Pages

▼

Monday, April 25, 2011

Monday Poetry Stretch - Macaronic Verse

Back in 2009 we wrote poems in the form of macaronic verse. This seems like a good time to revisit the form. The Handbook of Poetic Forms defines macaronic verse in this fashion.
Macaronic verse is a peculiar, rare and often comic form of poetry that sometimes borders on nonsense. It is a mixture of two (or more) languages in a poem, in which the poet usually subjects one language to the grammatical laws of another to make people laugh.
Poetry Base describes macaronic verse this way.
The definition is a poem in a mixture of two languages, one of them preferably Latin. Usually the mixture of languages is a bit absurd. The word of one language may be terminated with common endings in the other.
You can read more at Wikipedia and learn a bit about the history of this form.

So, your challenge for this week is to write a poem that uses more than one language. If you don't know another language, make one up. Pig Latin, anyone? Leave me a comment about your macaronic verse and I'll post the results here later this week.
at

4 comments:

  1. Steven Withrow4/25/2011 12:08 PM

    Te Amo
    By Steven Withrow

    Te amo, te quiero, te adoro.
    You get español because the trilled r’s
    Recall the rumble of my heart,
    Though the tongue does loll so on “I love you.”

    ReplyDelete
  2. janeyolen4/25/2011 3:51 PM

    Hauld yer Wheesht, Woman

    I'd only speak to bairns that way,
    or scold a class of unrulies.
    But should a Scotsman say that to me
    I'd kick him in the goolies.

    ©2011 Jane Yolen, use it at your peril

    ReplyDelete
  3. Madeleine Begun Kane4/25/2011 4:41 PM

    Thank you, thank you, thank you! I just love that new-to-me form and had to try it right away. I combined it with my favorite form -- the limerick -- and the result is my Macaronic Limerick

    ReplyDelete
  4. Charles Waters4/26/2011 1:08 AM

    Macaroni, Pepperoni,
    Fresh Cannoli, Cheese Stromboli.

    I use to be a
    soccer goalie

    Now look at my waistline
    Holy Moly!

    To avoid being called
    Roly Poly

    I take surfing lessons
    from Jeff Spicoli.

    (c) Charles Waters 2011 all rights reserved.

    ReplyDelete