Curvilinear, A metrical form by Mary Options

[Guest_Maryellen_*]

That's right, a comfirmed free verser has been plagued by the sound of this form that invented itself while I wrote a poem.

Curvilinear

It is a form I am playing around with and the example in this post is the only poem I've been able to bring to completion in this form -- but something about the flow of it compels me to keep trying to perfect this concept.

I call the form curvilinear which means contained by or consisting of a curved line or lines. So named because each new stanza begins with the ending phrase from the previous one --

The form is written in tercets with line 1 and 3 rhyming - or being a near/slant rhyme.  

Line 2 is an abreviated line that contrast two concepts. In my example, it compares present day to the past.

Then ending stanza repeats a refrain placed in the middle of the poem to bring the entire poem full circle in keeping with the curvilinear concept.

For those of you who know my poetic voice is rooted firmly in free verse, you can imagine how this form haunts me since it is metrical and rhymes

and still I am drawn to the mysteries it holds.


My sample poem


Lady With a Past

Breached ground stood between them,
present’s comfort  --  hunger’s past
but from the edge of longevity she dared a last look back.

She dared a last look back across this void of in-between
grande madame here  --  yon princess there,
though cleavage shows her where she’s been.

It shows her where she’s been through tangled duplicity
pulsing once -- then pusling twice
as gimbaled echoes drift; they’re neither fixed or free.

Neither fixed or free defines this lady with a past
Eyes firmly forward --  with views astern
though cyclic tides know precisely where she’s at.

Precisely where she’s at, is where she needs to stand
a foothold here -- a footprint there
and from this ivory-towered perch, she peer across both lands.

She peers across both lands and digs beneath their fertile loam
tends new dreams -- reaps memories,
to adorn a heart that dwells in corrugation’s home.

In corrugation’s home she lives with things that might have been
sleeping single -- in coupled beds
covered by longevity, whose warmth is neither fixed or free.

Neither fixed or free defines this lady with a past
Eyes firmly forward --  with views astern
though cyclic tides know precisely where she’s at.


Maryellen Clark

[Cleo_Serapis]

Hi Mary.  :wave:

What a very interesting form you've penned here!  :detective:

I will be back most definitely to try my hand at this one! :block:

One question, in addition to the tercet stanzas, is there a requirement for meter and line lengths?  :teacher:

There's something about repeats that I admire and with the right word grouping, you really can emphasis your message.

This one !

I like the imagery presented in these lines:

a foothold here -- a footprint there
and from this ivory-towered perch

tends new dreams -- reaps memories,
to adorn a heart that dwells

Thanks for posting your form!
~Cleo  :pharoah2

[Guest_Maryellen_*]

Lori

Thanks for stopping by to see this form.  It pleases my free verse voice to know that you like something metrical from my pen.

The meter issue is what I am not sure how to define for this form.  

The first line of the poem will always *feel* shorter than the rest because it does not have the repeat pattern to build on yet.

So, with the exception of the opening stanza which will be short, I based the meter on the entire tercet with the goal to hold near 32-34 beats or 15-16 feet per tercet.

That would leave this poem needing a revision in T2 and T7 with T2 being short one foot and T7 being a foot and a half too long.

I'm still honing this form but I love the possibilities that I can see in it.

The only line length requirement is the short punchy feel to the middle line of each tercet that offers the contrasting views.  I experimented with longer lines there but it takes away from the tonal quality of the poem.  So I have kept them short.

I can't wait to see you and a few of the metrical poets here on MM give this one a try.

Mary

[Guest_Don_*]

Welcome Maryellen,

I read your explanation, which helped a lot.  I deem this form as probably difficult, which verifies that FV is not for the lazy.  Though first and second lines rhyme in places, I classifiy this as FV due to the extra long lines, which normally do not exceed and Alexandrian in RM.  

At this point I judge you to be a better poet than myself—primarily RM. You must explain the half-foot sometime.  I am under impression that metric feet are whole units rather than fractional.  

I think the em-dash in second line aids the tense separation.  Some lines do not seem to be as clearly worded. "Pulsing once -- then pulsing twice" is an example of same tense.

The repeating aspect seems to require long lines, as demonstrated in your poem.  It takes a finer ear to discern the repetitive phrases within complete sentences.  I am certain the speaker's presentation helps the audience identify repetition.

No doubt a grasp of the form as described is essential to discern the complexity.

These comments are intended to be my first impressions from a few readings.

I am waiting to see what Cleo and others do with this interesting form.  

Don

[AMETHYST]

Hi Mary,

My head is whirling with this...part because I am trying to understand some of the finer points of the form, but mostly because it is absolutely intriguing.

In your example you make excellent use of sight rhymes, and near rhymes, something I have been longing to practice till I get it down right-I cannot promise anything as tight and intricate as your example for my first few attemtps, but I am quite excited about trying this form.

I'll be back soon with a something! :) Thank you for sharing this form with us!

Best Regards, Liz

[Guest_Maryellen_*]

Hi Don!

Thank you for the comments on this form and my writing...

I would classify this form a "bugger" because it got under my skin and won't leave me alone until I can write them at will.  I have several in various stages of completion that I take out and toy with from time to time.

I would agree with your impression that this could be considered metrical free verse due to the extended line lengths because they do extend beyond the normal parameters of iambic form.

And -- I would also agree on the pulse comment you've made, which I have yet to find a suitable revision to correct. It needs to be pusle and pulsed to keep th tense in proper prosepctive.  You have however confirmed for me the use and benefit of the em-dash in the second lines though -- and I thank you for that affirmation.

Iambic feet are not my strrong suit.  As I understand them though, a foot has two parts, an unstressed syllable and a stressed one.

To visualize it using a method Daniel taught me, a foot would be represented as da DUM and the beat count would always be even.  

In T7 I have an odd count, 37 beats -- which makes it a full foot and a half longer than it should be to maintain my high end limit of 34 beats.

I am looking forward to seeing what some of the poets do with this form who are more versed in meter than I am too.

Thanks for the visit.

Mary

[Guest_Don_*]

Hi Maryellen,

Your description of the iambic foot is correct. but this is only one of 22 of which I am aware.  Luckily only a few are normally encountered.  We haven't too many expert metrical writers at MM, but have several that are working on it, including myself.

I am uncertain of "pusling."  
I would say the second lines are tension creating by being opposing in some manner such as near/far.  The present Vs past or future Vs either present or past is valid to my thought.  I still think the positive code of something like an em-dash or semicolon is helpful to the reader.

We haven't too many expert metrical writers at MM, but have several that are working on it, which includes myself.

I suspect it would be out of the question for me to write one at a single writing session.  Letting them collect and perk would be my first approach.

A nice serious challenge you have dropped into our respective and collective lap.

Don

[JustDaniel]

Note:  I've stiffly taken some liberties with this -- but hey, what's new!?

Bound to be Free

I think I’ll try to break new ground,
setting free – meter’dly
some thoughts my mind has kicked around.

Though kicked around, my poetry
tends to rhyme – not much blank;
I’ve loosened up to some degree.

My haiku loosed, became faux-ku:
keeping form – bursting rules;
I hope that it’s all right with you.

I’ll write with you and then depart
down new paths – save the map
because those roads gave me my start.

I’ve seriously walked those roads
chuckling – yet dignified
a hope my poems won’t erode.

They might erode your patience, though,
practicing – training ‘til
poetic friends have shouted, Whoa!

Discover some poetic friends
know it all – foolishly
awaiting to some throne ascend?

Down off our thrones we find a new
perspective; blindness
can make the lines we write askew.

I know I write askew, but please
listen, when ears are stopped;
I’ve seriously written these.

I’ve seriously walked those roads
chuckling – yet dignified
a hope my poems won’t erode.

© MLee Dickens’son 23 Dec 2005

[Guest_Don_*]

To Maryellen, et all,

Here is my first attempted curvilinear verse, which I am interested in where it falters.  

Curvilinear Verse

How to write a verse
that’s straight and bent
may seem a curse.

What seems the curse perhaps a hoop
of single double ends
conjoined in mental loop?

Conjoined in mental loop of repetends
in constant change
upon which poet’s form depends.

A poet’s form depends like broken ring
reforged from bent to straight
like cyclic pantoum sings.


© 2005, D.E. Holmes
23 December

[JustDaniel]

Hey Don...

glad to see someone visiting this, since it's just struck my interest again.  I know Mary is very busy now, and she's not yet visited this on her own site, so we may not get a definitive word for a bit.

Along with me, you've done quite a bit of variance from the standard she offers, but the two most striking things in yours are 1) the absence of the repetition of the middle refrain at the end and 2) the lack of brevity of your second lines in comparison two your first and third lines.

Mary's description does not seem to me to designate any set number of tercets, nor tell us WHICH one is to be the middle stanza, though for her it was the 4th of eight, whereas mine was the 5th of 10.

She does not seem to have required any metrical pattern to go along with the rhyming, but I think that you know that I have always felt uncomfortable with that, though I've lately been working through that 'hangup.'  My attempt, however sticks to iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter, however, this time around.

Not sure if what I've offered is of much help, but then after all, it's free!

Lightly, Daniel  :sun:

[Guest_Don_*]

Good sunshine morning to you Daniel.

Yes I did deviate from Maryellen's example. First of all I failed to follow instructions.  An oversight left out the middle refrain being repeated at end. In fact, my offering is void of a middle due to being an even number of tercets.  
Mary did mention total number of syllables, which I ignored.  
I used shorter lines, but copied her variable length.  I felt a given line length depends on how it is said rather than relative to others in same tercet.
I also intentionally incorporated iambic meter.

I wondered if my second lines sufficiently incorporated the tension of opposites, as they are softer and less obvious for discerning eye.  

I shuda node that my sacrifice was inadequate because it came too easily.

I am glad we are discussing the issues.  I deem this learnng as a trial and error of iteration.

In a sense, we may be hammering out the rules of the road.

This happy day before Christmas we wish you and yours a Merry Christmas!!!

Don