Previously on The Joy of Poeting...

Triptych w/ special guest Martheaus Perkins

In this episode, Martheaus Perkins walks us through the history and concept of the triptych in poetry and then demonstrates his process of achieving the form.

Butterfly Cinquain

The butterfly cinquain is a misnomer of sorts because it's actually nine lines instead of five as its name suggests, but essentially pairs two cinquains together to form a butterfly-like poem on the page when center aligned. The syllable pattern is 2-4-6-8-2-8-6-4-2.

Sestina

A sestina is a poem consisting of six stanzas of six lines each followed by a coda of 3 lines. The last word of each line is repeated in a specific sequence in each stanza.

Quell

The Quell poem was invented Gregory Maguire in his novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. In his novel, Madame Morrible recites her example of the Quell which consists of 13 rhyming lines concluding with a 14th unrhyming line that contains a universal truth.

Cradle-Magnolia

The Cradle-Magnolia was invented by poet Patrycja Humienik. This poem consists of 12 lines that shorten in length until lines 6 and 7 which "cradle" two short questions before lengthening back out again. The poem should mention or be engaged with a dream in some way.

Boxcars w/ special guest Sara Beth Brooks

Boxcars is a poetic form invented by Sara Beth Brooks with four stanzas of six, six-syllable lines each. The stanzas are arranged in two columns of two stanzas read down and then across. The form is inspired by rolling two D6 dice and getting 12, which is known as boxcars.

Golden Ribcage

This poetic form invented by Anne Marie Wells combines the ribcage form invented by Athena Liu (24 lines alternating between 12 syllable lines and a monosyllabic word in brackets) and the Golden Shovel form invented by Terrence Hayes (a poem that creates a line of someone else's poetry from the last word of each line).

Villanelle

Five tercets with a concluding quatrain. The first and third lines of the first stanza get repeated as a kind of refrain. The first and third lines of each tercet rhyme with each other and the second lines of each stanza rhyme with each other. The last two lines of the quatrain are the original first and third line refrain lines. (Villanelle? More like villainOUS!)

Golden Shovel

A golden shovel is a poetic form invented by Terrance Hayes in which the last word of each lines forms a quote, poetic line, song lyric, or other text written by someone else.

Duplex

A form invented by Jericho brown consisting of seven pairs of couplets in which the second line of the first couplet is repeated as the first line of the second couplet. The second line of the second couplet is repeated as the first line of the third couplet, and so on until the final couplet in which the second line of the final couplet is the first line of the first couplet.

Free Verse

Free verse has no meter or rhyme scheme.

Cento

From the Latin meaning "patchwork garment," a cento creates a patchwork poem by borrowing lines from other texts.

Pantoum

A poem of Malay origin that consists of any number of quatrains in which the second and fourth lines of each quatrain reappear as the first and third lines of the next quatrain. Commonly, the second and fourth lines of the final quatrain repeat the first and third lines of the very first quatrain.

Zuihitsu

A Japanese form made popular by Sei Shonogan's The Pillow Book which embraces lists, random notes, and thoughts. Usually written in a collection of snippets of unrelated topics.

Haiku/Lune

Haiku -- A Japanese short-form poem about nature.

Lune -- also known as the "American Haiku" a short form poem invented by Robert Kelly consisting of a tercet with a 5-3-5 syllable pattern.

Collum Lune -- invented by Jack Collum, a short-form poem consisting of a tercet with a 3-5-3 word pattern.

Ghazal

A traditionally Arabic poetic form consisting of 5-15 sets of couplets with a refrain established in the first couplet that is repeated in the subsequent second lines of each couplet.

Ekphrasis

A poem inspired by a work of art

Abecedarian

A poem in which the first letter of each line is a consecutive letter of the alphabet.

Dada Poem

Generated from randomness. Commonly derived from cutting up words from a newspaper and drawing them at random.

Ribcage

A poetic form invented by Athena Liu consisting of 24 lines alternating between 12-syllable lines and a monosyllabic word in brackets. At the end of the text, the bracketed words — or spine — are read from top to bottom.