Poetic Form 60: Byr a Thoddaid

 

Write Life

Write a new story. Let this end.

Fill the spaces with verbs, offend

those who want to see the antagonist

be first to raise a flag.

Your days are written with the ink

from the well of your soul. Unlink

the earlier chapters from your plotline.

It’s fine, write a detour.

Adjectives, metaphors connect

the real world with your heart, perfect.

Hear your voice, loud, in the punctuation!

Salvation is words, too.

Let your hands rush across the space

between blue lines. Set the pace

of living with paragraphs, not just words.

Edit towards a breath sought.

Write a new story. One that twist

and turns with emotion. Resist

penning a happy-ever-after line.

Untwine your forever.

Poetic Form #60 Byr a Thoddaid

The byr a thoddaid is a Welsh form. The rules are a little complicated. A byr a thoddaid 

poem can be a quatrain (4-line stanza) or series of quatrains. The quatrain is divided into

two combined couplets. One couplet is written with 8 syllables for each line. The lines 

have an AA end rhyme. The other couplet contains 10 syllables in the first line and 6 syllables

in the second. The 10-syllable line has an end rhyme near the end of the line. The 6-syllable

line has a link (rhyme, alliteration, etc.) to the end word of the 10-syllable line and then an 

end rhyme. The couplets can appear in alternating order.

A visual of the form looks like this:

xxxxxxxA

xxxxxxxA

xxxxxxxBxc

xcxxxB

Poetic Form 59: Sonnet

 

When I listen to the morning sunlight

slowly burn away night’s heavy covers,

I hear the soft voice of song birds in flight

singing in celebration to discover

all the ways to spend the minutes today.

Opportunities leading down the aisle

to our seat next to love, this life’s mainstay.

Moments, both joyful and heartbreaking, play

across our soul’s screen. Memories made when

we decide to walk through the front door to

sing with the birds, feel sunlight on our skin.

The day is new, let your goals follow through.

When I lay my head down as night falls,

I know tomorrow will start with dawn’s call.

Poetic Form #59: Sonnet

There are a few different types of sonnets that have evolved over time, but most sonnet

forms share these characteristics:

• Fourteen lines separated into four sections called quatrains.
• A strict rhyme scheme: As an example, a Shakespearean sonnet
• is ABAB / CDCD / EFEF / GG
• Written in iambic pentameter (but this is also an area that is changing -
• I tried, but my poem is not perfect).

Poetic Form 58: Pantoum

 

 

 

Let there be...

At the beginning of the world, when all was dark,

I wish God would have voiced another command,

“Let there be love!” That would have been a better start.

Instead we were given light, seas, and land.

I wish God would have voiced another command.

Say something that would have let us see joy,

instead we were given light, seas, and land.

We walk these hours blind and hurting, smiles only a decoy.

Say something that would have let us see joy,

allow us to fill our counted days with love. Building a life, 

we walk these hours blind and hurting, smiles only a decoy.

It’s not only our backs, but our chests hurt from the knives.

Allow us to fill our counted days with love, building a life. 

Without that command, the sun and moon watch as we all fall.

It’s not only our backs, but our chests hurt from the knives.

Our ears bleed, hands shake, loneliness hurts above all.

Why couldn’t God speak what we needed most these days?

“Let there be love!” That would have been a better start.

Maybe we could have lived a life clear of such an angry blaze,

at the beginning of the world, when all was dark.

Poetic Form #58: Pantoum

The pantoum form is a set of quatrains (4-line stanzas) that starts with an abab rhyme scheme. 

With each quatrain you repeat lines 2 and 4 in the previous stanza as lines 1 and 3 in the next 

stanza, creating a new rhyme scheme. Second stanza would be bcbc.

There are two options for the final quatrain.  You can repeat lines 1 and 3 of the original 

quatrain as lines 2 and 4 in the final quatrain. Another option is to invert lines 1 and 3 so 

that the first line of the poem is also the final line of the poem.