‘Tis Poetry Month once again, a time to celebrate this art form that can stretch, inspire, and amaze us in ways unique from prose. Award-winning poet Pattiann Rogers identified at least one element of that uniqueness: the music of poetic language.
But is the composing of such music reserved only for experts? That question brings to mind another quote:
Such encouragement for us amateur-poets to give it a try and be stretched, inspired, and amazed when we create our own music of poetic language—unsophisticated as it may be.
This year I’ve experimented with three forms: Shadorma, diamante, and quadrille.
The Shadorma is of Spanish origin. It contains six lines, each with a specific syllable count that follows this pattern: 3/5/3/3/7/5.
Early morning on our deck offered inspiration for this Shadorma:
Dawn Rising
Sunbeams climb
Dusky shadows fade
Breezes kiss
Robins trill
Nasturtiums spangle with dew
Morning masterpiece
The diamante (diamond) form derives its name from its shape. It was created by American poet Iris McClellan Tiedt in 1969.
The pattern for diamante is more complex than Shadorma. The first half of the poem relates to the one word of the first line; the second half to the one word of the last line. These two lines often present opposites. The middle line provides a bridge between the two.
Each of the seven lines requires a certain number of words of a certain part of speech:
- Line 1: 1 word (subject/noun)
- Line 2: 2 adjectives that describe line 1
- Line 3: 3 -ing words that relate to line 1
- Line 4: 4 nouns (first 2 relate to line 1, last 2 relate to line 7–if you’re writing about opposite topics)
- Line 5: 3 -ing words that relate to line 7
- Line 6: 2 adjectives that describe line 7
- Line 7: 1 word (subject/noun)
This diamante began to take shape as I considered the transformation Christ can make in a person’s life. A list of R-words began to grow—repentance, redeemed, restored, so I pursued the pattern.
A Transformed Life
Ruin
Repugnant, reprehensible
Rebelling, ravaging, retaliating
Rashness, recalcitrance, remorse, repentance
Returning, Releasing, Receiving
Redeemed, restored
Renewal
The Quadrille form first appeared at www.dversepoets.com in 2016. The only requirement is to include 44 words (excluding the title). They believe that “limitation can happily breed extreme creativity.” Each Monday they provide a word-prompt, and participants must use that word in their poems.*
I chose my own word from John 15:1, 5—vine. And while I played with possibilities, my poem began to fit a pattern. Every line contains seven words except the last, which contains nine.
First, the scripture, as a point of reference:
And now, the poem.
Bonded to the Vine
Praise to the Gardener of our souls!
Once we’re grafted to his Vine, he
Prunes away withered branches of worthless folly,
Waters us with his life-giving, spirit-strengthening Word,
And produces pleasing fruit with boundless sufficiency.
Such beauty results when we’re bonded to the Vine!
Remember the quote of Christopher Fry at the beginning of this post–“Poetry is the language in which man explores his own amazement?”
I wonder if he knew that the pleasure in exploring our amazement—whether as poets or not—is greatly enhanced when we include the Genius behind all things amazing.
* https://dversepoets.com/2017/09/11/quadrille-40/
Photo credits: http://www.canva.com; http://www.pxhere.com; http://www.pickpik.com; http://www.pexels.com (3); http://www.commons.wikimedia.org.
From the Inside Out 