New Forms (23): The Alternating Sonnet

Please follow the link here to the Every Sonnet blog (and there are all kinds of other sonnets, too).

New Forms (22): The Cleave

• A whole site about this form can be found here.

Poetics (3): The Volta

For John Keats and the 'turn', see here on Structure and Surprise. There is even a dolphin in the poem.

I have mentioned the following published lecture before on this blog, but here are the details again as a reminder...

You Only Guide Me by Surprise: Poetry and the Dolphin's Turn Peter Sacks. The Judith Lee Stronach Memorial Lecture on the Teaching of Poetry, delivered on 7 May 2010 by Peter Sacks.

New Forms (21): Dizain

You can read about this compact 10-line form on Robert Lee Brewer's Writers' Digest page here.

New Forms (20): Cinquerelle

'A Cinquerelle is a five line poem of descending syllabic value, 15 syllables in all. So two less than a haiku. The idea is to compress a cosmos into an atom.'

Description of the form from Michael Newman.

CINQUERELLE

Waves against boulders;
Breakers unfurl.
White onrush.
Children
Squeal.

© Michael Newman (used with permission)

New Forms (19): Tanka Prose (aka Tanka-Prose)

'... the best strawberries ...' Tim Gardiner in his piece, 'Between Storms'

We helped to organise an Open Mic evening last night in Ipswich on the theme of 'Treasure'. During the course of the evening, Tim Gardiner introduced me to Tanka-Prose.

I have attempted Haibun (prose with Haiku) in the past, but had not heard of this alternative form. Tim explained a little about Tanka-Prose, which hasTanka rather than Haiku as a key element.

• 'Toward a Theory and Practice of Tanka-Prose' by Charles D. Tarlton, Oakland, California, USA (Haibun Today, Volume 5, Number 4, December 2011)

• Tim Gardiner's Haiku-Prose, 'Between Storms', published in Haibun Today, Volume 10, Number 1, March 2016

• 'The Elements of Tanka Prose' by Jeffrey Woodward 

• Tanka Prose resources from Ray's Web (Ray Rasmussen)

N.B. Two key practitioners, Jeffrey Woodward and Charles D. Tarlton, use different forms of the name. Woodward seems to favour 'Tanka Prose' without a hyphen whereas Tarlton hyphenates the two words. Time alone will probably dictate which becomes the norm. See p.86 and 87 of Skylark, a Tanka Journal, summer 2013, vol. 1, no. 1 to see why Brian Zimmer prefers the hyphenated style. 

Reference Post (2): Outlets for Formal Poetry

Outlets for Formal Poetry

• A selection can be found here on the pages of 'A Selfish Poet' on Trish Hopkinson's site.