Thursday, September 21, 2006

Pantoum (From the 3AM Epiphany)

Write a prose-style (unrhyming) pantoum.

The pattern of line-repetition is as follows, where the lines of the first quatrain are represented by the numbers "1 2 3 4":
     1  2  3  4          - Lines in first quatrain.
2 5 4 6 - Lines in second quatrain.
5 7 6 8 - Lines in third quatrain.
7 9 8 10 - Lines in fourth quatrain.
9 11 10 1 - Lines in fifth and final quatrain.

Fire and ice
In the same room
Rarely coexist
Strength or mass will prevail

In the same room
Puddles or ashes
Strength or mass will prevail
Creating a wasteland of sludge

Puddles or ashes
But when we're apart
It's a wasteland of sludge
...Together, a perfect puzzle

But when we're apart
...We should never part
Together a perfect puzzle
Confusingly blissful

We should never part
So much to do and say
Confusingly blissful
A quiet soft rain

So much to do and say
The time is too short
A quiet soft rain
An electrical storm

The time is too short
A perfect fit
An electrical storm
It seems impossible

A perfect fit
When we share the same room
It seems impossible
Fire and ice

3 Comments:

At 7:37 PM, Blogger asimov said...

I enjoyed it. really great. Line repeation 2
3
4
5

is new to me.With ur permission can i quote to my froends?

 
At 8:41 PM, Blogger Stacy said...

Sure :) I'm flattered.
There are other forms of pantoum, some with rhyme schemes. very fun to do.

 
At 9:59 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I liked your poem very much. It inspired me, so I tried it...

A drunken Shepard is lost in Cairo.
She lies still on fine silk in a feathery bed.
Her head twirls round and round
But her loneliness is resolute; quite sound.

She lies still on fine silk in a feathery bed.
With a childhood doll held in her arms
But her loneliness is resolute; quite sound.
The doll sleeps peacefully.

With a childhood doll held in her arms
One leg reaches to the floor
The doll sleeps peacefully.
In a room that spins.

One leg reaches to the floor
To stop the motion
In a room that spins
As she clings tighter to her sleeping doll.

To stop the motion
Of life’s confounding resolutions
In a room that spins
A drunken Sheppard is lost in Cairo.

--

Editor

 

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