As all those superbly talented poets over at dVerse poets pen poems seemingly effortlessly, and words flow smoothly out of their pens (well, on their keyboards or such), I scrambled to find something to build my poem on. And discovered two new poetry forms. Here is my attempt at each of them. Both begin with the letter W in an attempt to join in at ABC Wednesday‘s letter of the week, and use the word ‘groove’ which is the theme over at dVerse this Poetics Tuesday.
The first one is called the wheelbarrow. From PoetryMagnumOpus – ‘The wheelbarrow is an invented form sometimes used by educators as an exercise in focus, intensity, concentration and emphasis. Donald Hall’s How to Read a Poem ends the first chapter with this exercise. The verse form is patterned after the structure of the red wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams; Hall calls it “the wheelbarrow”.’
It is essentially a single sentence, which is written in 8 lines, broken into 4 stanzas where each stanza has 2 lines. The first line of each stanza had 3 words with 3 or 4 syllables in total, while the second line is a single word of 2 syllables. The use of concrete images and emphasis on certain words grabs the attention of the reader. You can read more about it here.
Bright Pink Zumba
what matters is
dancing
to that beat so
groovy
with bright pink
zumba
shoes on smooth
dance-floors
-Vidya Tiru/LadyInRead
The second one is called the Whitney. This titled syllabic form has exactly seven lines with the syllable pattern -3/4/3/4/3/4/7. It is an invented form created by Betty Ann Whitney.
You Make Me Smile, Do I?
What set those
lines that etch your
face? Not me,
I hope. What may
help you smile
those grooves away?
That is me, I truly hope.
-Vidya Tiru/LadyInRead
Lovely poetry. I have always loved to write poetry and have shared some of mine in the past.
thank you Brenda.. and i should check out your poetry..
Had never heard of these forms so thank you for introducing them to me! 🙂
I LOVE the idea of helping you smile the grooves away! 🙂 I’ve been surprised that no one has mentioned the lines etched into our faces with age, worry, etc as grooves. It was one way of using “groove” that I contemplated while listening to music….and then went the musical way instead. But oh YES — we all need someone who helps to take away the frown grooves….make us happy, make us serene. Laugh lines are not so deep I think as the furrowed (grooved) brow and the frown grooves. May all our grooves be happy ones! Thanks so much for posting today 🙂 Really enjoyed both of these!
thank you so much Lillian… for your comments that are so encouraging always.. they do keep me going..
I think… every person comes into this world with his/hers own special talent… every person is equally valuable as the next … search for yours and enjoy it.
Have a ♥-warming ABC Wednes-day / -week
♫ M e l ☺ d y ♫ (ABC-w-team)
http://melodymusic.nl/21-w
thank you so much Melody for your kind comments
You are very welcome, always 😉
As for me, I’ll stick to iambic pentameter (and other flowing meters), odes, and sonatas. Wheelbarrows belong on the farm and I couldn’t date Whitney.
That’s what makes poetry so personal.
I agree, Roy..:) And iambic pentameter, odes, and sonatas – those are reserved for other days and other mes..
It does remind me of that wheelbarrow poem and dancing matters more than a wheelbarrow.
🙂 dancing does matter more..thank you Frank..
I’ve never heard of those forms. Lovely poems.
thank you Bev..
I like the styles. It forces poets to edit themselves. Your poems had me smiling.
that is so true.. glad i made you smile
I’ve come to realize that the strict structure of different formats create freedom as much as restriction
ROG, ABCW
My husband used to write me poems. I wonder why they stopped. Courting is such an interesting time. – Margy
These are great poems.