'Name That Format' + Inspiration From the Archives

[poetree_admin]

jjhunter

If you are intrigued by the possibility of a pt_lightning poetry project but aren't sure where to start, this is the post for you!

Last summer, the POETREE community hosted a two-week icebreaker for Pod Together 2013. Like pod_together, Pod Together Lightning is a transformative works collaboration challenge for writers and podficcers, or in the case of poetry, poets of any experience level and performers. Poets write poems specifically to be performed, and performers record audio versions of their performances. The 'Lightning' aspect of pt_lightning makes it especially accessible for incorporating poetry, in that the works produced can be quite short (100 words minimum).

POETREE's archives offer a number of handy posts for the aspiring poetry-inclined participant. Never written a poem in your life? Try ysabetwordsmith's post 'You Can Write a Free-Verse Poem'. Writing with performance in mind new territory for you? Check out cadenzamuse's posts on Atlanta slam poetry for insights, examples & exercises to get yourself started. (We especially recommend 'Become a slam poet in five steps', by Gayle Danley — scroll up for video.) Recording poetry not your usual cup of tea? luzula has a pitch you should hear at Recording poetry: why does it appeal to me? (Her other posts on the pleasures of poetry read aloud are also a delight.)


Let's get the ball rolling with a little game to remind ourselves of how rich a variety of poetry forms there are to play with in addition to free verse. In addition to any questions, comments, observations, lamentations, exaltations, exclamations or further resource recommendations you might choose to share in the comments (all most welcome), please feel encouraged to offer a non-free verse poem of some kind in English or with an English translation. Can be your own poem, or one by someone else; either's fine. Others are then likewise encouraged to identify the format of that poem, and offer a new poem in a different format for everything to guess. Let's see how many different formats we can think of!

Bonus points for describing or linking to what makes a $format poem a $format.

Comments

name that format

[jjhunter]

Here's one of mine to start us off — 'Voter Registration Form'. Can you name the format?

There once was a form out to fill
its blanks with some true civic will
but when someone came
to fill out their name
it uncivic prompted with swill

Re: name that format

[alexseanchai]

The limerick packs laughs anatomical
Into space that is quite economical.
   But the good ones I've seen
   So seldom are clean
And the clean ones so seldom are comical.

I must have loaded this page after you posted but before you commented, so let's take my below comment as my continuation of the chain.

Re: name that format

[jjhunter]

Either works! We can certainly have multiple threads going simultaneously too. :o)

(I love the limerick you quoted here — is that one of yours?)

Re: name that format

[alexseanchai]

Nah, I pulled it off the page on Wiki.

Re: name that format

[jjhunter]

Ooo, unknown author. Well, in honor of that, have a lowball format of this poem by another unknown author:

there's something about
sitting on toilets that prompts
existential angst

this poem names its form in its title so I won't give the title. tw: atomic bomb, consequences of.

[alexseanchai]

[title redacted] by Peter Meinke

In a chain reaction
the neutrons released
split other nuclei
which release more neutrons

The neutrons released
blow open some others
which release more neutrons
and start this all over

Blow open some others
and choirs will crumble
and start this all over
with eyes burned to ashes

And choirs will crumble
the fish catch on fire
with eyes burned to ashes
in a chain reaction

The fish catch on fire
because the sun’s force
in a chain reaction
has blazed in our minds

Because the sun’s force
with plutonium trigger
has blazed in our minds
we are dying to use it

With plutonium trigger
curled and tightened
we are dying to use it
torching our enemies

Curled and tightened
blind to the end
torching our enemies
we sing to Jesus

Blind to the end
split up like nuclei
we sing to Jesus
in a chain reaction

Say, Syllables

[jjhunter]

This one's from ariestess (source): 'present'

bow
askew,
torn paper
litters the floor.
forgotten so soon,
left like so much rubbish.
no one cares how long it took
to find the perfect paper shell.
they strip it away in a mad rush
to reveal the treasure hidden within.

Re: Say, Syllables

[jjhunter]

Bonus example — my own 'Demi' variation (originally posted here): 'Sleep'

burrow
at last
into elusive comfort
lay down the day
lay down your fixing head
so seep the night in
so surrender bister busyness
soothe burning thoughts
breathe slow
soft

Re: Say, Syllables

[bookblather]

Etherees! So much fun, I love writing them.

Re: Say, Syllables

[jjhunter]

:o)

(For those unfamiliar with the format, an 'etheree' consists of ten lines starting one syllable and increasing the line syllable count by one with each new line, i.e. 1 syllable / 2 syllables / 3 etc. etc.. My 'Demi Etheree' variation flips midway through such that the 6th line is also 5 syllables, the 7th line is 4, the 8th 3 and so forth.)

Since you didn't provide a new poem with your answer, I will — so very graciously! ;o) — take up the slack with another of my own poems. Name this format too?

Original Debt


you cannot repay the dead in kind
the scale is skewed, the coin surmised
the past changes only in the mind

and generations strived and twined
their lives and hopes before you could rise
you cannot repay your birth in kind

and though you search into what's behind
frame and reframe and analyze
the past changes only in the mind

and done is fixed whether it's maligned
or praised, so perhaps this comprise:
you cannot repay the past in kind

but present need and future undefined
call out: here your coin is good (and wise)
where past changes only in the mind

in present's flux your window lies
do unto future the best the past supplies
for you can't repay the past in kind
the past changes only in the mind

another poem named for its form

[alexseanchai]

Villanelle! But, uh. Shouldn't that first line have 'past' instead of 'dead', because it's the first instance of refrain A, which has 'past' everywhere else?

[title redacted] by Elizabeth Bishop

September rain falls on the house.
In the failing light, the old grandmother
sits in the kitchen with the child
beside the Little Marvel Stove,
reading the jokes from the almanac,
laughing and talking to hide her tears.

She thinks that her equinoctial tears
and the rain that beats on the roof of the house
were both foretold by the almanac,
but only known to a grandmother.
The iron kettle sings on the stove.
She cuts some bread and says to the child,

It's time for tea now; but the child
is watching the teakettle's small hard tears
dance like mad on the hot black stove,
the way the rain must dance on the house.
Tidying up, the old grandmother
hangs up the clever almanac

on its string. Birdlike, the almanac
hovers half open above the child,
hovers above the old grandmother
and her teacup full of dark brown tears.
She shivers and says she thinks the house
feels chilly, and puts more wood in the stove.

It was to be, says the Marvel Stove.
I know what I know, says the almanac.
With crayons the child draws a rigid house
and a winding pathway. Then the child
puts in a man with buttons like tears
and shows it proudly to the grandmother.

But secretly, while the grandmother
busies herself about the stove,
the little moons fall down like tears
from between the pages of the almanac
into the flower bed the child
has carefully placed in the front of the house.

Time to plant tears, says the almanac.
The grandmother sings to the marvelous stove
and the child draws another inscrutable house.

Re: another poem named for its form

[jjhunter]

It's okay to have some minor variation with villanelle refrain lines! Yes, a very strict interpretation of the format keeps absolutely everything the same in the refrains, but it's very rarely done well (A.E. Stalling's After a Greek proverb's the only one I can think of off the top of my head). I'm a fan of using formats for the effects I can get with them without feeling enslaved to them if I think I can enhance a particular aspect with a minor departure here or there.

Re: another poem named for its form

[alexseanchai]

Okay!

in honor of lnhammer

[jjhunter]

This excerpt from Phillip Sidney's cycle Astrophel and Stella. Name its format? :o)

Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show,
That the dear She might take some pleasure of my pain:
Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,
Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain,
I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe,
Studying inventions fine, her wits to entertain:
Oft turning others' leaves, to see if thence would flow
Some fresh and fruitful showers upon my sun-burned brain.
But words came halting forth, wanting Invention's stay,
Invention, Nature's child, fled step-dame Study's blows,
And others' feet still seemed but strangers in my way.
Thus great with child to speak, and helpless in my throes,
Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite,
"Fool" said my Muse to me, "look in thy heart and write."

Re: in honor of lnhammer

[alexseanchai]

I know this one but I'ma let somebody else answer it. I just want to comment on how excellent a summation of the writing process this is.