Monday Poetry Stretch - Double Dactyl

I was going through an old poetry notebook last week and found some notes on double dactyls, along with attempts at the form. I've come across a few words lately that sound like they belong in a double dactyl, so this seems like a good time to have another go at this one.

What is a dactyl you ask? A dactyl is a foot in a line of poetry that contains three syllables, one stressed followed by two unstressed (/ _ _ ).

A double dactyl poem consists of two quatrains that follow these guidelines:

1 - double dactyl nonsense phrase (like Higgeldy Piggeldy)
2 - double dactyl of a person's name
3 - double dactyl
4 - one dactyl plus a stressed syllable (/ _ _ / )

5 - double dactyl
6 - double dactyl
7 - double dactyl
8 - one dactyl plus a stressed syllable (/ _ _ / )

Here are some other helpful notes.

• Somewhere in the second stanza is a double dactyl formed by a single word (usually).
• The last lines of the quatrains (4 and 8) must rhyme.
• Like the clerihew, these are generally written about famous people and are meant to be humorous.

Phew! I hope this makes sense to you. Writing it in this way helps me to see what the poem should sound like. Here is an example.

Higgledy-Piggledy
Hans Christian Andersen
Wrote of a mermaid who
Swam up on shore.

There she became somewhat
Less than amphibious;
Drowned in the sea-foam 'mid
Morals galore.

If my notes aren't helpful, you can find a description of double dactyls at Poetry Base and Everything2.com.

I hope you'll join me this week in writing a double dactyl (or two) . Please share a link to your poem or the poem itself in the comments.