It’s taken me forever, but I’ve finally got the results for the WD Poetic Form Challenge! Despite the length of time it took to judge, I really enjoyed seeing the creativity in all the forms, and I hope to share some of the finalists in future posts.
The finalists were (in random order):
- Octoplus, by Tracy Davidson
- Breva, by Cara Holman
- Kaduma, by Carly Breault
- Wreathed Octavial, by Jen Karetnick
- Anapeat, by Susan Budig
- Queron, by Daniel Ari
- Monad, by Tracy Davidson
- The Five and Dime, by Brian Slusher
- Mandorla, by Autumn N. Hall
I’d like to congratulate all the finalists. There were a lot of great new forms introduced to me, and these were my personal favorites. However, I could only pick one to be the winner, which is…
Susan Budig’s Anapeat!
Here are the rules of her form:
- Anaphora is the title
- Five stanzas
- Five lines per stanza
- First line of first stanza repeats in each following stanza as follows: 2nd line of 2nd stanza; 3rd line of 3rd stanza; 4th line of 4th stanza; 5th line of 5th stanza
- No line length or rhyme requirement
- Anaphora must repeat at least three times within body of the poem
By the way, what the heck is anaphora?
From The Poetry Dictionary: A rhetorical device in which several successive lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences begin with the same word or phrase.
Here’s the example that Susan included with her submission:
Our Bliss, by Susan Budig
The requiem of our bliss begins
as I unlock the birdcage of my heart,
freeing all kept promises, cleaning out
the spent seeds and stale water.
You know my gestures intimately;
you’ve watched me dozens of years.
The requiem of our bliss begins
as I open my mouth to keen,
recalling the chariot of our wedded life.
See how it trundles along, broken and squeaking.
So, too, has our love passed from ecstatic trills
to shrill whines–a dismal threnody.
The requiem of our bliss begins
as I unclench my hand, releasing our love
to find its resting chamber.
Our certificate of vows must slip through
rusted spindles that once bound us together.
Let it pass.
The requiem of our bliss begins
as our hands fall onto shredded newspaper.
I lay our photo upon the flame;
the edges curl and blacken.
Your face furrows as I snuff out our attachment.
I am burning your out of my heart.
The requiem of our bliss begins.
*****
Congratulations to Susan!
And thanks to all who submitted forms! They were all a great show of how creative everyone can be–not only with words but the structures that hold them.
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Follow me on Twitter @robertleebrewer
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Click here to learn more about The Poetry Dictionary, by John Drury (mentioned above). It’s filled with poetry-related information, including poetic forms, terms, history, and more!
Belated congratulations to Susan – and what a fantastic example she gave us.
Due to technical problems I’ve only just seen the results today, I’m delighted that both entries I sent in made it to the shortlist. Congrats to the other finalists too.
Thanks, Tracy. I only found out about my win TONIGHT. A fellow writer alerted me.
I’ve gotten around to trying the anapeat, joined up with We Write Poems’ prompt this week of “parallelism”. Thanks for the form Susan! (If anyone wants to read my attempt, it’s on my blog: Water Run.)
On my way over.
Congratulations to Susan and all!! Can’t wait to try out the Anapeat. I’m with RJ Clarken about learning the other forms. Possible?
Congrats to the winners! I can’t wait to try out some of your fantastically fun, cool and challenging forms!
…and also, is there some link we can use to get to the postings of these forms? I’d love to learn more about them. Thanks! ☼
RJ, you can see more examples of my form written by me and others at the link I gave.
Congratulatory wishes to all! Awesome winner and fantastic idea for a challenge!
;D
Congratulations, Susan, and all who made the top 10. =0)
Congratulations Susan and everyone. Looking forward to trying them all if we can ever find them again.:)
Congratulations to Susan and all the finalists!
Congratulations to Susan and everyone else who entered! Will have to give the anapeat a try, as well as the others if their particularities are posted at some point.
Oh, Joseph! I like the word “particularities” so much better than “rules.”
I do hope Robert will share, when he has time. I’m sure it’s a time consuming request. GREAT names to all forms, though!
That’s a Laureate word De. Joseph earned the right to that one! Keep them honest Joseph!
I hope you do try this form or maybe you already have? Let me know; I’d love to see it.
Here are some more examples written by me and some of my poet-friends.
Naturally, I am absolutely delighted to have made this list.
Congratulations not just to the finalists and Susan, for her clever form and excellent poem, but also to everyone who submitted a form.I hope to see some of the other entries in future posts– what a great challenge this was!
It would be good to see more of the forms, especially yours, Cara. Thanks for your pat on my back.
Great form and poem by Susan. I just might have to try it out.
Did you ever try, Shannon? I’d love to see it. Thanks for your comment about my form.
Awesome choice, Robert! Like De, the form names intrigue me. I’d love to see what the other forms were, along with their examples. Probably a lot to ask, eh?
Congratulations to all of you!
I agree.
Thanks, Marie Elena. If you’d like to look at more examples of this form, click here. It’s the site (Gather.com) where I run an online poetry group.
PS: Whimsygizmo is de jackson. Can’t figure out how to get my name changed, or add a photo. ; )
Congratulations to Susan, and ALL winners! I’m intrigued by this new form, and the names of all of the other finalist forms. I hope you’ll eventually share all the form rules, Robert.
Thanks, Whimsygizmo.
Susan, that’s a vividly beautiful piece of word. Well done, and congratulations to you and all of those mentioned.
Thank you, MiskMask. I only now found out that I’d won. Color me red.
Congratulations to all…. A group in great form! BRAVO to winner, finalists and frankly ALL WHO CREATED AND ENTERED A NEW FORM…..Maybe there could be a listing of them all…..:)
Congrats to the winners. That Anapeat looks like fun, too. Just enough repetition.
Thanks, Barbara. I am only NOW finding this. I had been looking since the contest ended, but then summer vacation and trucking kids to school all took my time and attention. I’m very surprised and pleased with this win.
I also teach online at Gather.com. I used this form there after submitting it to Robert’s contest here.
I learned the form on gather and had an anapeat published in the spring/summer issue of Mamazina.