If you read Marilyn Singer's interview yesterday, you'll have noticed that she mentioned a number of forms she might like to try. Today's challenge is one of these forms.
Dorsimbra is a poetry form created by Eve Braden, Frieda Dorris and Robert Simonton. It contains a set of three quatrains. Each quatrain is written following specific guidelines. They are:
- Stanza 1 - four lines of iambic pentameter rhyming abab
- Stanza 2 - four lines of "short and snappy" free verse
- Stanza 3 - four lines of blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter) with the last line the same as the first line of the first stanza
In addition to these guidelines, the form’s creators suggest the use of enjambment, interlaced rhymes, and near-rhymes to bind the three stanzas.
You can read more about this form at Sol Magazine and Poetry Base.
I hope you'll join me this week in writing dorsimbra. Please share a link to your poem or the poem itself in the comments.
Snow White
ReplyDeleteShe runs forsaken through the angry wood,
every breath and twig a tragic sound.
She’s never been a single thing but good,
her footsteps call the magic all around.
If beauty’s a sin
the girl has sinned.
Her stepmother will tell you
all about it.
Life isn’t fair. Some girls have perfect looks,
like moonlight, starlight, sunlight, too much light—
Snow White’s the kind for second looks, for death.
She runs forsaken through the angry wood.
—Kate Coombs, 2015
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Kate, I'm a huge fan of fairy tale poetry and I love this. I've been having trouble with this form, but you've don'e a beautiful job here.
DeleteThanks, Tricia! It's an unusual form.
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