Poetic forms? No, thank you.
I am not a writer who enjoys writing to the old poetic forms. I prefer to claim a poetic form of my own making.
Galloping rhyme, quatrains, couplets, sonnets, haiku – I’m not a big fan of any of them.
Primarily, my perspective on these things suggests to me that:
the mastery of form conquers the creativity of content.
What I mean is that the effort required to achieve mastery of any one form is so great that it risks eroding the capacity to focus on telling the story.
I hold that this statement is true, for myself, at least.
Except . . . just this once, perhaps . . .
Seventeen Syllable Poetry
In a small way, though, I am just as attracted to structuring my stories into a rule framework as anyone. For this reason and as a small test for myself, a little while back I decided that I would see what I could using a syllabic restriction of my own choosing.
To claim a poetic form, I chose to work with seventeen syllables (in a nod to the oriental form of haiku), but with no other restrictions. In effect the challenge was to write a complete story in my usual free verse, but within the syllable count.
How can I write a poetic story in Seventeen Syllables?
My approach? Write the story/thought/observation I had in mind to my satisfaction. Then, adjust words by deleting and moving, and replacing, seeking to find or retain the same sense of internal music as I aim for in my more usual writing.
Often I have used an image, or a news headline as a prompt for the writing. The effect is to have the image perform some of the heavy lifting on behalf of the story, with the image drawing attention to the words. The words drawing attention to the image.
Some examples of Seventeen Syllable Poetry
Two examples of Seventeen Syllable work. I find that the need for brevity forces the introduction of a wistful, perhaps spiritual effect – rather like music played in a minor key.
Example #1: the only
the only cloud
a traveler
through the blue
only witness
the moon
~
Example #2: bloom burst
the stamens have begun
rising
an allium
bursting
into bloom
~
Your view?
What is your view? Do you write to favorite poetic forms?
What is the attraction for you.
Do you favour mastery of form, or the elevation of content?
I’d love to hear, and if you’d like to read more seventeen syllable poetry. Click this link and check it out.
Very interesting to learn about how you construct your poetry Frank. I dabble in it at Colleen’s weekly challenges. I’ve only tried haiku, tanka, haibun, nonnet in various forms. Does your 17 syllable structure also command how you structure the lines? 🙂
Hi Debby. Not directly, but it forces me to shape my thoughts in order that the thought is sufficiently complete, while staying within the 17. It’s interesting how a ‘feel’ for 17 emerges after writing a few.