The parameters of this form of sonnet morphs the strict form of a sonnet. Its rules are to write a sonnet form and incorporate a "free fall" (cummings, Ferlinghetti, etc) free verse structure within it. There are no other parameters.
The "abNORMal" Sonnet is partly comical but also expresses a point of view about strict form. Norm is a strong advocate of the philosophy that before you exercise the breaking of rules, you should first master the rules. ee cummings is the best example he can offer for in his apparent "abuse" of the rules of grammar, usage and syntax, he USED those rules to express in a way few poets have been able to. Before you" misplace" punctuation so it has purpose and meaning, you must understand its RIGHTFUL usage and placement. (see his poem "blac!") as a quick example.
So Norm invented this "form" as an exercise for his students (almost half a century ago) after spending three weeks discussing the sonnet. Though there are NO exact rules, the poem should be an expression of both understanding the strict sonnet form while "playing" with the concept that in the 20th (now 21st) century we can "play" with a strict form (just as Billy Collins did in his poem "Sonnet").
In his example below here are a few notes (from Norm):
1) I had the title try to direct the reader in the right direction.
2) Meter Play:
S1 mixes tetrameter (L1) with IP (L2-3 -- though not too smooth LOL) with L4 being totally off-metered
S2 is Iambic Pentameter throughout
3) Though I keep a sonnet rhyme scheme throughout, S4 breaks into an impromptu free-verse mode (in ee cummings fashion)
There is also a play on Shakespeare (the sonnet-master):
S1-L3 -- maybe saying "A sonnet by any other name would smell as sweet"
S1-L1 -- The quote from Othello (which if this were a forum for interpretation could conjure some other motives of the poet)
There you have it --- a form without the strict form --- hence, a "Free Fall Sonnet"
Have fun!
Without Form or Substance - An abNORMal Sonnet
If thou shalt ask, “How came you thus?” *
In free verse or sonnet, I claim it would seem
that by any name...what is all the fuss?
'tis not midsummer… yet this form is a dream.
Ah yes, I saw it ... sprinkled down on me,
like fairy dust with ambiguity;
a timeless, metered bit of poetry,
I can also break rules... and you can see
that normally, with reason I write.
In
free-fall,
even
l e t t e r s
lose
their place;
but then I'll tuck them back, nice and tight
not knowing if they reach your space.
And time, like the rose, becomes the thorn
that pricks the poem; it won't stay still-born.
* "How came you thus " >>> Othello -- ct II, Scene iii, 1447
© Norman S. Pollack
