start each word in the poem going through the alphabet, or randomize the order 
but each letter is used for the start of the word. 
This last style is what I used for the poem (each line is also 5 syllables).

Poetic Form 15: Nonet

 Compass

True north is an illusion we fall

for too many times. Even the

sun never sets at the same

spot on the horizon.

Follow your heart. No,

doesn’t work! So,

here I am

again,

lost.

Poetic Form #15: Nonet

A nonet poem is a 9-line poem that has nine syllables in the first line, then eight syllables in the second line, and continues to count down to one syllable in the final line.

Poetic Form 14: Diminishing Verse

Fading

Between them, a conflicted strain

built over time. Life traveling straight like a train.

Both feeling stuck in emotion’s rain,

while wanting to see the Jura Mountains as the river, Ain.

He wanted to tell her of the songs he writes.

She needed to know his words completed her heart’s rites.

Together at the table they lived as lonely-ites.

Silently, they wonder how love became a tangled knot.

Neither one brave enough to bridge what they know not

of. Instead they spend each day feeling love lose its...

Poetic Form #14: Diminishing Verse

Diminishing verse has one rule, remove the first letter of end word from the previous line. A poet can remove a sound, too. (I took the idea of diminishing a step further in the poem with the verses.)

Poetic Form 13: List Poem

I Still Believe

Even when the world is screaming outside the door

Testing my resolve

Challenging my faith of this world

Expressing an ideology that is disheartening

I still believe in the beauty of this life

Because I see it

    in the faded photos and concert tickets in my wallet

    in the blooms of flowers in the park

    in the wave from a stranger as I drive

I still believe in the beauty of this life

Because I hear it

    in the laughter at the dinner table

    in the new music suggested by a friend

    in the bedtime stories I read to my children

I still believe in the beauty of this life

Because I feel it

    in the grasp of my wife’s hand

    in the sun’s heat in the afternoon

    in my head as a poem unfolds onto the page

I still believe in the beauty of this life

Because I smell it

    in the aroma of blueberry muffins

    in the storm early in the morning

    in the new pair of shoes for my growing children

I still believe in the beauty of this life

Because I taste it

    in the ice cream my daughter shares with me
in my morning cup of coffee

    in the sweat from losing another game of one-on-one

   

I still believe

It allows me to open my front door

to the the beauty of this world

Poetic Form #13: List Poem

A list poem has a list as the foundation of its structure. There are no other hard rules to the form.

Poetic Form 12: Gogyohka

 

Today

Watch the sun rise

fill the smiles 

of children playing

on blue swings and yellow slides

as the sun sets

Poetic Form #12: Gogyohka

The gogyohka form was developed by Enta Kusakabe in Japan.  It translates to "five-line poem."
The only rule is that the poem is comprised of five line. The lines tend to be short, following the tradition of Japanese short verses.

Poetic Form 11: Abstract

Home

du-ring Du-ring DU-ring DU-RING

The phone is full of frivolous fluff

Sunlight shines in sight

Nu Nu Nothing to say

Just another sleepless night

Pop 

Pop-tart

Pop

Pop toast

Pop

Pop strudel

Cartoons clamour

The best day ever

Finding clues

Makes us feel clever

Oven beeped

Beeped

Beeped until canceled

Cycle through cycles

Clunk

Swoosh

Spraying until sparkling

Hummmm

Till they turn up the TV

A last groan

Aughhh

With a last dad joke

hee, hee, hee

Hun, what do you call...

Poetic Form #11: Abstract

There are a few different definitions for abstract poetry. The main idea is about how sounds, rhythms, and textures of the words evoke emotions rather than about the meaning of words.

Poetic Form 10: Quatern

To Something

We all give our lives to something.

The hunger of chemicals draw

us to the edge of destruction.

So easy to buy a ticket 

for the ride. Making us forget,

we all give our lives to something.

The call of greed fills more than an

empty pocket. Handing over

our time like a purchase. Sorry,

no refunds for any item.

We all give our lives to something.

Loneliness and pain have a price.

But so does love and joy. We write

a contract with our days. Sign it

with each heartbeat and thought we have.

We all give our lives to something.

Poetic Form #10: Quatern

A quatern is a French poetic form that incorporates a refrain that follows the pattern: first line of the poem is the refrain, then the refrain appears in the second line of the second stanza; the third line of the third stanza, and finally the fourth (and final) line in the fourth stanza. The poem has 16 lines split into 4 quatrains. Each line is comprised of eight syllables, but there are no rules for rhyming.