Saturday, May 5, 2012

A Mini-Challenge for Sunday - Florette

The temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers. ~Basho


Pasque Flowers - BigSkyKatie


For this weekend's form challenge, I have selected the Florette, a form created by Jan Turner,  for its delicacy of rhyme and meter.  Like the outgrowing of a small flower, the fourth line of each stanza is longer, and enwraps the previous lines. Line 4 requires an internal rhyme scheme that rhymes the eighth syllable with the end of line 3, and continues to add on four syllables more than the other lines so that the fourth line ends rhyming with lines 1 and 2.


I first read an example of this form written by an on-line poet, Karin Anderson, on Poetfreak.com.  View her poem HERE.  I have attempted this form once before, in a poem entitled Photostream.


In the simplest terms, a single stanza is laid out as follows:


Rhyme scheme: a, a, b, a
Meter (syllable count): 8, 8, 8, 12
Fourth line requirement of internal (b) rhyme scheme, on syllable 8.
The completed poem should consist of two or more stanzas.


xxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxb
xxxxxxxbxxxa




I hope you will have some fun wrapping your mind around this little flower of form. The Sunday Challenge is posted on Saturday at noon CST to allow extra time for the creative process. 
Management reserves the right to remove unrelated links, but invites you to share a poem of your choice on Open Link Monday.


33 comments:

Peggy said...

My goodness Kerry--my head is spinning just reading this! I will give it a try though.

hedgewitch said...
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Fireblossom said...

You hate me. Don't you?

Mary said...

I enjoyed this form, Kerry. It took me a while to play with syllables and rhymes, but it was a fun challenge.

Marian said...

fun little form, and what else to write about tonight but the moon? :)

Isadora Gruye said...

greetings toads...looks like we have clever offerings already. My contribution is half-caliber but whole hearted. viva la

Kerry O'Connor said...

Sorry, Shay... once every two weeks I throw around a few rules for the purists.

I'm glad that *some* people have found it fun to work with.

Nice to see you on a Sunday morning, Izzy.

Fireblossom said...

Kerry, I apparently wrote sort of a sonnet by accident the other day. I had no idea my poem had 14 lines, or that sonnets do, until you and Hedge pointed it out. The Dark Side is getting me! Helpppppppp...

Anonymous said...

This was a tough challenge, even though I do fairly well with rhyming poems.

Kerry O'Connor said...

I think you just gave me an idea for a poem, Shay.

Mary said...

Form poems are like puzzles to me. They often don't come easily, but it feels good when all the words fall in place. I enjoy them when I have time. They cannot be rushed. I REALLY liked this form.

Kerry O'Connor said...

Oh dear. Shay started me off on a thread with her "accidental sonnet", so I have no florette to show for myself yet - just a poem I dare not link up here for fear of having to remove my own unrelated link. I shall have to keep Sunday's poem for Monday's Open Link.

Scarlet said...

I am working on my mine...its a challenging form. Will share on Monday OLN ~ Happy Sunday ~

Kay L. Davies said...

I keep posting mine, and it looks like it's on the list, and then when I refresh the page, it's gone.
Most mysterious. Probably because I'm a humorist, not a purist.
Love that Shay misled you from the prompt, Kerry. The child is a witch, but a dear one.
K

Kerry O'Connor said...

I don't see you poem here, Kay, but I shall find it on the blogroll.

Sherry Blue Sky said...

I am limping along rather exhaustedly, here, so may not post. But I am intrigued by reading everyone's offerings. All so good this Sunday morning!

Susie Clevenger said...

Forms, rhyming...I will just sit this one out and read the wonders others create....Shay I am with you, Kerry hates me..lol Kerry, perhaps you could call your poem referring to Shay The Accidental Sonnet... :)

Mary Ann Potter said...

I really liked this prompt! I'm stretching my poetic horizons more with every writing!

hedgewitch said...
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Mystic_Mom said...

I tried it, inspired by a photo on Magpie Tales, I hope you like it...

Fireblossom said...

Sorry, Kerry! :-P

Mystic_Mom said...

I love the photo of the crocus blooms, never saw them named that way before...I love seeing them. It is our prairie way of knowing spring is here!

Anonymous said...

this was not as easy as it looked!

Hannah said...

I look forward to reading these. This is the first of its kind for me. It was a sweet struggle. Thank you!

hedgewitch said...
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Teresa said...

I'm so very late, but I did enjoy this challenge.

Anonymous said...

Hi Kerry-- A difficult challenget, but I too enjoyed. Well, sort of! I don't know if readers will. (Hope so.) K.

Anonymous said...

Hi Kerry-- A difficult challenget, but I too enjoyed. Well, sort of! I don't know if readers will. (Hope so.) K.

Sara McNulty said...

This is a beautiful form. It was a challenge, but I had to try it. Mine is up.

Ella said...

I look forward to trying this art form and reading everyone's poems! :D

Cad said...

Better late than never, I hope.

Trellissimo said...

Thanks to Caddoc, I got inspired as well!

Bodhirose said...

Yes, I too came late to the prompt but found the linky still activated so added my poem. I enjoyed trying this form...thanks for the inspiration.

Gayle ~