December Form Challenge – DFC 2015

This year’s DFC has a bit of something different from all the past years. In the wake of the chaos in our world, I thought I’d offer a uniting DFC, where we celebrate the heritage of major world regions in an effort to understand where we all came from. The areas highlighted will be our main focus, though just because a region isn’t highlighted, doesn’t make it unimportant. African and Polynesian nations base their historical poetry through songs and stories and there weren’t enough for me to make a region for them. A similar case can be said for Russia, so I apologise if I offend anyone with this.

Love beats in the hearts of all of us and it will until the end of time. Love binds us. We cannot let hatred divide and conquer us all.

December 1st: The Americas December 12th: The British Isles December 21st: South East Asia December 2nd: The British Isles December 13th: Europe December 22nd: The Americas December 3rd: Europe December 14th: The Middle East December 23rd: The British Isles December 4th: The Middle East December 15th: South East Asia December 24th: Europe

th December 5 : South East Asia December 25th: The Middle East December 6th: The Americas December 26th: South East Asia December 7th: The British Isles December 27th: The Americas December 8th: Europe December 17th: The Americas December 28th: The British Isles December 9th: The Middle East December 18th: The British Isles December 29th: Europe December 10th: South East Asia December 19th: Europe December 30th: The Middle East December 11th: The Americas December 20th: The Middle East December 31st: South East Asia

December Form Challenge – DFC 2015 2

Quintina Blues Sonnet Muzdawidj Urjuzah Qataa Deten Sardine

Wayra Kimo Marisya

Spenserian Quintilla Dabali Shairi

Retourne Dinggedicht

Dansa Zéjel

Strambotto Romagnuolo

Ronsardian Ode

English Madrigal Pathya Vat Tawddgyrch Cadwynog Awit Ya Du

Casbairdne Yeats Octave Ch’i-Yen-Shih Metre

Inverted Hexaduad Abhanga Luc Bat

Cywydd Llosgyrnog

December Form Challenge – DFC 2015 3

Suddenly, a wild unicorn appears. It presents you with a form to complete. “Complete this” she says “and I can make you un-see the Anus Cloud I arrived here on”.

Utenzi/Utendi

Utenzi/utendi verse is a traditional Swahili form consisting of 8 syllable quatrains with the rhyme scheme: aaab cccb

eeeb. There is no limit to how many stanzas can be written.

I couldn’t find any English examples, so the following example is in Swahili. Highlighted are the appropriate rhymes.

Utenzi wa Vita vya Wadachi Kutamalaki Mrima (excerpt)

BISMILLAH! Ghafari alWahidi ‘lKahari mwinyi kuhui shajari na jinni na insiya

Yu pweke ARRAHAMANI Wala hayuko wa thani Mruzuku duniani Ila ni yeye mmoya

Bahaha… “JUST KIDDING”

December Form Challenge – DFC 2015 4

The Americas

Sardine Spenserian Quintilla

The Sardine or Sonondilla was created by “The Dread Poet Roberts”. It The Spenserian Quintilla, attributed to Howard Nemerov is a quintain features 14-lines of tetrameter (preferably iambic) with the following rhyme form featuring four 8 syllable lines and one 12 syllable line with the schemes. rhyme scheme abacc. abbacddceeffee or abbaabbaccddcc

Ambiguity by Lawrence Eberhart Excerpt from The Second-Best Bed by Howard Nemerov

In ambiguity there’s hope Consider now that Troy has burned that your misstatement may make sense ---Priam is dead, and Hector dead And great Aeneas long since turned to someone sitting on the fence Away seaward with his gods who’s neither voted yep nor nope. To find, found or founder, against frightful odds

Thus politician’s often cope And figure to yourselves the clown Who comes with educated word with lack of what’s called common-sense To illustrate in mask and gown by merely giving no offence. King Priam’s most illustrious son And figure forth his figure with many another one If you don’t get it, you’re the dope. Of that most cremented time You cannot fact check what’s not said In times have been or are to be Thus inferences that have led Inhearsed in military rime And will recite of royal fates to contrary conclusions are Until, infamonized among those potentates non-specific, sometimes bizarre.

Turn off the TV, go to bed, or watch grass grow; you’ll be ahead.

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Blues Sonnet Quintina

The Blues sonnet is comprised of 4 Blues stanzas and an ending The Quintina was created by Steven Owen Shields and is rather similar to the Heroic couplet. Blues stanzas are 3-lined stanzas featuring sestina, only shorter. It consists of five quintains and a two line envoi containing the iambic pentameter. 5 end words used in the piece. No specific meter or rhyme.

Blues Sonnet by NathanielFlyingOwl

As I Bid My Last Farewell by Gomopy 2 Why do the shadows seek to cause me pain? To feel my heart breaking, Why must the shadows strive to inflict pain And have my hands shaking, "Darling, my sweet, must I say farewell? And taint the time I spend with the spring rain? To say my farewell. I'm sorry your heart may be breaking, My goodbyes and sorrow, But my sadness, my sorrow, With the last shake of my hand. Is too much to bear. I shake my hand Can hope take root within a desert's soil? Farewell, sturdy and strong, but still shaking." Will hope take root amid a desert's soil I remember when you held my hand, And spring forth with help of proper toil? Kissed my forehead and said, "Farewell, Bow I stand up, legs shaking, My love, I shall see you tomorrow," My world now breaking. And let myself know what will happen, sorrow I remember that memory, now my fist shaking Getting to me, my hand Why do I dream only in nightmares black? in anger. Tears down my face, in sorrow. Reaches up, and I say my last farewell. Why must I dream nightmares always black? My world no longer breaking. My spirit cannot take another crack I always looked at your face, no sorrow, But now that's all mine is full of, pen in my hand, My heart breaking, words shaking, Writing this, letters shaking. I bid farewell with my sorrow, with one last – When all my efforts are in vain I weep Your heart may be aching, but never breaking, When all my efforts are worthless I weep Why must you say farewell? shake of my hand.

And dread my dark and necessary sleep

Amid eternity that is tonight I fear I may not see the moon so bright

December Form Challenge – DFC 2015 6

Deten Wayra

The Deten was created by Johnn Schroeder and features three The wayra is of South American origin and features syllabic counts not quintains. There is no set meter but iambic tetrameter and unlike some of the Japanese forms we’re used to. pentameter are always helpful. The syllabic scheme is: 5, 7, 7, 6, 8. The rhyme scheme is: a, b, c, a, b |d, e, c, d, e | f, g, c, f, g

Thrust Upon You by Lawrence Eberhart

Cold by Carol R. Ward The time to write a masterpiece That moves another person’s soul Is when your mind is well content, Dark of night descends – But this must be a faster piece; It won’t fulfil that lofty goal. Wolf howls on autumnal winds.

But look! The form I’m using here, The chill that is in the air I’ve never seen or used before Has so little to do So this could be a non-event. The rhyme scheme might appear unclear With the coming of the winter. It’s not one I’d choose to adore.

I came, I saw and then I tried I took advantage of your trust I hope you found the time well-spent. At least I think I’m satisfied, Another form has bit the dust

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The Middle East

Muzdawidj (Arabic Mathnawi) Urjuzah

The Urjuzah is a popular Arabic form written in rajaz rhyming couplets. Rajaz is very The Muzdawidj is the Arabic version of a Persian form called the different from iambic meter. It features lines of 24 syllables, divided into two half lines Mathnawi. It features 11 syllable lines in rhyming triplets. with a break between them. Each half line contains three metric feet of four syllables each. Rajaz meter count is “dum dum di dum”. In the case of the Urjuzah, a rhyming couplet becomes a quatrain rhyming abcb.

Strawberry Days by Llunamarigolde

Just as April showers bring May flowers told Mirage by Bob Newman

So comes the June bugs and the fireflies gold Snow goose flies home scarred from Dunkirk over the marsh, All creatures great or small renew in each wold Airborne she soars beneath the moon, wing and a prayer. Sheet rain cascades on starlight ride, like other nights. Deer wander far and wide no matter the land At rainbow’s end in lunar seas, waves fill the air. Even where the city dwellers make their strands Of houses, shops and businesses they think grand Breathless with love, coming of age down on the farm, Dream girls will smile, capture your heart, then pass you by. She was the one - straight to the heart through dust and dreams. Nature has the toughest hold we can't deny Nude, drafted, beached, harbouring tears, say long goodbye. Though as Summers go it always seems to fly Too brief a season, too brief as lovers sky White desert sand gleams in the bleak scorched wilderness; Cool camels file, slow caravan, through shifting dunes. Keys lost and found, smooth metronome’s songs within songs, Today there is a Milk Moon, tomorrow Rose Echoes resound, lush red guitar weeps gentle tunes. For many are the names under skies we know So may the strawberry scented days ne'er go

December Form Challenge – DFC 2015 8

Dabali Shairi Kimo

The Dabali Shairi, attributed to Shota Rustaveli, is a Georgian form consisting The Kimo is an Israeli version of the haiku. It has three unrhymed lines of sixteen syllable lined quatrains. Each line is broke up into sections of five with the syllabic count 10, 7, 6 syllables. It is one stanza only. and three syllables with a break between each set of eight syllables. End rhymes are either double or triple (shredded/dreaded or pollution/solution) and are monorhymed (aaaa, bbbb etc).

My Dog Angel by Judi Van Gorder

Diabolical by JL Dodge (Dodgewrites.blogspot.com.au) Grounds and egg shells on kitchen floor

Diabolical is this form, it’s corruptible, new to do, Next to overturned trash pail

Indescribable, gives me pause, seems impossible to chew through, Angel sleeping nearby

When done correctly, seems to me, it might be easy to do too, Farewell to this form for I’m through, I gave it a try, cue to you!

December Form Challenge – DFC 2015 9

The Qataa The Marisya

The Marisya/Marsia is a Persian form originally created for mourning The Qataa is an Urdu form featuring two shers (complete couplets). Each sher and honouring famous figures. It is made up of sestets with the rhyme is made up of two complete and balanced sentences with line one exploring scheme aaaabb ccccdd etc. No set meter or limit to number of stanzas. an idea and line 2 bringing a twist or surprise to the mix. No set syllabic count, meter or rhyme. The Qataa therefore is a quatrain with each couplet standing alone and presenting a unique idea.

Riptide Skies by Elizabeth Johnson

DFC by Sam Powdrell

Beneath gilded skies, he visits me, Every year I curse and swear that this is more than I can bear his throat think with painted symphonies. I tear and tear and what’s laid bare? Just every poet’s worst nightmare. In the dark, he sighs, a soliloquy Desperate dread carves caverns deep as I, with nothing, weep, of the us we aren’t allowed to be. Elation greets me as I leap, reaching out for restful sleep This peace, I know, isn’t what it seems:

I’m caught in the riptide of sweet dreams

December Form Challenge – DFC 2015 10

The Dansa Retourne

The retourne is a combination of the kyrielle and the glosa featuring four 8 The Dansa or balata is an Occitan form with at least three stanzas (a quintain syllable quatrains. There is no set rhyme scheme but the 2nd, 3rd and 4th lines and two quatrains) and a refrain throughout. It can be longer with the first verse framed by refrains and subsequent stanzas in quatrains with an ending of stanza one become the first lines of the following stanzas. refrain. Occitan meter is hexasyllabic (6 syllables) so that’s what we will use. Refrain scheme: x123 1xxx 2xxx 3xxx. You can use iambic trimeter or another other trimeter you like.

The rhyme scheme is A, b, b, a, A| c, c, a, A| d, d, a, A | My name is Leonardo by AmeraAndersen

My name is Leonardo, on canvas I shall paint, Intrigue by Lawrence Eberhart the image in the mirror, making people faint. I want to paint myself, the way I really am. Does she? Or doesn’t she? I want to be a woman and I don’t give a damn. If you but only knew. Instead you have no clue. The image in the mirror, making people faint, Do what is it to be? as I see my reflection, I know I’m not a saint. Does she? Or doesn’t she? I’ll paint it with a smile so all the world can see, the artist with his brush in hand, isn’t really me. A guy, you can just ask, It’s such a simple task I want to paint myself, the way I really am, It can’t sound like a plea acting like a gentleman, has all been just a scam. Does she? Or doesn’t she? My name is Leonardo and I love to wear a dress; give them a little smile and I will make them guess. Why should you really care What color is her hair, I want to be a woman and I don’t give a damn, But when it comes to me, I love to flit around; as dainty as a lamb. Does she? Or doesn’t she? So I’ll paint a little smile and make it very quaint, my name is Leonardo, on canvas I shall paint.

December Form Challenge – DFC 2015 11

Dinggedicht Ronsardian Ode

The Dinggedicht (Object Poem) is an observational form founded in Austria by The Ronsardian Ode, widely attributed to Pierre Ronsard, is a form featuring Rainer Maria Rilke during the Impressionist art era. It is therefore, very similar nonets (9-line stanzas) with the syllabic counts 10, 4, 10, 4, 10, 10, 4, 4, 8 and in its essence to the Japanese senryu. There is no set syllabic count or rhyme the rhyme scheme ababccddc scheme, merely that it be framed around acute observations of the world and exploring ideas, attitudes, events or societal conditions. This can include nature’s wonders. Ronsardian Ode by Jan Haag

Upon the death of the rose and summer the sun goes down, Paradise Adrift by Judi van Gorder the winds rise up and begin to murmur.

The moon's bright crown Water gently laps moves into the darkness of endless night. At the edge Even Diwali's rekindling of light Of the shore moves not the dark. Where a soggy passport lies open Not one does hark to soundless music out of sight. Face down Next to broken palms Upon the last leaves' fall in pale winter And a tilted, scarred stark branches move, Kitchen chair and snow may shroud the ground leaving no spur One spindly leg buried deep which can approve the naked starkness of the voided world. O world return, come back to this now furled, In the foam covered sand painful and iced, hideous, sliced

heart that lies deep within me curled.

December Form Challenge – DFC 2015 12

Strambotto Romagnuolo Zéjel

The Strambotto Romagnuolo is a Sicilian form featuring 8-line stanzas The zéjel is a Spanish form, heavily influenced by the Middle East and featuring an with the rhyme scheme ababccdd. Each line is hendecasyllabic (11 opening monorhymed (aaa) tercet and quatrains following. The rhyme scheme is aaa syllables long). bbba ccca with as many subsequent stanzas as you like. The initial tercet introduces the theme.

An Old Hymn Still Singing by Judi Van Gorder

And He walks with me Fighting Rainstorms by Livelovemaria And he talks to me And He tells me I am His own. Charles Austin Miles 1913 When the storms are reaching out with razor claws, On mornings when the sky is clear Whipping sharply through the air to pull me near, The air washed by an angel’s tear Pull me under chilling streams of gaping flaws, I know that heaven’s path is near. Let me drown in sheets of raw and raging fear, To walking the garden and know But within this dark, you cup my hurting heart, Truth from a hymn of long ago, The song plays in the fountain’s flow, A bulwark of love to never break apart. Hush, could it be His voice I hear? Your arms are warming like the sun to the field, Engulfing me in sweet and tender love's shield. Solitary crunch of my shoe, Antique rose that sparkles with dew, Garden buzzes with life anew, The melody is present here.

I learned to sing it as a child A pretty song with words so mild And even then I was beguiled Now my garden sings, words held dear.

December Form Challenge – DFC 2015 13

The British Isles

Yeats Octave Casbairdne

The casbairdne is an Irish form featuring quatrains with 7 syllabic lines, rhyming True to its name, the Yeats Octave is an eight line verse that was used abab with cross rhyme and alliteration. prolifically by William Butler Yeats. The rhyme scheme is abbacddc. There is no set meter or limit to number of stanzas. Have fun . x x b x (x x a) x a(rhyme with a) x x x (x b) x x x b(alliterates with last word) (x x a) x x c (alliterates with last word) x x (x b)

An excerpt from The Wanderings of Oisin by W.B. Yeats Dying II by Leny Roovers

We rode in sorrow, with strong hounds three, In death comes dust’s solution. Bran, Sceolan, and Lomair, A truth to breath- inclusion; On a morning misty and mild and fair. small particles’ pollution The mist-drops hung on the fragrant trees, in loss of cause- collusion. And in the blossoms hung the bees. Thin dry threads still intertwine, We rode in sadness above Lough Lean, fill failing eyes- unconfined; For our best were dead on Gavra's green. as whispered wings recombine the swirling realms- reassign.

December Form Challenge – DFC 2015 14

English Madrigal Inverted Hexaduad

The English Madrigal, sometimes referred to as The Short English The Inverted Hexaduad is a syllabic form featuring inverting rhyme and Madrigal is classically attributed to Geoffrey Chaucer. It is an interesting refrains. The syllabic scheme is: 2, 6, 8, 4, 6, 4, 4, 6, 4, 8, 6, 2 and the form for its variety, featuring three stanzas: a triplet, a quatrain, and a rhyme scheme is A1, A2, b, b, c, c, d, d, e, e, A2, A1 with the first and sestet. It is written in iambic pentameter. second lines closing the poem but inverted. The number of stanzas allowed isn’t specified. The scheme is as follows:

A1, B1, B2 | a, b, A1, B1| a, b, b, A1, B1, B2|

Sight Blinds by Gary Kent Spain Rondel of Merciless Beauty by Geoffrey Chaucer

Sight blinds Your two great eyes will slay me suddenly; Their beauty shakes me who was once serene; the most perceptive minds Straight through my heart the wound is quick and keen. as they struggle to make some sense

Only your word will heal the injury of present tense. To my hurt heart, while yet the wound is clean - Your two great eyes will slay me suddenly; Their beauty shakes me who was once serene. They have been told the air

Upon my word, I tell you faithfully is all that’s there, Through life and after death you are my queen; yet the mind’s light For with my death the whole truth shall be seen. Your two great eyes will slay me suddenly; is not a thing of sight. Their beauty shakes me who was once serene; Straight through my heart the wound is quick and keen. No gag muzzles

the shout of time: it still puzzles December Form Challenge – DFC 2015 15 the most perceptive minds

sight blinds.

Cywydd Llosgyrnog Tawddgyrch Cadwynog

The Tawddgyrch Cadwynog is a Welsh form consisting of quatrains with lines 16 syllables long, divided into 4 metric feet of 4 syllables with the rhyme scheme: The Cywydd Llosgyrnog is a Welsh form consisting of six lines with the syllabic count 8, 8, 7, 8, 8, 7. In each of the 7 syllable lines, there is xxxa xxxb xxxb xxxc xxxa xxxb xxxb xxxa cross rhyme with the end rhyme of the preceding couplet. xxxa xxxb xxxb xxxc OR xxxa xxxb xxxb xxxa

The rhyme scheme looks like this: a, a, b, c, c, b with cross rhyme of a This form can be organised into stanzas with one 4 syllabic foot per line/ 16 lines per th quatrain (A), into stanzas with two 4 syllabic feet per line/ 8 lines per quatrain (B) OR nto in third line and cross rhyme of c in 6 . stanzas with four 4 syllabic feet per line/ 4 lines per quatrain (C).

A Variable Count Poem (Tawddgyrch Cadwynog) by Lawrence Eberhart

Search For The Truth Entry One by Creastovel

(A) (B)

To get it right pen four by four With his friends, a search for the truth To get it right pen four by four then add four more; that’s how you write. Hid inside a tiny blue booth. then add four more; This form is tight and furthermore it is a chore that does delight. that’s how you write. Unhindered sleuth continues.

Shielded by the great protector, This form is tight Two quatrains do a couplet make; A clairey-wairey detector and furthermore and then you take them up by two it is a chore (I know you knew), for heaven’s sake will pinpoint her browns and blues. that does delight. this takes the cake, a brand new view.

Two quatrains do a couplet make; (C) and then you take them up by two To get it right pen four by four then add four more; that’s how you write.

This form is tight and furthermore it is a chore that does delight. (I know you knew), Two quatrains do a couplet make; and then you take them up by two for heaven’s sake (I know you knew), for heaven’s sake this takes the cake, a brand new view. this takes the cake, a brand new view.

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South East Asia

The Awit Ch'i-Yen-Shih metre

Ch’I-Yen-Shih metre is a Chinese form featuring quatrains with 7 syllables per line The Awit, the Filipino word for song, is a quatrain form with 12 and a break after the fourth syllable in each line. The rhyme scheme is abcb with syllables per line and the rhyming aaaa bbbb etc. There is a break after no set limit to how many stanzas can be written. For a more authentic piece, stick the 6th syllable of each line. It’s supposed to tell a story. to one syllable words throughout. The following example has the break highlighted but you can have complete lines without off-setting them like this.

Climb by Lawrence Eberhart Excerpt from Fenland by Bob Newman

I started up the hills, intending on that day Long straight black road to climb like deer to plateaus where the rocks gave way far from home. The moon hangs snagged to grasses lush and green, above where wild hawks play, in the trees. and ended up on top- above all human fray. Foot down, I speed through the night. Rain falls in sheets, starts to freeze.

The cats eyes pulse like Morse code. Far sparks speed close, blaze then fade. For hours on end there’s no change: Road, light, rain, wind, screen and blade.

December Form Challenge – DFC 2015 17

Pathya vat Luc Bat

The Luc Bat is a Vietnamese form featuring alternating six and eight syllable lines (Luc Bat means The Pathya Vat is a Cambodian form. It features quatrains with 4 syllable lines six-eight). It has a descending rhyme pattern with each rhyme occurring three times: First at the end of an 8 syllable line, then at the end of the next 6 syllable line and then as the sixth syllable of and rhyming abcb. the next 8 syllable line. The end loops back to the beginning. There is no line limit to this form.

xxxxxA xxxxxAxB xxxxxB xxxxxBxC xxxxC xxxxxCxA Depression by PoeticOtaku The Magic Mirror by ThornyEnglishRose

I fear this world, I fear progress, My mistress was a queen, The world has less- She knew I could have seen such things; The crops each season brings, Humanity. The ministers and kings who would Sign treaties for her good; Please tell me how, The noble things she could have said And done, with king abed, My sanity- Ageing, mad and half dead, but she Is leaving me. Betrayed him; misused me. Leaving me dry. Handsome she was, I’d see, and tall; Asked mirror on the wall, Who was fairest in all the land. My eyes are blind, I thought her fairest, and And my eyes, cry, I told her so; the grand queen knew My lungs will sigh, A spirit’s words were true, Still not escaped. While little princess grew, until Her looks were fit to kill. I thought ot lie, but still I told The truth as queen grew old, And Snow, whose heart of gold did shine… The fault, I fear, was mine. For spirits, truth is fine and right, But my words brought her blight. How dreadful her fate might have been.

December Form Challenge – DFC 2015 18

Abhanga Ya Du

The Ya Du is a Burmese form consisting of four 4 syllable lines and a fifth one that can The abhanga is a Marathi form, Marathi being one of the major languages of comprise of 5, 7, 9 or 11 syllables. The staircase rule applies to the four lines, and the India. It is a quatrain form with the syllabic counts 6, 6, 6, 4 and rhyme last syllable of the fourth and fifth line must rhyme, giving a pattern of: scheme a, b, b, c. xxxa xxax Nature Walk by Bob Newman xaxb xxbc Behind us, on the left, xxxxxxxxxxxc the rustling suspicion of beasts on a mission, No more than 3 stanzas is permitted. Ya Du means “the seasons” so it is often themed quite possibly. around seasons.

Something in the bushes is watching us walking implacably stalking. Untitled by Unknown We sense hunger.

In this rocky hollow Blue sky’s curved moon the footprints in the dust appeared at noon, as gray loon’s song note are distinctive; they must surged afloat clouds – be a tiger’s. bird’s songs circled dreams, quietly abound.

The unseen creature stirs. We watched it stay A sharp intake of breath on its way, silk at the nearness of death breaths swayed tree leaves if so it be. freshly weaved thoughts Seized summer notions the afternoon moon brought. But our time is not yet. Today we are in luck; emerging with a cluck, a jungle fowl.

December Form Challenge – DFC 2015 19

Credit/ Reference A message from Sammy

www.poetrybase.info I hope you have enjoyed this year’s DFC, and that it has enriched your writing abilities and your mind. www.poetscollective.org www.poetrymagnumopus.com Remember, this is a reference not just for this particular challenge, but also one you can utilise at any time in the www.volecentral.co.uk future.

www.allpoetry.com www.thepoetsgarret.com I wish you all the best. Be blessed.

www.deviantart.com Love,

www.dodgewrites.blogspot.com.au www.randomwriterlythoughts.blogspot.com.au Sammy (kiwi-damnation)

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