Saturday, March 2, 2013

A Sampling of Short Verse


Shackled!
Breath—impeded.
Motility—a myth.
Tortured by your own worst warden,
Damning!

Cinquain. 2-4-6-8-2 syllable count

It was all a sham
The song never played
The coupling of palms never happened
The eyes refused to meet
She never existed

A palinode is a verse that takes back or retracts something originally said.  This is a variation on that. Here, I'm taking a fictitious memory and in what appears to be several moments of reflection, revealing how the previously remembered is understood to be false.

The impossible is often only improbable,
Improbable lines often connect in secrecy,
Secrecy is the mark of lieutenants and vampires,
Vampires are more afraid of themselves than you are they,
(They) never asked for such appellations

Anadiplosis is a poetic tool where a line begins with the last word of the previous line. Variations are possible as well, (i.e. ending with an emotion, and beginning with same emotion etc..).  Here I used it to create a short verse, where the tool itself is the feature.  

Today, heaven lost friends,
Friends, lost heaven today
Love, through ascension; Shrapnel was removed
Removed, was shrapnel; ascension through love

Antimetabole is a poetic tool where a line is the reversal of the previous line.  Here, I simply used two of these, combining the four lines into a short verse of it's own.

Vague stories, imbuing impossible metamorphoses
I, alone, transcended eternity’s illumination?

Rhopalic Verse is a tool where each word of a line adds a syllable to the word before.  1-2-3-4-5 is the climbing sequence for each of these lines. Combined together, these two lines create a very short poem.

Head on over to D'verse, where for this week's Poetics, I'm hosting an evening of short verse.  The doors open at 3pm.  See you there.



42 comments:

  1. Like the explanation of each and yeah we can be our own worst enemy for sure. Short though, pfft the cat has too much to say. haha

    ReplyDelete
  2. Interesting forms explored here, Fred. I especially like your palinode which seems very surreal to me (Twilight Zone!) I think I will have to try this form myself. Lots of depth and variety in all of your work today. See you at 3!

    ReplyDelete
  3. very cool...the anadiplosis is a cool tool for sure...the antimetabole is cool too...that one is new on me...the thing i really like about whort verse is that it is condensed feeling, emotion, wisdom or even story...and allows room then for the read er to fill the other space...

    ReplyDelete
  4. An interesting array of poetry forms ~

    I have tried cinquain but have not dipped my hands yet into the other forms ~

    See you later ~

    ReplyDelete
  5. oh heck..the second one stings...the song never played...makes me swallow hard.. very cool sampling of short verse here fred..looking forward to poetics later

    ReplyDelete
  6. My goodness, I had no idea there were so many variations on short verse. Thank you for the explanations and examples. I really like the idea of a palinode, will have to try it some time.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for the explanations, Fred; there are terms here I've never come across before.

    ReplyDelete
  8. loved the prompt - and I agree with Claudia, your second one was stunning! K

    ReplyDelete
  9. My! you've gone to town over this, haven't you? So many facets. I didn't realize form came into these short verses. I shall have to try some more.
    Thanks, Fred.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thank-you giving me some new tools to work with. I really like the different styles you've used here. You've got my muse on overdrive, I may be writing all night now haha. Your poems themselves were awesome. I like the third one especially

    ReplyDelete
  11. I agree with Claudia on the sting of that cinquain

    ReplyDelete
  12. You certainly show how intense short verse can be, and a lot of forms and tools I'd never heard of before.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks for your fine words and explanations Fred - all are new to me.

    Love the palinode - something I might play with.

    Anna :o]

    ReplyDelete
  14. Very nice variations of short forms, only cinquain I have used before. Great stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks for this wealth of information, Fred. Have you ever written a palindrome? It's similar to antimetabole.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have worked in palindrome before, actually tried to write an entire poem in one but couldn't hack it and have about two pages of a notebook filled out, was, at one time, amongst many unfinished projects, going to do a dictionary of palindromes, may still finish it too someday. I may be wrong, but I do believe pat came up with one that was pretty long. Lots of fun, and yes, definitely similar to antimetabole.

      Delete
  16. Really enjoyed reading these, Fred.

    The eyes refused to meet. Yes, a sting, and so well done.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Most illuminating to learn about these forms. Glad that you introduced them. Intrigued by the pallinode :-)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Great. Very informative. The palinode was very cool.

    ReplyDelete
  19. antimetabole and rhopalic -- my first time reading these words. I especially like your cinquain. Poof. Like it/she/they never happened. This messes deeply with the psyche. THanks for hosting today, Fred. I always enjoy your prompts.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Great examples! superb job hosting. Love the short forms.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Thank you for the wealth of forms. I m excited to try a few.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Awesome demonstration of short forms, Fred. Anadiplosis seems fun to do.

    Thanks for sharing these.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Wonderful verses and interesting explanatory material. Thanks for the introduction to new forms to be explored.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Fascinated by the examples, thank you. Gosh, I once wrote (and had published) an anadiplosis without even knowing it had a name, lol.

    ReplyDelete
  25. ...what a variety of treat you have here Fred... so many to explore & learn & must admit some of these i had never encountered yet...though sounds familiar... and thanks for the short discussion you included here also... my favourites are those written after 'anadiplosis' & 'antimetabole'... i might have to try some in the future so i'm saving yours in my pc...if it's ok... great job..smiles...

    ReplyDelete
  26. Thanks for this educational read Fred. I especially like how you used the Anadiplosis and Antimetabole. Great hosting at the bar too!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Very cool, Fred. Thanks for the explanations. Never heard of a lot of these - I'm particularly interested in experimenting with the Anadiplosis and Antimetabole forms. I particularly like your cinquain, and how you use the dashes to create pauses.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Wow, so much to thank for here. The verses themselves, the notes and the blog list... I am truly grateful and will make good use of. Thanks a billion!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Good poems and good information too! Nicely done, Fred!

    ReplyDelete
  30. A Palinode! Wow, how fantastic.
    Greeks took their songs (odes),
    and went back again (palin)
    over and over
    why would that be fantastic?


    [I trust the irony is clear]

    ReplyDelete
  31. Wow, Fred, a lot to take in this time; I really need to study all the forms until I know them at the drop of a hat. I'm afraid I wrote what was foremost in my mind and was only able to do a rhyme..the really short verses do require more thought and I had little time..thanks for all the help,,you gave great examples!

    ReplyDelete
  32. Thanks so much for the work you put in to this Pub session. I'm going to have some fun reviewing the details of all these forms. First step will be to learn how to pronounce them.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Hi Fred - all very interesting, and fun techniques. I found the shrapnel most effective in its very original and powerful twists. Thanks. k.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Fred ~ great prompt, great post ~ lots more tools for my poetry tookit :)

    ReplyDelete
  35. fascinating little forms, only the cinquain I'm familiar with--and each nicely turned out to live up to your own idea of maximizing through effective brevity. Really enjoyed this prompt Fred--as with my verbose tendencies, I need lots of poking to get to me to write shorter. Much appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  36. I like all of them, but love the palinode variation. I am going to bookmark this post in my writing file because your explanations and examples are superior. Thank you for a great prompt, Fred.

    ReplyDelete
  37. These are way too cool. Just wonderful. Thanks for introducing us to these forms.

    ReplyDelete
  38. This is very interesting .Thank you. I'm going to save these and give them a shot.Not just a pretty face , Fred!:)

    ReplyDelete
  39. Hi Fred! I love this post. The only form that I have practiced is the sestina, and I took liberties with that. I won't get the chance to post to Poetics, but I am going to bookmark this and try these forms. Thanks for the excellent challenge :).

    ReplyDelete
  40. loved it!! esp with the explns of the poetic forms. I had left my post in the link but it is missing. Guess, my hurried attempt to do so failed me.

    ReplyDelete