A Matter of Form
Free Verse is only half the Fun
The above image is the front and back cover of my new book, It’s Just a Phase. Walnut Street Publishing will launch the book at Clear Story Arts on November 1 at 6:00 PM. Prelaunch sales will begin October 17 on the Walnut Street Publishing website. The rest of this post is a portion of the handout from my poetry workshop.
Free verse poetry is the mainstay of contemporary poetics. Walt Whitman may not have invented the style, but he popularized it in America with his groundbreaking work, Leaves of Grass. His work did not meet with immediate success. One early reviewer compared it to “an explosion in a sewer.” Another suggested the author hang himself.
I remember reading somewhere that Whitman combated this negative feedback by writing favorable reviews under assumed names. In whatever way the work overcame initial rejection, it is now a mainstay of American Literature.
I began with free verse poetry but missed half the fun by neglecting form poems. Some forms are simple and easy while others are complex. My free verse poems improved after I wrote a few form poems, and I have since discovered some minor forms that I like better than the commonly seen ones. I invite you to join me in the world of form poems.
If you don’t think you can write a poem, try writing an Etheree. Begin with a one-syllable word, and add one more syllable to each line until you have ten lines. End with a ten-syllable line. Here is an example.
Dog Once young Getting old Ran like a deer Now sleeps in the sun Gingerly he greets me Wags his tail in slow motion Moves on arthritic legs and hips Two old men, we amble down the road Wish we could run and jump as we once did
That poem only serves as an example. I could give you a better one if I wrote more poems in the form, but that is my only attempt. The Poetry Soup website has more information about this form.
The cascade poem is a form I have enjoyed exploring. A cascade is a poem in which the first stanza provides the final lines for the following stanzas. Here are two examples. They appear in my new book. Spider Eyes What does a spider see with her eight eyes? Descending to an anchor point to fix her silken thread upon the hardened bricks. I see a roof caved in beside that ruin where the paint had peeled away like empty dreams. What does a spider see with her eight eyes? A tree springs up, new life among the boards, no comfort to a family now gone descending to an anchor point to fix their broken lives as Spider spins her web. She sees crickets do their Danse Macabre within her silken thread upon the hardened bricks. Nature’s Decorum Deep in the woods, I let go of proper decorum. Distant neighbors will not hear me howl. As the moon sends forth her magic beams, Diana drives her chariot across the sky. No one will see me dance with wild abandon as morning star Venus sends forth her light or evening star Venus greets the crescent moon. Deep in the woods, I let go of proper decorum. Coyotes celebrate the moon and become song dogs. Domestic dogs may join with yaps of memory, as silent Sirius faithfully follows Orion skyward. Distant neighbors will not hear me howl. Fancy seizes me on active sleepless nights. I sit on my porch to watch the dipper rise and seek the bear in stars made faint by city lights. As the moon sends forth her magic beams. I imagine druids dancing beneath the oaks as friends gather at a fire with drums and chants. Sun and moon strike stones of distant lands and Diana drives her chariot across the sky.
I tried the pantoum after hearing Robert Morgan give a reading that included his poem “Audubon’s Flute,” a pantoum that spoke to my spirit. A friend who read my pantoums gifted me a copy of The Making of a Poem by Mark Strand and Evan Bolland. It is a handy guide to major poetic forms including the heroic couplet, sonnets, and several others. Exemplary works comprise most of the text and provide excellent examples for poets who want to work from models.
From this book, I learned about the heroic couplet. Ancient poets used this form to celebrate athletic and military victories and other historic events. In early British literature, it became a vehicle for satire. In contemporary culture, Theodore Seuss-Geisal (aka Dr. Seuss) used it to create children’s books, and anyone who writes in this form risks comparison to that esteemed author. This one is my favorite in the Heroic Couplet form.
A Chattanooga Lookout The Lookouts got their first shot at fame; A New York Yankees Exhibition game. They signed Jackie Mitchell, a publicity stunt, but she pitched like a pro, not some sorry runt. The starter gave up a hit and a double. They sent Jackie in to heal this trouble. She struck out Babe Ruth, third up to bat. She stuck out Lou Gehrig, imagine that. Lazzeri she walked; put a third man on base. The manager pulled her just to save face. The commissioner said that she had to go. Should women play baseball? He just said no. But Jackie achieved House of David fame. That barnstorming team won many a game. The men all wore beards and long hair to boot. She donned a fake beard and thought it was a hoot. At age 17 she established her name and Now is honored in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The poem’s iambic rhythm is subverted, but it serves the subject well. You can see historical footage of Jackie Mitchell striking out Babe Ruth on YouTube.
Somewhere along the line, I acquired a copy of A Little Book on Form by Robert Haas. The book is little only in name. Haas devoted 50 pages to a chapter titled “Reading the Sonnet.”